• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 4, 2020

Yext recently became the first search technology partner to join the Adobe Exchange program as a premiere partner. The two companies have worked together for years, but this partnership brings Yext Answers to more businesses and organizations worldwide.

Companies can now choose Adobe to support their website and choose to upgrade their search experience with Yext Answers.

Searches on retail sites typically focus on products, but Yext focuses on connecting “broader” topics and understanding complex questions. Think of Google Knowledge Graph on a site that allows users to search for a doctor in a specific field of medicine.

Yext will report FQ1 2020 earnings Thursday. RBC Capital Markets forecasts revenue of $86.3 million -- above the Street at $84.3 million, Mark Mahaney, analyst at the firm, wrote in a research note.

Mahaney, in part, will focus on the rollout of Answers, which brought in 29 deals for more than $1.5 million new activity in the fourth quarter of 2019. He is also looking at international investments and headcount.

Yext offers sophisticated language search that connects sentiment with entities. People can type in “cardiologist near me who speaks Spanish and accepts Aetna,” said Christian Ward, EVP and chief data officer at Yext.

It was helpful to U.S. residents stranded outside the country to find information about getting home, Ward said. Those who were stranded overseas in Brazil, for example, used the government’s websites to directly find the information they need.

During the height of COVID-19, Yext worked with several government agencies as well as government websites in New Jersey and Alabama and South Bend, Indiana to integrate Answers into their websites. Ward said those searching for answers can go to the state’s website and query questions like “is the post office open” and “can I go to the beach.”

Yext Answers also powers questions for the World Health Organization.