Google Can Probably Hear You and Index Your Audio...

[theoracle]

Hello all,

Bit of a bold first post, but let's do it!

Before posting this topic I did quite a bit of research to ensure that I was not simply re-iterating information previously presented.

I found several postings on SEO related websites where the author was genuinely trying to give other members the heads-up on this very important subject and they got no replies to their posts…

On their behalf I will try one last time…

I quote this material from my posting in another forum that simply did not understand…

“It would seem that indexing for audio content is definitely technically feasible for Google. In September 2008 Google Labs launched a service called GAudi, which was designed to work with You Tube to catalogue all the words spoken in a video or audio clip and then add them into a searchable database (it was restricted to political streams for the Beta). It disappeared in July 2010 despite being well received. I can’t point you to Gaudi to see what I’m on about, but I can point you to two technologies that will give you a good idea of what Google could be doing if it wants to right now:

nexiwave.com

nexidia.com

Be careful what you say in your next Podcast!

“Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.””

There is nothing technically preventing Google from converting audio spoken word to text and indexing it.

There are ways you could use this on your site to gain extra attention from the beast.

It could work really well with online articles (under the umbrella of disabled accessability).

What do you think?

[mjtaylor]

So, your point is: Google can, if it wants to, index an audio file.

So why do you think Gaudi disappeared from Google labs?

[morestar]

My first responsive thought was videos - there is audio in most videos. Where do videos tie into this scenario and if they don't why wouldn't they?

[theoracle]

So why do you think Gaudi disappeared from Google labs?

I have yet to find an official explaination - I think they may have decided it was so potentially useful for indexing purposes that they removed it from the prying eyes of SEO hopefuls.

How do you index a podcast?

[joe12joe]

They index the podcast from its Title. Just like Good index the uploaded e-books from its Title. Same goes for videos. You can upload the same video in youtube by using the unique title having your keyword. Google crawlers cannot read images and flash yet, converting audio into text is no way near. It would take some years before Google would introduce it.

[theoracle]

Please re-read my original posting - Google developed the technology to extract text conversions from audio tracks [GAudi] years ago [it was originally designed to work with You Tube in the Beta] and removed it from the public domain for reasons of their own...

Other companies with smaller budgets are doing the same for purposeful and publicly useful reasons.

If it is technically feasible for Google to do stuff - it is probably doing it IMO...

It could yet be useful for SEO under the guise of usability, ie for people that normally have to use a text magnifier program (for people who have substantial sight reduction, but not so bad as to need a page reader robot) I understand that these programs can be quite cumbersome. if you included a "Read This Article Aloud" button next to the text, that linked them to an audio file - visually impaired users might well use it. This could be a unique example of when Google wants you to have duplicate content (text plus audio).

I am adamant that Google has enough Artificial Intelligence behind it's site verification technology to do this.

We are no longer dealing with an algorithm - we are dealing with an entity...

Kind regards

Mike

[Peopleunit]

GoogleVoice does automatic voice transcription, that's one feature that demonstrates their voice to text capabilities. It wouldn't be hard to fathom other uses such as indexing of audio based on the content of the audio itself. That and I believe they use it to detect copyright infringement on audio and video as well.

Link to Youtube video, RE:Google Voice Mail Transcription

[theoracle]

Thankyou - yes and more I believe...

I have researched some interesting evidence that Google may also be so good with images that a guy got turned-down for his content for an adsense account when the only thing wrong with his site was three images that he lifted from Google images. He edited the pics and changed the file names and still got caught - I don't believe a team of humans would have identified his mis-demeanor....

Discuss...

[alphaomega]

The technology is definitely with us.The government are using this to eavesdrop on us for a while now. A good thought to use sound files for CEO. Worth the try.

[coder]

Google has and still does convert audio to text streams. One doesn't have to look any further than Google Voice to see their audio/text translation in work. I would imagine from reading some rather interesting text translations that G has some work to do before they perfect this process. Words that Google is uncertain about is usually grey, whereas the rest of the text is black.

One of the advantages of translating audio is so that they are able to serve up ads that relate to on page content.