Voice assistants
Voice assistants now pass many questions to generative models: Siri can hand requests to ChatGPT (since iOS 18.2 in December 2024), Amazon's Alexa+ is a generative assistant (announced February 2025), and Gemini is replacing Google Assistant. Voice AEO therefore depends on the same indexes and crawlers as text answer engines, plus Applebot for Siri and Spotlight.
What changed
Classic voice search read one short answer, often a featured snippet. Voice assistants are now front ends for generative models:
- Siri: iOS 18.2 (December 11, 2024) added ChatGPT integration to Siri and Writing Tools.[1]
- Alexa+: Amazon announced its “next-generation assistant powered by generative AI” on February 26, 2025.[2]
- Google: Gemini for Home replaces Assistant on speakers and displays,[3] and 9to5Google reported removal of Assistant from Android phones starting September 4, 2026.[4]
Crawlers behind voice answers
- Applebot powers Spotlight, Siri and Safari. Apple says data crawled by Applebot may also train its foundation models; disallowing the Applebot-Extended token opts out of training while pages stay discoverable in Spotlight, Siri and Safari. Applebot-Extended “does not crawl webpages.”[5] Vendor-documented
- Gemini-based voice answers use Google Search grounding (see Gemini). ChatGPT-backed Siri answers follow ChatGPT’s rules (see ChatGPT search).
Speakable markup
Google’s speakable property marks sections “best suited for audio playback using text-to-speech.” It is in beta, used by Google Assistant “to answer topical news queries on smart speaker devices,” and limited to English-language news publishers.[6] With Assistant being replaced by Gemini, treat it as optional for news sites and irrelevant for most businesses. Vendor-documented
Voice-friendly writing
- Lead with a one- or two-sentence answer that makes sense read aloud, without depending on a table or image. Practitioner practice
- Use the words people say: “how much does…”, “near me”, “open now”. Practitioner practice
- For local businesses, voice answers usually come from business listings, so accurate Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect and Bing Places data matter more than page copy (see local AEO). Practitioner practice
Controlling what Siri and Apple Search can use
Apple documents how Applebot and its Siri, Spotlight and Safari features treat site content, in a page dated September 4, 2026.[5]
| Goal | What Apple documents |
|---|---|
| Appear in Apple search features | Applebot powers Spotlight, Siri and Safari. If robots.txt does not mention Applebot, it follows the rules written for Googlebot. |
| Opt out of foundation-model training | Disallow Applebot-Extended. It is a token that does not crawl. |
| Opt out of AI answers using your content | Apply the nosnippet meta tag (or an X-Robots-Tag: applebot: nosnippet header) to content to opt out of its use in broad "world knowledge" answers in Siri and Search. |
| Paywalled content | Page-level isAccessibleForFree: false markup keeps a page eligible for search results but stops Applebot using it as additional context for AI-generated output. Section-level hasPart markup is not supported. |
| Verify a request | Reverse DNS resolves under *.applebot.apple.com. |
The page lists ranking factors for Apple search as user engagement, relevancy, the number and quality of links, location and page design, and gives applebot@apple.com as the contact for crawl issues. Applebot ignores crawl-delay.[5] Vendor-documented
What this means for voice answers
Voice answers read by Siri can use web content only where Applebot can fetch it and the page has not opted out. Apple says disallowing Applebot-Extended and using nosnippet leave content discoverable through Spotlight, Siri and Safari, but a nosnippet set for Google reasons also opts that content out of Apple's broad answers. If voice visibility matters, review robots.txt and snippet controls for Applebot as well as Googlebot (see AI crawler user agents).[5] Practitioner practice
Frequently asked questions
Is voice search optimization still a thing?
Yes, but it has merged into AEO. Voice assistants increasingly hand questions to generative models that use the same indexes as text answer engines.
Should I add speakable markup?
Only if you are an English-language news publisher. Google lists it as a beta feature for news queries on Assistant devices.
Does blocking Applebot-Extended remove me from Siri?
No. Apple says pages stay discoverable in Spotlight, Siri and Safari; Applebot-Extended only controls use for model training.
How do I stop Apple using my site to train its models?
Apple says to disallow Applebot-Extended in robots.txt. It is a token only and does not crawl, and disallowing it does not remove the site from Spotlight, Siri or Safari results by itself.
See also
References
Pages accessed September 28, 2026 unless a date is given. Sources added on October 31, 2026 were accessed that day. See all sources and our editorial policy.
- ^ "Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence". Apple Newsroom. Published December 11, 2024.
- ^ "Introducing Alexa+, the next generation of Alexa". Amazon. Announced February 26, 2025.
- ^ "Learn about Gemini for Home voice assistant". Google Home and Nest Help.
- ^ "Google Assistant shutting down on Android, Wear OS in September". 9to5Google. Published August 4, 2026.
- ^ "About Applebot (including Applebot-Extended)". Apple Support.
- ^ "Speakable (Article, WebPage) structured data (BETA)". Google Search Central.