APPLEBOT IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS AS A WEBSITE OWNER

What is an Applebot?

Applebot is the web crawler for Apple. Products like Siri and Spotlight Suggestions use Applebot.

The early results of Apple’s strategy can be seen in Siri and Spotlight search. You can ask Siri questions about certain topics (like weather, sports, local businesses, etc) and usually get an answer without having to launch a web search. Spotlight offers similar “instant answers” for certain types of questions. 

Most of this data is currently provided by Apple’s partners, such as WolframAlpha, Twitter, Yelp, The Weather Channel and Fandango.

What’s interesting, though not surprising, about Applebot is that it indicates Apple wants to reduce its reliance solely on third parties to provide information that may be useful to its users. It also indicates Apple may be building its own artificial intelligence to provide a broader set of useful information to users. Consider a world where you don’t have to launch a Google search to find answers to most of your questions.

 

APPLEBOT IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS

What do Applebot, and initiatives like it, mean for your business’ digital marketing strategy? They underscore the importance of making information from and about your business easily accessible to web services and your users. There are two key considerations you need to make in developing your digital strategy:

 

1. Website semantics

Website semantics is about how the information on your website is organized, as well as how much context you provide to help that information be understood. From sitemaps to meta tags, there are a variety of elements that can help web crawlers easily understand the meaning of the information on your website. 

This in turn can affect everything from your ranking in search results to your appearance in the “instant answers” being offered by the new wave of smart services.

 

2. Digital presence

Is your business on Yelp? Do you have an active community management strategy for your social media profiles? What do online reviews say to your potential customers? A crucial part of any successful digital strategy is in how it leverages Internet services to manage a business’ online reputation and presence. 

Your customers are already on the Internet, using these services and social media platforms to discover and make decisions about the businesses they choose to give their money to. Your digital strategy should make it as easy as possible for them to find you, connect with your brand and discover the value of your products and services.

 

As consumer technology and Internet services dramatically change and improve, it is incredibly important for businesses in every industry to have an evolving digital strategy that seizes new opportunities to increase brand awareness and drive sales.