With iOS 9 Ahead, New Yext Features Help Brands Optimize Their Apps for Shift in Local Search

Yext today announced the launch of three new local app features: Screens, Screens Store Locator, and Screens Reporting. The Screens features are powerful technology that creates a location layer for a brand's app, similar to how Yext Pages adds location to a brand's website.

In an age where consumers spend 88% of their mobile time in apps vs. the mobile web, it is increasingly critical to develop a local app strategy so mobile users can easily find and choose your business. Screens enables Yext customers to leverage updates to mobile search in iOS 9, set to be released next month, to build more engaged app audiences and direct more foot traffic from their apps to their local stores.

iOS 9 will index content directly from within apps in search results on Spotlight, Siri, and Safari, even if the apps aren't downloaded on the device — a fundamental change to mobile and one that will dramatically impact consumer behavior.

Moreover, iOS 9 introduces universal deep linking, which links content across the web with that in apps. Brands can use deep links to drive more consumers from search results directly into their mobile apps, rather than the mobile web, to increase in-app engagement. This includes users who don't have the app installed: when these users click in-app content on search results, brands can show them an app install banner to drive more downloads. And these downloads come from high-intent users who are seeking to engage with brands from their devices.

Today's release includes three new features for a brand's local app strategy:

• Screens – Pages in your app with content about each of your locations designed to drive maximum App SEO
• Screens Store Locator – A powerful store locator for your app for consumers to easily find your locations
• Screens Reporting – Comprehensive analytics to track views and engagement across the local screens in your app

To implement these Screens features, a brand simply adds Yext's SDK to their app, configures the UI to match theirs, and resubmits the app to the App Store for approval. Our SDK is incredibly stable and some of the most popular apps in the world are already using it.

Yext leads through innovation, and we always strive to ensure our clients are not only prepared, but optimized for significant changes in the local search ecosystem. iOS 9's new search initiative promises to be one of the most impactful developments we've seen thus far. Enterprise customers can contact their Yext account managers for more information.