by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 14, 2017

Yext said it is launching a feature called Knowledge Tags to help businesses make information on their websites more accessible to search engine crawlers, making the content available to virtual assistants and other types of hardware that will serve up information.

Marc Ferrentino, chief strategy officer at Yext, believes artificial intelligence, voice assistants, and other types of technology will influence the way search engines provide direct answers, making it critical for companies to manage the public facts about the brand that appear in search.

The platform enables companies to manage information such as retail store hours or restaurant menus, as well as data such as physicians’ credentials, according to the company.

Yext, which went through an initial public offering earlier this year, has been expanding its global footprint and the markets it supports. The company reported second-quarter earnings August 6 of $40 million in revenue, up about 38% year-on-year.

The number of attributes managed on its platform has reached 22.9 million; and locations number 1.2 million, RBC Capital Markets Analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a research note dated September 6, 2017.

Yext also launched in new markets during the second quarter of 2017, opening an office in Japan, and hired a head of sales for its North America Financial Services vertical.

The company also launched an App Directory in the second quarter, wrote Mahaney.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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