Yext Launches No-Code Page Builder to Power Localized Marketing

Yext Launches No-Code Page Builder to Power Localized Marketing

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Yext this week made another power move by launching a no-code page builder. No-code websites may sound most relevant to SMBs, but they’ll also have huge implications for multi-location brands looking to stand up localized marketing websites across hundreds or thousands of locations without large marketing teams.

Known as Studio, the no-code web page builder features drag-and-drop functionality for anyone to build slick and highly-functional websites. This includes SEO-optimized design such as alignment with Google’s Core Vitals.

Studio is also built on Yext’s existing Pages offering, which lets its customers build websites that integrate with its ever-expanding suite of products and knowledge graph (more on that in a bit). It’s written in the open source JavaScript library React, and will be available with Yext’s Spring 2023 release.

Table Stakes

The key term above is no-code. This has become table stakes in certain segments of the website builder competitive landscape. Outside of more expandable low-code and code-involved website platforms like WordPress, templatized page builders like Squarespace and Wix occupy a key market segment.

And that’s the segment most aligned with SMB skills and affinities. We’re talking drag-and-drop interfaces that let users design page layouts in intuitive and WYSISYG ways. This approach isn’t optimal for front-end developers (who opt for the likes of WordPress) but is well-tuned for the no-code masses.

Beyond SMBs, those masses include individuals, creator-economy participants, and marketing executives at consumer-facing brands. The latter is Yext’s sweet spot, along with other enterprise classes whose CMOs and marketing execs are likewise attracted to all-things no-code.

One big selling point for Studio, and other no-code products, is that such executives can dynamically edit or update websites without having to wait for a developer. This enables the agility and autonomy that resonates with marketing departments, as the lines between IT and marketing continue to blur.

To illustrate some of these advantages, Yext offers the example of an eCommerce exec or associate. They can quickly and autonomously design the page layout for a new product that’s launching within a rapid timeline. Studio (along with Yext’s Content Generation), lets them execute at web speed.

Chess Moves

Back to strategic implications, Studio is a notable and logical move. By tipping the next domino in terms of adjacent products, Yext gains a few key advantages. These include the technological and economic advantages of vertical integration, as well as the go-to-market advantages of product bundling.

Taking those one at a time, Yext’s technical acumen and effectiveness continue to be buttressed by adjacent and synergistic functions. For example, Yext Search built on its core product by letting any website have a custom search engine. Then Yext Chat added AI-driven chatbot functionality.

All the above builds on, and feeds into, Yext’s knowledge graph. Like Google’s knowledge graph, this ingests website content and knowledge bases to form a search index and AI training set for the above functions. Now, Studio web interfaces are purpose-built for optimal knowledge-graph indexing.

As for go-to-market advantages, Yext can bundle functions for one-stop-shop economics and appeal. As we examined around Yext Chat, the company can sell Studio to existing customers, using all the vertical integration and bundling messaging above. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The result could be edging out competitors that aren’t as vertically integrated. That could include entities mentioned in this article and others. Of course, this will have to be proven in time, and we’ll be watching Yext’s chess moves closely, including at L23 where Yext CDO Christan Ward will take the stage to talk about Generative AI and the Future of Local Search.

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Mike Boland has been a tech & media analyst for the past two decades, specifically covering mobile, local, and emerging technologies. He has written for Street Fight since 2011. More can be seen at Localogy.com