Below is live coverage of the How Siri, Search By Voice & Search By App Are Changing The Mobile Landscape panel from the SMX West conference. This coverage is provided by Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick.
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4:56:54 PM Barry Schwartz: I am tired, so tired.
4:57:53 PM
Barry Schwartz:
How Siri, Search By Voice & Search By App Are Changing The Mobile Landscape (#smx #25B)
The world of mobile search keeps shifting rapidly. Recently, more people were found to be using mobile apps than their mobile web browser. Siri has also introduced the masses to the concept of voice search, building that into the iPhone 4s, as voice search was already built into the Android and Windows Phone platforms. As mobile continues to gain share and importance, how will voice and apps change search and SEO? Panelists will offer practical tips for marketers as well as their thoughts on how these mobile-centric innovations could reshape the search experience for the long term.
Moderator: Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence (@gsterling)
Speakers:
Michael Martin, Senior SEO Strategist, Covario (@googleandblog)
Gib Olander, Vice President Market Development, Localeze (@golander59)
Gregg Stewart, President, 15miles (@greggstewart)
Adrian Vender, SEO Manager and Analytics Consultant, Cardinal Path (@adrianvender)
5:02:44 PM Barry Schwartz: Most people have iPhone or Android phones, one person has a Windows phone (Greg asked him if he works for Microsoft)
5:03:35 PM Barry Schwartz: Interesting, the siri panel doesnt have a presentation on Siri, so Greg is trying to make up for it by talking about the history of Siri
5:05:05 PM Barry Schwartz: Greg does some Siri demos, they don't work out too that well
5:05:12 PM
Barry Schwartz:
First up Gregg Stewart, President, 15miles (@greggstewart)
5:06:16 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Look at that stash!
5:07:20 PM Barry Schwartz: I probably will take lots of pictures, because (1) i am tired and (2) I can
5:08:43 PM Barry Schwartz: Tablets users are the most active in search
5:09:08 PM Barry Schwartz: Interesting stats here
5:09:32 PM Barry Schwartz: Most of these apps are directional/navigational types of app searches
5:13:19 PM Barry Schwartz: Siri has voice search baked into the OS
5:14:19 PM Barry Schwartz: People now need to optimize for YElp reviews
5:15:02 PM Barry Schwartz: They had their client in good positions and then the Siri phone came out and they were no where to be found on Siri (in this case it was Yelp)
5:15:58 PM Barry Schwartz: They put in reviews in Yelp by a good Yelp reviewer to help boost rankings
5:16:08 PM Barry Schwartz: They also looked to see how long Apple would take to update
5:16:17 PM Barry Schwartz: It took 48 days I think he said.
5:16:27 PM Barry Schwartz: Or maybe 20 days later
5:16:38 PM Barry Schwartz: He got his results, client went to position one.
5:16:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Siri Yelp is a 30 day update cycle and you need inclusion and yelp reviews
5:17:51 PM Barry Schwartz: Gib Olander, Vice President Market Development, Localeze (@golander59) is now up
5:19:25 PM Barry Schwartz: Voice search, siri is a concierge in your phone
5:23:00 PM Barry Schwartz: This is better than a concierge because the phone has sensors, location, friends, etc
5:25:53 PM Barry Schwartz: You need to make sure, as a marketer, to have the most granular info available for them so they can qualify you for the search results
5:26:14 PM Barry Schwartz: The bad news is that it isn't good enough just to be the closets
5:27:23 PM Barry Schwartz: Being in a bucket or buckets is important - because you need to be put in a category. You can't be in all buckets/categories, so pick them well
5:32:49 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Next up Adrian Vender, SEO Manager and Analytics Consultant, Cardinal Path (@adrianvender)
5:33:53 PM Barry Schwartz: He is going to talk about taking your content and putting it into structured data, and how that helps with this voice search stuff
5:34:02 PM Barry Schwartz: How can mobile users find my business?
5:34:53 PM Barry Schwartz: With mobile, there is a whole new world, not just about search results.
5:35:42 PM Barry Schwartz: What is helping drive this is the API Economy
5:37:29 PM Barry Schwartz: Siri changed things
5:38:30 PM Barry Schwartz: Google is working somehting up with Majel, it is the Android version of Siri
5:38:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Google has something going for them, the privacy policy change, they can connect my phone to my Google world.
5:39:49 PM Barry Schwartz: Eventually they will open up these APIs for voice search
5:40:12 PM Barry Schwartz: None of this matters if your data is not available
5:40:31 PM Barry Schwartz: Push your data into other APIs, one example is shopping engines like Amazon, Shopping.com, etc.
5:41:06 PM Barry Schwartz: Programmableweb.com has a directory of these apis
5:41:42 PM Barry Schwartz: Also you want to mark up your web site content with Schema.org, so they have structured data. Also HTML5
5:42:29 PM Barry Schwartz: Embrace the idea of structured data on your web site
5:42:42 PM Barry Schwartz: Other option is to build your own API so others can pull your data
5:42:49 PM Barry Schwartz: APIGEE is a good way to do it
5:45:58 PM
Barry Schwartz:
Last up is Michael Martin, Senior SEO Strategist, Covario (@googleandblog)
5:46:59 PM Barry Schwartz: How does the web adapt to the new mobile landscape?
5:47:25 PM Barry Schwartz: The answer going forward is HTML5
5:48:36 PM
Barry Schwartz:
HTML5 affects search:
- Support for multimedia
- Easily readable for humans
- Consistently understood by computers and devices
- Features built for low powered devices
- Increases speed with caching
- Fully standardized in 2014 but most standards are used in current browsers
5:50:16 PM Barry Schwartz: John Mueller of Google gets quoted!
5:51:26 PM
Barry Schwartz:
HTML5 Growth:
- It is the fastest growing job requirement
- 75% of game developers are doing it in HTML5
- 1 Billion phones will have HTML5 ready
- 1/3rd+ of the top 100 sites use HTML5
- Google predicts that in 2012 80% of the largest 2000 web sites
5:52:02 PM Barry Schwartz: No more guessing for Google
5:52:11 PM Barry Schwartz: Google will understand this stuff semantically
5:53:39 PM Barry Schwartz: HTML5 allows you to do speech input coded directly in
5:54:02 PM Barry Schwartz: Google may provide a Google Voice API for free in the future, Apple Siri is unknown
5:54:57 PM Barry Schwartz: Google will do this for free, because they want the data.
5:56:19 PM
Barry Schwartz:
HTML5 vs Apps
- HTML5 works across the board
- Cost savings cause only one build
- No payments (Apple cut)
- Allows better discoverability online
- Future proof your web experience for tablets, TVs, etc
- Apps still best for intense gaming and tools
5:57:38 PM Barry Schwartz: That is it, Q&A time, I am done.
5:57:44 PM Barry Schwartz: See you tomorrow