Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Search Experience Cloud company, today announced that Yext Answers, its revolutionary site search product, is now available in Japanese. The product's latest language expansion, which is part of Yext's Answers algorithm update "Andromeda," allows businesses and organizations with a presence in Asia to deliver official answers to Japanese consumers' questions on their websites.
Originally launched in English in 2019, Yext Answers applies advanced natural language processing (NLP) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) technology to better understand how people ask questions in order to return the most accurate, official answers. The new Andromeda algorithm update makes it possible for Answers to understand complex queries in the major alphabets of the Japanese writing system, including kanji, hiragana, and katakana, as well as location-based searches. It also introduces features like Semantic Text Search, which makes it easier to surface the most relevant FAQ based on the intent behind a query, rather than a keyword or synonym; Stop Word Customization, which allows brands to define words to ignore in a query, like "of" or "the," in order to deliver more accurate results; and Exact Phrase Match, which makes it possible to surface specific results when a query exactly matches the content.
The expansion to Japanese comes less than three months after Yext introduced Answers in French, German, Italian, and Spanish to better serve businesses and organizations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and a year after its initial launch in English.
"After just a year since we launched in English, Yext Answers continues to sweep the globe," said Howard Lerman, Founder and CEO of Yext. "Japan is an important market for Yext, and now Japanese businesses and organizations will be able to leverage the power of Yext Answers to deliver a superior customer experience and official answers on their own websites — not bounce them over to Google."
"We welcome Yext Answers to Japan with open arms," said Eiji Uda, Chairman and CEO of Yext Japan. "Over the past year, we have eagerly awaited the launch of this innovation solution in our region, watching it transform site search experiences in the United States, Europe, and beyond. Now, like so many around the world already have, businesses and organizations in Japan can deliver the seamless customer journey that consumers are looking for online."
Japanese businesses have already begun implementing Answers in Japanese on their website through Yext's 90-day free trial. Brands interested in test-driving Answers in any of its available languages can take advantage of the free trial offer at yext.com/free-trial. This includes a self-serve version of the product, where brands can immediately begin building a unique Answers site search experience of their own, with special starter templates for industries like financial services, healthcare, and more.