Using Google's new accessibility features: SEO and marketing opportunities

 

Google continues to increase its efforts in the field of digital accessibility. According to their latest news, they have announced a series of updates that will help make the digital world more accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. These updates have unexpected benefits for SEO and marketing, which we'll discuss today.

Artificial intelligence makes the visual world more accessible

"Lookout" by Google is an application developed using artificial intelligence that helps blind and visually impaired people with everyday tasks. One of the app's new features, Image Q&A, allows users to get descriptions of images, regardless of captions or alt text. For marketers and SEOs, this highlights the importance of quality captions and alt text for images - not only does it make content more accessible, but it also helps search engines better understand what's in the image, which can boost your search engine rankings.

Available locations on Google Maps

"Accessible Places" is a Google Maps feature that lets users see if a location is wheelchair accessible. It helps businesses stand out on Google Maps, improve their visibility and attract a wider audience. Providing accessibility information can also improve the trust and loyalty of customers who value accessibility-conscious businesses.

Live subtitles for more people

"Live Caption" is a Google feature that provides real-time subtitles for any audio on your Android device. This helps make content more accessible to people with hearing problems or those who simply prefer to read text instead of listening to audio. Using subtitles can also improve SEO because they provide additional text for search engines to index.

New accessibility updates on Wear OS 4 and Chrome

Google's Wear OS 4 offers a new text-to-speech experience that's faster and more reliable, which can make navigation easier for users with disabilities. On the other hand, Chrome now automatically corrects typos in URLs, helping to make websites easier to access and improve the overall user experience. For marketers, this highlights the importance of spelling URLs correctly and making a website easy to navigate, which can increase visibility in search results and drive traffic.

Chrome has also added new features for TalkBack users, making tab management easier. This highlights the importance of site usability and accessibility as a key element in an SEO strategy.

Improving marketing efforts through accessibility

Based on these updates, marketers can and should improve their accessibility and SEO strategies. Increasing the accessibility of your content not only increases its reach, but also increases its overall visibility in search engines.

Alt text, subtitles and accessibility are key elements to consider when optimizing for search engines. Using features like Alt Text in images can significantly improve your SEO by providing a more complete description of your site's content for search engines.

Conclusion

Of course, Google continues to improve accessibility in the digital world, and this not only helps people with disabilities, but also offers unexpected benefits for marketers. All of these updates improve digital accessibility and provide marketers with additional tools and opportunities to improve their SEO efforts. Moreover, they emphasize the importance of inclusive marketing and creating content accessible to all users. Ultimately, incorporating these features into your marketing and SEO strategy can help brands increase their visibility, expand their reach, and improve their overall user experience.