A startup committed to studying and improving the effectiveness of content through metadata and artificial intelligence was set up in Rome in 2017. A shared vision that connects experts, developers, project managers and content specialists. For FARE INSIEME STARTUP, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Andrea Volpini, CEO & Co-founder of WordLift
FARE INSIEME STARTUP is the spin-off of the FARE INSIEME project
dedicated to presenting some businesses that form part of the Primo Ventures
portfolio, a company that manages funds specialising in the digital sector and
new space economy. Confindustria Emilia has started up a partnership with Primo
Ventures with the objective of providing its associates with new opportunities
for growth thanks to the presentation of the most innovative start-ups on the
market. Here are some of their stories.
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Roma caput mundi. To illustrate this
next entrepreneurial story we have even gone so far as to trouble the ancient
Roman Empire with this expression used by the first Latin poet Lucan in his
Pharsalia, as the story we are about to present is set precisely in the Capital
and involves people of 14 different nationalities who make up the WordLift
team, a company dealing with SEO, i.e. Search Engine
Optimization, and content marketing with a particular focus on the semantic
optimization of content. A melting pot in the name of excellence. Just think that we are talking about a global market that
earned approximately 68 billion dollars in 2022 as far as SEO is concerned,
with the weight of automation in this sector accounting for around
20%. But let’s talk about the startup that is Roman by birth, yet a
citizen of the world. The WordLift team includes many people, each bringing with them a unique set of skills. A vision
that joins SEO experts, data scientists, developers, project managers and
content specialists. “The main dynamics of the
reference market for WordLift involve an ongoing evolution of search engine
algorithms, the increase in online competition and the growing importance of
high-quality content”, reports Andrea Volpini,
CEO & Co-founder of WordLift. Initially born as a startup, it has now
become a powerful generative artificial intelligence platform. “We offer complete solutions to improve online visibility,
increase website traffic and enhance user experience. With us, companies obtain
immediate visibility, profits and safe operations for the future thanks to
state-of-the-art technologies. We are not just a platform, but rather an actual
technology provider for all those companies who want to stand out on the market
by offering a competitive advantage in an ever-changing digital world”, stresses Volpini. WordLift is currently working with brands such as Coca-Cola,
Enel, Luxottica, Dolce & Gabbana and The Financial Times.
Company profile. The claim is “SEO
for everyone”, and it is not just a fluke. Everything
started in 2017 with the development of the plugin with the same name, first
for WordPress and currently extended to other platforms: content writing and
organization and, therefore, its availability on websites is optimized by using
semantic and artificial intelligence technologies. By using artificial
intelligence, WordLift analyses a text from a website, identifies the key
concepts and links them to create a knowledge graph, which enables companies to
make their content more understandable by search engines, therefore improving
their search engine positioning and increasing organic traffic. WordLift’s
success stems from the idea of using open innovation processes within large
companies. But research is needed to do this. A tremendous amount of it,
continuous and distributed. “When search
engines started using structured data and some principles of semantic web in
2011, we started developing the first prototypes for a semantic editor that
later became WordLift. In those years,
the collaboration with CNR first and the Salzburg Research Institute later
enabled us to develop the heart of the platform that builds knowledge graphs
through text analysis”, says Volpini.
The
value of data. The slow
growth of death. This is what
the Americans say as regards the beginnings of startup SaaS, i.e. Software as a
Service, usually linked with entrepreneurial stories featuring blood and tears.
“The story of WordLift is
not unlike these. The
first ten subscriptions have been the most suffered yet the best ones. In the
beginning, it was not a given that semantics could help search engines bring
measurable benefits to companies. Today, helping companies grow by improving
metadata and processes is an incredible source of satisfaction”, says Volpini. Human, technological,
cultural and reputational capital. But there is even more. Because, before
being a company, WordLift is a community of people who believe in the value of
data and in an ethical use of technologies. Volpini is convinced of this. “Helping companies grow is a beautiful
mission. Managing to do so in Italy is obviously a source of great pride”.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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