Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Answers Search Company, today announced its latest advanced natural language processing (NLP) algorithm, extractive question answering (QA), also known as document search. This will be available on 17 March as a feature in Yext's "Orion" update.
The extractive QA algorithm adds a powerful dimension to Yext's already advanced site search solution by answering complex questions against unstructured, long-form documents. For example, when someone asks a specific question, such as a customer searching a bank's website for the difference between a fixed-rate or variable-rate mortgage, or a retailer's site for how to assemble one of their products, extractive QA scans a business's webpages, blog posts, help articles, or product manuals to find the most relevant word, sentence or paragraph, then delivers a direct answer in the form of a rich snippet at the top of the results page. This is distinct from traditional keyword search, which relies on only a single algorithm to match the query's keywords with the document that contains the most mentions of the keywords, then delivers the end user a list of links to click through.
"At its core, modern search is about understanding human language and delivering a relevant, direct answer. Yet most websites are still stuck in the early 2000s, using basic keyword search technology that returns a list of blue links," said Marc Ferrentino, Chief Strategy Officer at Yext. "At Yext, we're building advanced, multi-algorithm answers search so that businesses and organisations can deliver world class experiences that help grow their business. The extractive QA algorithm update to our platform gives our customers an even bigger competitive edge and further helps accelerate their digital transformations."
With extractive QA, Yext now offers the most comprehensive multi-algorithm search platform that allows businesses to leverage structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data to deliver a seamless, answers-forward search experience to every customer query.
For those interested in learning more about extractive QA and the Orion update, you can learn more about the multi-algorithm strategy behind Yext's answers search platform here.