Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Alexa Skill?

Alexa skills are like apps. You can enable and disable skills, using the Alexa app or a web browser, the same way that you install and uninstall apps on your smart phone or tablet. Skills are voice-driven or enabled Alexa resources. You can add Alexa skills to your Echo to bring products and services to life and communicate with other businesses.

Why should a business have an Alexa Skill?

Alexa for Business allows you to assign public skills and custom private skills your organization has created to your shared devices and make private skills available to your enrolled users. The learning curve for using voice-enabled services is much lower than that for using text-based services, which increases native engagement dramatically. Creating a positive interaction with users can help boost your brand image and spread the word organically about your products or services. 

What is a Google Action?

Google Actions are the apps of smart speakers. ... They're the equivalent to Amazon Alexa Skills, and function similarly to an app or chat bot in that they allow a third party (i.e. your brand) to power the Action with their own language and support a specific function.

Why should you have a Google Action?

1. Google Assistant is available on over 1 Billion Devices

2. Google Assistant can access more than 85% of all smartphones through Android OS

3. Google Assistant’s smart speaker market share is rising quickly in the U.S. and has dominant market share in several countries

4. Google Assistant is available in dashboards in more than 400 car models through Android Auto

5. Building a Google Assistant Action encourages a discipline that leads to a holistic conversational AI strategy across voice and chat channels

6. Google still dominates search and Actions can help boost your search results across surfaces

How can a voice skill or action help your business?

Here are some reasons you should build a skill for your business:

Voice is not only the future; it’s now. According to Google, around 20 percent of mobile searches in the Google App are conducted through the voice command feature. People are more likely to ask Siri or their smart speaker before they pull out their phone and start typing. As voice recognition continues to grow and Alexa becomes more intelligent, your team will need to understand how Alexa skills fit into business and life.

1.    Get ahead. Many times, businesses are too scared to lead in new technology because they are afraid to put the time in effort into something that has no guarantee to work. However, voice search isn’t going anywhere; there are already more than 30,000 skills for Alexa, and it is going to continue to grow. It is better to be on the front end of something than the back end. It will be beneficial to you to get Alexa users loving your skill before the rest of your competitors figure it out and beat you.

2.    It may not be free forever. Many experts assume that as smart speakers become more and more popular, businesses may have to pay for their skill to be placed higher than others on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Some people also predict that you may be able to pay to make your skill the default for Alexa. In that case, someone could ask a question pertaining to your skill, and the device will use yours without the user calling your skill by name.  

3.    Publicity. Getting your name out there is one of the hardest but most beneficial things you can do for your business. Having a skill on Alexa is just another way people can hear about and interact with your brand. Many marketers argue that word of mouth can be one of the best ways to get traffic to your website or through your doors, and this is one way to get people to talk about you -- literally.

4.    Authority. Having an Alexa skill can make your business seem more legitimate. It can give you credibility as being a brand they can trust. You’re well-established enough to make a skill on Amazon’s Alexa. You must be serious about your business, your brand and your products or services.

Why should you have a voice SEO strategy?

Voice search is a hugely popular emergent technology that will only keep getting bigger, and as it does it will change the way SEO is done, can help you improve the customer experience and drive more traffic to your site, and help you stay ahead of the competition.