"Why Yext?"
It was the number one question I received from SEO friends when I joined Yext as VP of Industry Insights a few months back. My answer then, as now, is simple:
"Yext has built a better way."
The Yext Knowledge Engine delivers a better way for companies to manage the digital knowledge about their people, products, and locations across the ever-expanding intelligent services that guide consumers today. Having led Webmaster Outreach for Microsoft Bing, I know the challenges that search engines face in compiling trusted business data sources, algorithmically ranking them, and presenting the most accurate and relevant results to consumers. That challenge has only become more complicated with increased consumer demand for deep knowledge about companies.
For instance, did you know that according to Google, 70% of the mobile searches for "hotels" last year included an amenity like "hotel with jacuzzi in the room" or "pet friendly hotel near me"?
You simply don't get such facts from sources that are updated infrequently.
Nope, you get that kind of deep knowledge straight from the source. You get it from the business itself. And that's what Yext has pioneered — the direct provision of digital knowledge from businesses into Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook, and over 100 other intelligent services in the PowerListings® Network.
So how trusted is Yext data? Let Peter Wang, Senior Program Manager for Microsoft Bing, explain:
"Business owners' data always has the best quality. When we set up the initiative between Bing and Yext, we identified that Yext has good quality, so we give the priority for all the Yext data."
And what does Microsoft call this initiative?
"Yext on Top."
Bing and other intelligent services trust Yext's data because it comes from the best source possible — our customers who have the most current information about each of their locations, agents, doctors, menus, events, and more.
Yext provides digital knowledge delivered from the best possible source. But this is just the first of many reasons I believe Yext delivers a better way for brands to control the information about them across the digital universe.
In Part 2 of this series, I share the second bundle of reasons: reach, access & scale. I also invite you to download our whitepaper, A Better Way with Yext, where I provide a deep-dive into how Yext helps businesses of every size manage the digital knowledge about their people, places, and products. Download the full whitepaper today.