This article is brief notes on Virtual/Smart Assistants. We start with a brief history then dive into Amazon Alexa then Google Assistant development. The article finishes with Search using voice.
A Brief History Of User Interfaces
We started of with the keyboard and screen as Graphic user interface GUI. The mouse added to the keyboard as an input device. We moved on to Web to mobile touch screens and now we have the Voice user interface or VUI. So voice is part of the next developments in an operating system. It has been said that When people use Voice OS, in the near future, it will create a frictionless experience between people and technology.
Voice Players On The Market 2019
- Amazon Alexa
- Siri Apple
- Google Assistant, Google Home
- Cortana Microsoft
- Samsung Bixby
- Mycroft (software) Open source
Apple and Microsoft making voice search a high priority, expect to see more voice-activated devices and voice-based consumer activity. Google Assistant is already on more than 400 million devices, Microsoft Cortana has more than 100 million monthly users, and tens of millions of Alexa-powered devices were sold by Amazon over the 2017 holiday period alone. Amazon prime for purchasing is about getting accounts set up for a revenue stream of galactic proportions via voice. What is the Amazon Alexa? Examples are the Echo and Echo Dot as hardware. The device needs a connection to the internet. As below. Amazon Echo-->Alexa-->Amazon Echo Echo Dot-->Alexa-->Echo Dot Microphone-->Device-->Speaker
Software Magic Of The Amazon Alexa
1. Input API frame work--> 2. Middle (AI/Speech Recognition) --> 3. Output API frame work 1. API in Alexa Skills Kit ASK 2. Middle Artificial intelligence (AI) Alexa NLU Natural Language understanding in the Cloud dynamic and learning improving 3. API out Alexa Voice Service AVS Skills from ASK A/B A) front end VUI (developer in JSON) B) back end Logic (aws) or Lambda function src How do you create a skill? You do this with Intents and Utterances on the front end SSML AWS Lambda Skill Certification wake is an intent Starting phrase Skill invocation includes slots with an array of intents one to one GET Calls requests API json ie connections These connection are to Webservice or AWS Lambda all in in a time framed session. A session can be time framed as Tell or Ask Tell is a one off question and session ends Ask is open for more instructions so waiting session does not end one to one Intentions and intents Output is a) speech (SSML) or b) event or both Alexa SSML markup for responses To develop you need the Alexa developer console. There is no need for an AWS account. Free tire of AWS 1 million Lambda function request for free, plus credits. Test via https://echosim.io/welcome
Project To Create An Alexa Skill
Broad objectives are to provide a translation service. Which will be English to Krio https://www.visitsierraleone.org/background-information/languages/krio-words-and-phrases/ and west African recipes from the west Africa cooks recipe database. http://westafricacooks.com/africa/recipeapi
Voice Search
https://salt.agency/blog/how-to-optimise-for-voice-search-in-2019/ https://salt.agency/blog/why-businesses-should-be-looking-to-the-future-with-voice-search/ https://salt.agency/expertise/voice-search-optimisation/ dantaylor . Speak Up! SEO Strategies for Voice Search How voice search and virtual assistants can be an integral part of your customer acquisition and retention strategies. 2. Dan Taylor. • Senior Consultant & Account Director @ SALT.agency • Winner TechSEO Boost 2018 Call for Research • Search Engine Journal Top 140 (2018 & 2019) • Blogger Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch, OnCrawl… Projects Hreflang Checker – https://hreflangchecker.com Sloth – https://sloth.cloud/ Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency 3. We’re living in the age of assistance. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency 4. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Google first introduced a form of voice search in 2010, but it was cumbersome and not a practical alternative. This did however lay the foundations for future updates and technologies, one of these key updates (and likely one of the most important early updates for voice search) was the 2013 Hummingbird update. 5. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/voice-assistance-parent-users/ 6. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: Thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/voice-assistance-parent-users/ Also used by Aleya Solis in her talks. 7. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: Freakonomics Radio ep. 357 – Can an Industrial Giant Become a Tech Darling 8. “The world hasn’t completely shifted to voice, nor do we expect it to. Screens bring a completely new canvas for conversational AI, where we can bring together voice and touch in an intelligent way.” Scott Huffman (Google) Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: blog.google/perspectives/scott-Huffman/five-insights-voice-technology Marco Lenoci Google Keynote @ SMX West 2019 “We don’t expect voice to take over search as the prevalent way of searching... people will search in the way that’s relevant to them. We want to make sure we are there in the way the user wants it when they want it.” Marco Lenoci (Google) @ SMX West 2019 9. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: blog.google/perspectives/scott-huffman/five-insights-voice-technology moz.com/blog/how-voice-search-will-change-digital-marketing-for-the-better 10. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: thinkwithgoogle.com/data-collections/voice-assistance-emerging-technologies/ 11. “Based on usage habits, marketers and developers should think about how to create voice/assistant experiences that can become habit forming, go-to for users.” Marco Lenoci, Google Keynote @ SMX West 2019 Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency 12. 1. Voice is about action. 40x more action oriented 2. People expect conversations. 200x more conversational than search 3. Screens change everything. 1/2 use voice and touch input 4. Daily routines matter 5. Voice is universal Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency 13. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Data sources: Mangools, Google Search Console, Answer The Public 14. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Google Assistant Desktop 15. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Google Assistant Desktop 16. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Data sources: Mangools, Google Search Console, Answer The Public 17. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: A J Ghergich Study 83% of URLs are secure (HTTPS) Average number of images with ALT text is 12 Average 22 headers and sub-headers Average number of external links is 33 The average word count is 2,260 Median number of social shares is 139 Average paragraph length is 38 words The average Google Mobile Friendly score is 95/100 Content is written at a 7th grade level (Gunning Fog Index) The average Google Mobile Usability score is 95/100 18. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/Speakable pending.schema.org/speakable Indicates sections of a Web page that are particularly 'speakable' in the sense of being highlighted as being especially appropriate for text-to-speech conversion. Other sections of a page may also be usefully spoken in particular circumstances; the 'speakable' property serves to indicate the parts most likely to be generally useful for speech. 19. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Sources: seroundtable.com/listen-to-google-speakable-markup-in-action-26169.html https://sloth.cloud Good example of the schema in the wild Potential implementation method if you have development/platform issues 20. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Technical • Your site needs to be fast • JavaScript needs to be renderable and cacheable (server-side rendering preferred) Content • You content needs to be structured in a user-friendly way • Written to a 7th grade level (12/13 year old could easily read) • Be concise and not overly verbose 21. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: https://twitter.com/gfiorelli1/status/1090733177126162433 (Gianluca Fiorelli on Twitter) 22. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: ai.googleblog.com/2017/12/evaluation-of-speech-for-google.html moz.com/blog/how-voice-search-will-change-digital-marketing-for-the-better Criteria Summary Information Satisfaction The content of the answer should meet the information needs of the user. Length when a displayed answer is too long, users can quickly scan it visually and locate the relevant information. For voice answers, that is not possible. It is much more important to ensure that we provide a helpful amount of information, hopefully not too much or too little. Formulation it is much easier to understand a badly formulated written answer than an ungrammatical spoken answer, so more care has to be placed in ensuring grammatical correctness. Elocution Spoken answers must have proper pronunciation and prosody 23. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Source: ai.googleblog.com/2017/12/evaluation-of-speech-for-google.html storage.googleapis.com/guidelines-eyesfree/evaluation_of_search_speech_guidelines_v1.0.pdf 24. Dan Taylor | @taylordanrw SALT.agency | @salt_agency https://salt.agency Thank you. @taylordanrw | @salt_agency https://salt.agency/careers https://www.searchenginejournal.com/voice-search-igaming-industry/286227/ https://econsultancy.com/the-future-of-voice-search-2020-and-beyond/ https://wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/WPE-WP-PrepareSEOforFurtureDigitalExperiences_v03.pdf Increasingly, the digital world is being seen as a way of staying connected to everyone and everything; this is a shift away from the traditional perspective that views the digital world as primarily a source of information. One of the ways we see this embodied is in voice search technologies such as Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and more. With huge brands like Apple and Microsoft making voice search a high priority, expect to see more voice-activated devices and voice-based consumer activity. Google Assistant is already on more than 400 million devices, Microsoft Cortana has more than 100 million monthly users, and tens of millions of Alexa-powered devices were sold by Amazon over the 2017 holiday period alone. 4WHITE PAPER Preparing your SEO for the future of digital experiences.Currently, 20% of mobile searches are already voice driven. However, in 2020, 50% of all searches will likely be driven by voice. The shift from text to voice is a logical one; we speak 3x faster than we type. From a cognitive fluency perspective, anything that is easier for the brain to process is more enjoyable for the user. Faster interaction can also lead to greater engagement, a plus for both marketer and user. A direct outcome of this will be the explosion of the voice recognition market. Existing technologies will be improved and new technologies will be developed. By 2019, the voice recognition market is projected to be a $601 million industry.Optimize for conversational language In order to customize your SEO for the conquering of voice recognition software, optimize for conversational language. If your web pages read like an encyclopedia, you should build in conversational language, as well, so that voice-activated devices can pick up on the language and serve it up to voice activated device users accordingly. To help you determine the conversational language for which to optimize your website, make use of tools such as BuzzSumo Question Analyzer, which enables you to identify the most commonly asked questions online across hundreds of thousands of forums, Amazon, Reddit, Quora, and Q&A websites. With voice search, speed is a priority. Make sure that your web pages load lightning fast. And use HTTPS to secure your site -- Google is increasingly favoring HTTPS websites over HTTP.With voice search, we believe that structured data will take on added importance, and so you’ll want to ensure that your site is structured appropriately. You can use tools such as Yextto structure the data in your website across 100+ services, including Google, Apple, and Bing. Or structure the data by following Google’s guidelines and take advantage of Google’s structured data markup helper tool. When your structured data is in place, use a testing tool such as the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to ensure that the search engines will be reading your content properly.With web-based search, the search engines deliver a wide variety of answers for you to choose from. Voice search, however, is all about the device delivering the one best answer. What this means from an SEO perspective is that you’ll need to pick your battles and then go all out to win and dominate in those niches. other paper 09. Optimize for voice search With 30% of web browsing expected to go screenless by 2020, this is a major – and still growing – trend to keep optimizing for (Gartner: 2016). Even though this capability has been making the SEO trends lists for some time now, it’s still relevant as ever. That’s because with technology as recent as this, each year brings new developments, as well as more data we can use to understand how exactly listings are being categorized. Like just this past year, a Backlinko study of 10,000 Google Home results taught us that the system seems to talk up suggestions that are already ranking high on the SERPs, even more so ones that have landed that special 0th place in a featured snippet. We also learned that finding a way to literally write out a question in your content, before moving on to the answer (FAQ page style), seems to perform well on these voice search systems. How to put this trend into action: If you’ve taken the steps to pursue trend #2 and land a spot in a featured snippet, then you’re already in good shape to take on voice search. To summarize, that includes adjusting your target keywords to reflect how someone would speak a search, rather than write it. That often means two things: First, users can get super specific in their queries. Therefore, using long tail keywords (highly descriptive search phrases of at least three words) become more important. Second, they will often spin these long tail keywords into questions when turning to dear friends Alexa, Siri, et al. As we mentioned earlier, using a site like Answer the Public can help you identify likely questions potential customers might be asking. Once you have that information, the second thing you can do is organize your content in ways that prove to search engines that your business is the one with the answers. One good SEO practice for voice searches is slipping those probable questions into the H1, H2 or H3 headers on a FAQ page, or forming blog post titles around them. That same Backlinko study found that excerpts from FAQ pages make an appearance more frequently on voice search results than they do on regular desktop SERPs. https://www.twitch.tv/amazonalexa
Amazon Developer
How to start coding for Amazon Alexa? https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-design/intro.html https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/start https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dominique-carlo-37083bba More Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Alexa https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/make-money https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/rewards https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit/start Alexa.design/slides
Is Africa Ready For Voice
African language https://www.soas.ac.uk/africa/staff/ https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff58482.php
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