What is Actions on Google?

Actions on Google is the developer platform for the Google Assistant. By creating actions, brands are able to bring their services to the Google Assistant on Google Home. Actions are similar to skills for Amazon Alexa, but different in a couple of important ways.

Actions on Google

The key differences between Actions on Google and Amazon’s Alexa skills is that users do not have to enable an action before it is useable or even discoverable to the user. Instead, you can access any action at any time. Enabling a skill is an Alexa equivalent to downloading an app. Actions are always available to everyone. No extra steps.

Second, the intent model for the Google Assistant on Google Home creates opportunities for brands and publishers to make their actions and content more discoverable through voice enabled SEO and deep-linking techniques.

Brands Need to Start Their Voice App SEO Early

The Google Assistant model also has some practical implications around first-mover advantages. Organization have more to lose by not being on Google Home early. When consumers inquire of the Google Assistant about a product or service, the response could be some basic information gathered from the web, or worse, information gathered from a competitor’s Action. Developing an action for the Google Assistant on Google Home prevents these missed opportunities. It allows brands and publishers to engage with interested consumers and reach a new audience.

Building a Great Voice UX

XAPP is helping brands and other organizations streamline custom Actions on Google development. We develop actions that take advantage of the powerful deep-link discovery and search features of the Google Assistant to maximize user discovery and engagement.

We also have developed hundreds of Voice UXs for content discovery, advertising, Alexa and the Google Assistant producing millions of consumer interactions. Measuring their performance has taught us a few things about best practices for voice user experiences. We can provide guidance on what information and tasks the action should enable and design, develop and test a robust consumer experience. We can also help you with your action design and development efforts or develop, manage and monitor the action for you, from start to finish.

Google Home is a trademark of Google Inc.