Google Has New Markup to Optimize Content for Google Assistant

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Google has collaborated with schema.org on a new set of structured data that publishers can use to optimize content for Google Assistant.

The new markup, called “speakable,” can be used to indicate that content is especially appropriate for text-to-speech conversion.

So if someone were to ask the Assistant, “Hey Google, what’s the latest SEO news?”, it would respond with a section from a news article that contains speakable markup.

When users ask for news about a specific topic, Google Assistant will return up to three articles from around the web and supports audio playback using text-to-speech with speakable structured data

In addition to reading the content out loud, Google Assistant will send a link to the user’s mobile device.

Speakable markup can be used multiple times throughout a single piece of content, allowing publishers to markup specific sections that are most useful for speech.

In its developer documentation, Google emphasizes that using speakable markup is a new way for publishers to reach a wider audience.

“Adding markup allows search engines and other applications to identify content to read aloud on Google Assistant-enabled devices using TTS. Webpages with speakable structured data can use the Google Assistant to distribute the content through new channels and reach a wider base of users.”

Publishers will be eligible to appear in Google Assistant’s news results as long as they’re a valid news site. This can be accomplished by submitting a news site to Google through the Publisher Center.

Speakable structured data works on Google Home devices for English-speaking users in the US only.