Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Answers Company, today announced an integration with Apple Business Connect, a new, free tool that allows businesses of all sizes to claim their location place cards and customize the way key information appears to more than a billion Apple users across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other Apple apps. Business Connect includes the Business Connect API, which supports updates to the Apple Maps place card at scale and has several features designed to drive local engagement.
Current Yext Listings customers automatically have access to the integration and can now make updates to the Apple Maps place card by leveraging the new Business Connect API. With this upgrade, organizations can also further optimize their digital presence with Showcases, a feature that allows users to highlight offers or promotions for specific locations in the Apple Maps place card.
"Our integration with the new Apple Business Connect API underscores our commitment to constantly advance our listings offering," said Marc Ferrentino, President and Chief Operating Officer at Yext. "Any organization using Yext's Answers Platform can confidently say that their customers have the most accurate, up-to-date information available at their fingertips whenever they search for something online. This level of control is a game changer for any brand looking to optimize their discovery and engagement at a local level."
Yext syncs critical business information to more than 100 million listings and pushes over a billion updates annually across the industry's largest network of direct integration partners. The new Business Connect integration represents a significant improvement from what used to be a manual submission process and is the latest example of continued innovation that has propelled Yext to the top of G2's Local Listings Management category for ten consecutive quarters.
"We created Business Connect to provide Apple users around the world with the most accurate information for places to eat, shop, travel, and more," said Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President of Services. "Apple Business Connect gives every business owner the tools they need to connect with customers more directly, and take more control over the way billions of people see and engage with their products and services every day."
Several influential brands, including McDonald's, Panera, Benefit Cosmetics, and IHG, collaborated with Yext to test the integration in advance of the official release. These customers recognized multiple benefits throughout the trial period, but specifically cited data accuracy and operational efficiency as selling points for organizations with large location footprints.
"As a leader in the hotel industry, we want to do everything we can to make it easy for guests to connect with our hotels," said Jolie Fleming, Senior Vice President of Guest Products and Platforms at IHG Hotels & Resorts. "Yext's integration with the Apple Business Connect API allows us to optimize IHG Hotels & Resorts' 6,000+ global hotel listings, providing our guests with a more seamless and personalized hotel booking experience. We're also taking advantage of Showcases to highlight the great benefits of the new IHG One Rewards program and mobile app, which just launched earlier this year."
Read more about the new integration, sign up for a live educational workshop, and explore Yext's best-in-class Location Listings solution here.