What’s SIRI?
The simple answer, its a digital voice recognition application for iPhone users. Or call it your personal knowledge navigator.
However, the long answer is that it will forever change the way we will interact with technology.
On the heels of Steve Jobs passing, the iPhone 4Si arrived, somewhat quietly, compared to earlier Apple product releases. “S” is for SIRI, a company Apple purchased a few years earlier that specialized in voice recognition software. The 4Si can update your calendar, check the weather, set reminders, play music, and write and send emails and texts, etc. You’re probably already using something similar when you call the utility companies and you’re prompted to speak your selections instead of keying it in.
Like most things that Apple makes, SIRI, will fundamentally change the world yet again. This time it will make us rethink search engines and the optimization requirements they require (SEO). The battle for first place positioning on Google’s search results can mean life or death of a business lately. Now with programs like SIRI that maybe a thing of the past because search results won’t be based on how many backlinks you have, or the description you use or the keyword density you may or may not have. Now, its all about. your GPS, your likes and dislikes, and what you social media streams recommend. That’s how you’ll now receive your search results.
By forgoing search algorithms and paying your SEO-way to the top spot of Google for say “Venice beach Italian restaurant” won’t matter anymore. As a result, smart small businesses that don’t rely on e-commerce will have to spend even more time optimizing listings on Google places, Yelp, Facebook Places, Foursquare etc. For instance all Yelp recommendations are already embedded in Siri responses. That means that your Yelp listing matters a lot more than regular optimization.
Soon PPC (Pay Per Click ~ those ad links you rarely click on anyway) will soon become irrelevant. If you rely on PPC campaigns to drive traffic online, your business may drop as a consequence. Let say you own a bakery and it has a number of good reviews on Angie’s List (…because you offer incentives to all customers that post reviews). That’s really awesome! But, what if the Android’s version of Siri comes along (call it Speaktoit) and only includes results from say Chow.com ? If that happens, a major chunk of your social media marketing just disappears. So spend a large percentage of your time focused on optimizing your listings on Social Media, because soon your customers won’t be hanging out on search engines.
