Uberall Defines Online Voice Search Readiness (VSR) With First-Of-Its-Kind Study of 73,000 Business Listings
Study by location marketing technology leader finds that Google, Yelp & Bing top Facebook for VSR; Also finds that almost half of all business locations analyzed had incorrect opening hours
SAN FRANCISCO, April 09, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Uberall, Inc., the location management solution for businesses competing to attract and win local brick-and-mortar customers, today released its Uberall Voice Search Readiness Report 2019 analyzing 73,000 online business location listings across SMB, mid-market and enterprise. The report is the first-of-its-kind and the most comprehensive analysis ever on Voice Search Readiness (VSR).
"Voice search is one of the most hyped, yet perhaps least understood topics confronting businesses today," said Norman Rohr, SVP of Marketing at Uberall. "Very few understand what it is to become 'voice search ready' and whether there is actually an ROI justification to begin with. With this report, we are rationalizing the discussion and helping brands and the agencies that support them identify how you can diagnose your own voice search readiness and improve it."
Today, when a consumer issues a command like, "OK Google/Siri/Alexa, find the best mechanic in my area," the query will return only one result at a time. This means that, unlike with desktop and mobile search results, only one business can win. Further, when a user searches for business information in their area verbally, the accuracy of business information, across certain key directories, will determine whether a business is recommended in search results.
Enter Voice Search Readiness (VSR). While several attempts have been made to provide comprehensive voice search ranking factors, there are no clear and quantitative standards or definitions that are widely accepted for VSR. Uberall's latest report solves for that.
"We set out to define VSR within a percentage-based grading system that analyzed a business's optimized online presence," added Rohr. "This way, a business can see if they are optimized for local voice search queries and understand the exact problems they need to address."
Google, Yelp & Bing Top Facebook
For the analysis, Uberall identified 37 directories feeding voice search platforms that are the most important in terms of VSR. The top-3 platforms for VSR are, in order:
1. Google + Google Maps
2. Yelp
3. Bing
"According to our experts," said Rohr, "Google, Yelp and Bing comprise approximately 90% of our voice search readiness score. Unfortunately, only 3.82% of business locations analyzed had correct information even on these three major directories. And, while Bing is in the top-three, it remains the most neglected listing platform."
Additional Key Findings
- Dentists Top Politicians -- The average VSR score was 44.12%, according to the analysis. Dentists had the highest average VSR score at 96.82%, followed by health food businesses (96.60%). In contrast, consumer protection organizations (0.20%) and congressional representatives (0.24%) had the lowest scores.
- Sorry, Apple Maps -- Although Apple Maps is certainly an important directory, according to Uberall's study, in terms of listing your business details, it will not help you optimize for voice search queries.
- What's Missing? Uberall identified the categories of business information that were missing most frequently opening hours the most glaring listing error/missing data. Uberall found 978,305 opening hour errors across listings, accounting for nearly half of all locations analyzed.
"This is one of the most glaring mistakes businesses continue to make," added Rohr. "When a consumer conducts an online search for a business, whether through voice search or not, they expect and trust that the information provided will be accurate. If the customer then turns up and finds that the business is closed, the immediate result is a loss of trust that will likely discourage them from ever returning to a business location."
For Uberall's Voice Search Readiness Report 2019, visit: https://m.uberall.com/uberall-report-voice-search-readiness-us-2019.
About Uberall, Inc.
Uberall is a global leader in location management technology. Its flagship Location Marketing Cloud platform solution empowers the world's biggest brands to connect with their customers and turn online interactions into offline sales. Uberall gives businesses central control of their digital presence and online reputation, enabling them to easily manage brand interactions in real-time on all digital platforms—mobile, voice and desktop—across websites, mobile apps, store locators, search engines, maps, social platforms, and advertising networks. The Location Marketing Cloud provides a consistent, accurate digital brand footprint that helps businesses capture new customers and maximize revenue for every location.
Uberall is headquartered in Berlin, with additional offices in San Francisco, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Cape Town. Its clients include Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders from all over the world.
Learn more at https://www.uberall.com.
SOURCE Uberall
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