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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

product or service while on the go will most likely also
find their destination and become customers.

“So, the more locations your brand has, the more com-
plex it becomes to manage your online business listings
for voice search readiness and ensuring they’re free of
errors, inconsistencies, or missing information”, Uberall
explains, adding “to thrive online, brands need to prime
all their locations for voice search readiness to get
found in local search and stay competitive.
Become voice-search-ready
Be a step ahead of the competition
In general, more than 50 platforms are relevant for
There is no question that voice search is still in its in- voice searches or smart assistants: Google, Bing and
fancy, but new technologies and partnerships will Yelp in particular are of great importance for voice
change that fast. search readiness, as almost all voice assistants access
these platforms. Company locations that have complete
Just a year ago, Uberall partnered with Huawei, at the and correct profiles on these three platforms achieve a
time when the Chinese tech giant launched “Petal Voice Search Readiness Score (VSR Score) of 90%,
Search”, its own search engine engineered with multi- and are therefore considered voice-search-ready, ac-
ple partners which is now preloaded on all new Huawei cording to Uberall.
smartphones and available in AppGallery for the exist-
ing smartphones. According to the expert, however, one of the worst mis-
takes is that essential business information is often pro-
Uberall’s platform gives multi-location businesses cen- vided incorrectly or not at all – e.g., opening times, ad-
tral control of their digital presence and online reputa- dress or even the company name. This significantly
tion for every location, creating a consistent and engag- worsens the findability and damages the user experi-
ing ‘Near Me’ experience everywhere consumers are ence with a brand in the long term. Companies should
searching for a business nearby. This collaboration will avoid this and, as a first step, provide the data of their
massively increase the reach and visibility of multi- locations uniformly and completely across all relevant
location businesses of all sizes, and provide consumers online platforms – above all on Google, Bing, and Yelp.
with the most current, complete, and accurate infor-
mation. Companies can use various additional measures to
prepare for the voice age, including, among other
The Petal Search and Uberall integration is live in all things, an optimized website loading time as well as
150 countries where Uberall is active and is available in content that is specially prepared for search engines –
the corresponding native languages. In addition to the such as FAQs.
usual search parameters, Petal Search enables users
to find news, weather forecasts, videos, and shopping So far, very few companies have recognized the poten-
options; as well as, book appointments, hotel rooms tial behind voice search and acted accordingly. Hence,
and flights, and download applications among many those who are optimized for voice search set them-
other features. selves apart from the competition, especially when it
comes to local searches.
Of course, consumers are sometimes bothered by the
inaccuracy of the results, but this will change. Technol- Uberall’s solutions that enable multi-location brands to
ogies are developing rapidly and will make voice easily manage search and discovery, engagement and
searches increasingly efficient and user-friendly. Com- conversion in real-time on all online platforms (mobile,
panies will certainly help to improve the user experi- voice and desktop) across websites, mobile apps, store
ence for consumers as well by providing more and locators, search engines, maps, social platforms, and
more information about their business in the right plac- advertising networks could bear a helping hand. ◊
es, completely and correctly. And by continuing the By Daniela La Marca
voice search optimization on their own website, they
provide valuable answer options for voice assistants.

August 2021: Omnichannel Marketing 11