Not only that, but we can see things from a different perspective now. I can compare
what I read in the newspapers to what the media in other countries is saying, and even what individual people think about the matter.

I think that this almost ubiquitous access to information is a huge leap forward (and a fantastic equaliser) for everyone, but it wasn’t always here, and it’s not guaranteed to last forever.

Where did this all start?

Let’s go back in time a bit to get some context about what I’m talking about. In the Middle Ages the Bible was written in Latin, and the Catholic Church were the ones responsible for interpreting it all over Europe – giving them the power to define suitable solutions to almost every problem of society. Suddenly someone had the bright idea of printing them, and then it was freely available to almost anyone (and in French, not Latin). This snatched a lot of power away from the Church – anyone could now read their own copy of the Bible and interpret it in a manner they saw fit.

Unsurprisingly, the printing press was blamed for this new avalanche of “disinformation”, and eventually its use was outlawed in France under penalty of death in 1535.

Also unsurprisingly, trying to make this new technology illegal didn’t work. The modern printing press is still used to print millions of Bibles the world over, as well as other media that billions of people consume.

Now let’s fast forward to the present day (you can see where I’m going with this eh?). Not only are the governments of the world doing their best to stop people sharing media, they are using this motive – amongst others – to tighten their grip on the internet in general. Moving towards tighter control of this revolutionary freedom we have at the moment to both publish and consume information freely, no matter what the topic.

Pirates Ahoy

Consider the case of MegaUpload, which was completely shut down by the US government, meaning even legitimate users could not access their files. A great example of attacking the underlying technology rather than trying to actually embrace it.

MegaUpload offered to join up with content providers: “If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.” but to no avail. Instead the whole website was shut down.

Recently the Pirate Bay was blocked in the UK, a move I personally found rather shocking. Once we accept it is OK for the government to force ISPs to block sites, where do we stop? I look at the list of websites blocked in China (one of these is Pirate Bay, by the way) and wonder if the UK will have a similar list in five or ten years time.

I agree with Jim Killock – director of the Open Rights Group – when he says that blocking sites in this way is “pointless and dangerous” and “will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism … Internet censorship is growing in scope and becoming easier. Yet it never has the effect desired.”

But it’s not just piracy…

The government already considered shutting down sites like Twitter and Facebook during the riots of 2011 to prevent it being used to organise and rally groups of people – which is, by the way, the exact same reason that the Chinese government has blocked the site altogether within its borders.

Here in the UK we are seeing that the Government is planning to pass legislation that will allow GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) to access information about internet traffic in real time and on demand. This includes email, chat, VoIP, the sites you visit and the files you have downloaded.

The Queen herself has even weighed in, saying “My government intends to bring forward measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data”.

And where are we going next? A rapid-fire volley of various bills and acts that would try to control internet traffic are being leveled at us now, one particularly scary one being CISPA (the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act). This would effectively allow countermeasures to be used by private companies in the US – meaning a Network Administrator could legally install spyware like keyloggers on your computer if they thought you might be trying to break into something. It wouldn’t even be “Big Brother” watching you, it’d be an employee of a private company.

It all adds up to a pretty bleak outlook – one where what we can and can’t read on the internet is defined by governments and private companies. Whether we trust them to choose the right content for us isn’t really the point in my opinion – that fact that our freedom of access to the internet is being rapidly diminished is the worrying thing – as is the fact that we would be breaking the law if we tried to circumvent these measures.

I’d like to close with a quote from Loyd Blankenship, a notorious hacker since the 70’s:

“We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.”

A new ‘social sidebar’ will be added to the search engine, connecting users with people from their social media circles who Bing deems can assist with their search query. Bing calls it Friends Who Might Know. The Microsoft blog said:

For example if you’re searching for diving spots in Costa Rica… you may discover that one of your friends knows a great spot, based on photos from their last trip

Such a move benefits both Facebook and Bing. It undercuts Twitter, acting as a faster alternative to the ‘instantaneous’ #asktwitter hashtag, and also helps Bing tap into the Facebook’s 500 million user base, likely upping its 15% US search engine market share . But how will the partnership impact on social media as a whole?

Like Google, Bing is trying to make their homepage the be-all, end-all of their internet experience. It wants you to connect to Facebook through it, and then use it to speak to your friends and get the information you need. Whereas before a search experience would have gone ‘query-results-website-answer’, Bing is looking to incorporate a ‘query-social-answer’ process. It’s already happening now, with Bing and Google answering queries without the need to even visit a website:

The above screenshot shows how Google has already made a start on this. There is now no real need to visit Wikipedia, despite its position as a Triple-A website.

So how does all this affect social media? For a start, Bing will become the official search engine for Facebook, with the eventual intention of people signed into Facebook browsing using the platform and Bing. It’s a move towards Facebook becoming the all-encompassing internet website, following on from the company’s attempt to overtake email and texts last year.

It also assists Facebook’s targeted marketing strategy. Now, rather than placing tailored ads in its sidebar based on users’ likes, dislikes and interactions, it can theoretically draw from their search habits to display related links and take a cut of any subsequent money spent.

The impact of the Facebook/Bing partnership on social media isn’t as big as the effect it will have on search, but it’s still a significant move towards web 3.0 (which will be ‘your’ internet) and an increasingly user-specific online experience.

Wanted: High Quality Sites – Reward Given

The Story

Codenamed “Google Penguin”, the algorithm follows Google’s last large-scale change (“Panda”), this time targeting webspam in the search engine results.

What does it mean for SEO’s?

Well firstly, you are likely seeing quite a few fluctuations if you are monitoring keyword rankings for any websites. With a number of low-quality websites now identified and “devalued” by the Penguin update, some of the more genuine websites have experienced healthy jumps in visibility.

If you were previously using some “darker” SEO techniques, then you may want to start cutting back unless you want to risk being affected by this latest update (if you haven’t been already!).

What does it mean for users?

As Google is intending, I fully expect a huge amount of spam filled websites dominating the SERPs to lose rankings, providing a higher quality of search results.

For more information, check out the Official Google Webmaster Central blog.

Another Informed Round-up

If you don’t quite know what to make of Google’s version of what the ‘penguin update’ will include, why not see what the guys at Search Engine Land have to say about it.

Wrongly Bitten by the Penguin?

No doubt there’ll be plenty of websites that are wrongly accused of webspam, with owners completely helpless and without a clue of where to turn. Fear not! Head of Google’s webspam operation has informed that there’s a handy form for you to plead your innocence with.

Still annoyed about that spammy competitor that’s unfairly dominating the SERPs using underhand tactics? There’s also a form for that.

htaccess Hacks You Need to Know

htaccess files can bring about a whole world of confusion if you don’t know what you’re doing, so how about a simple guide? Well, makeitrank.com have provided a handy list of 10 useful hacks.

Puis-je avoir un lien s’il vous plaît?

Or ‘can I have a link please?’ in English (at least, that’s what Google Translate says). SEO in foreign languages is still very much an unknown to the majority. Can you not just use Google Translate to translate all of your existing target terms? NO YOU CAN’T.

Luckily, SEOmoz have recently posted some great tips to get you started with SEO in other languages. Merci.

Wharton and Wilding have teamed up with Linux and open source expert Sam Bashton to form LeanCall, a service Wilding told the M.E.N.

does everything that a traditional call centre system does.

Traditional call centre systems are very expensive. You need a building with your own servers and phones, and you need to pay a regular software licence fee.

[With LeanCall] all you need is a laptop, or even a tablet, with an internet connection and a USB headset. Straightaway you are generating cost savings by removing the need for an office full of people and allowing remote workers to work from home.

Roy Wilding

LeanCall prides itself on its sophistication; the product needs no hardware, and there is no contract to sign before using it. It’s a Pay As You Go service for any business managing concentrated outbound calls, and all that’s needed for use is a computer with an internet connection and a headset.

Speaking to How-Do, Wharton praised Bashton’s research and development, outlining how he and Wilding jumped at the chance to get involved:

The new business is an exciting move for us. We have always been entrepreneurial and have a track record of running successful online businesses. When the LeanCall opportunity came our way we were more than happy to get involved commercially.

Simon Wharton

Google Issues Webmaster Notices of Artificial or Unnatural Links

To bring you up to speed with recent industry news; a large number of low quality link networks have been de-indexed and some 700,000 warning messages stating the detection of “artificial” or “unnatural” links have been sent out to webmasters. As a result of this action taken by Google many users of ‘blackhat’ SEO techniques recently dropped rankings quite dramatically.

Unsurprisingly these recent changes in search were spoken of extensively at ionSearch. The message coming from almost all of the speakers was the same; ‘whitehat’ SEO techniques are more important now than at any point previously if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

Key points from the conference:

Dave Snyder and Tom Anthony of Distilled both presented an accurate recreation of the evolution of SEO. Both speakers showed how search engines have participated in a game of cat and mouse to prevent blatant gaming of the system, bringing us up to the most recent update.

Recent unnatural link penalties and notices to webmasters were a recurring topic. Tim Grice of Branded 3 showed how easy it is to spot an unnatural link profile using SEOmoz, hammering home the point that if we can see it search engines certainly can.

Tim had also undertaken some testing on anchor text variation. He concluded that it is dangerous to over optimise for specific terms and algorithmic penalties exist to penalise those participating in this activity. Tim’s recommendations that incoming anchor text should be varied with a maximum 10% focus on any particular search term to avoid algorithmic filters and/or penalties were agreed with by all on the day. Tim had also seen improvements in search positions through choosing anchor text that had relevance to the surrounding content on the page.

Moving onwards from what we shouldn’t be doing, Tom Anthony delivered what was for me the session of the day in which he spoke extensively about Google authorship.

‘Social shares are the new link building’ – Tom Anthony

Dave Synder - Content Marketing In The Post-Panda World

Tom presented a believable theory that when a Google+ account is linked to an article it will act as a system of quality control. Authors content will be naturally vetted by the community as only quality content will naturally be shared (+1’s). Ultimately, links from authors who achieve a higher social status in the community will have more weighting than those without prominent Google author accounts.

The rising prominence of Google authorship provides a clear case of why the development of an SEO plan around quality, engaging content is so important and Lee Odden’s session provided more insight into this. His approach of ‘segmentation of customers and creating a content and editorial strategy that considers all of these segments’ really struck a chord with the work we have been doing here at PushON.

Unibet provided some useful insights into their Google+ strategy. Offering customers exclusive hang out’s with betting experts and engaging users with tongue in cheek Meme’s have proved successful. Despite the prominence of their brand the uptake has been slow, refreshingly though Unibet do recognise the long term importance of building a strong Google+ following for the search benefits it presents.

If anyone was left in doubt about the rising importance of social sharing in SEO, Google+ representative Danny Gray made an appearance and spoke enthusiastically about the social network. Gray presented us with the facts; ‘90% of people trust a friends recommendation and as a result CTR’s are up on average 5-10% from +1′s’.

ionSearch 2012 certainly provided a clear indication of how SEO is evolving. Creative marketing strategies that engage customers and facilitate social activity are now more powerful than ever in search.

For more information on the event visit: www.ionsearch.co.uk

PushON SEO Executive: +Tom Fitton

If you haven’t seen it, the video follows a day in the life of our mysterious Google Glasses Wearer, who we see put on his Google Glasses as the video starts. His laptop (Laptop?! Get with the times, Grandad!), sits next to him, useless now, and he’s fully clothed and stretching. Goodness knows what he’s just been doing, so let’s just assume he was on Facebook.

Next, the wearer pours a coffee (did he fall asleep in his clothes then? Are Google targeting drunks? The homeless?) and then has his plans for the day thrust before him. It’s 58 degrees, ten past nine, he’s seeing Jess tonight and he should, erm, go on Google+. That makes the date April 1st.

Wearer then eats a sandwich, and his friend Paul texts him IN HIS EYES asking if he wants to meet up. Curiously, Paul wears glasses, and may therefore suffer vision impairment when he swaps them for his cyberbins. I wish the video followed Paul walking into lamp posts and accidentally posting it on Twitter.

The two agree to meet at a bookshop but, alas, the subway is broken so this Ultimate Wearer has to walk all of three blocks instead! When he arrives at the book shop, Paul still hasn’t turned up (bloody lamp posts!), so the protagonist buys a book about learning the ukulele in a day. A tech-lover with a daft guitar; perfect for a terrible house party!

Wacky Robo-Formby and his buddy then buy coffee from a van, rudely reading reviews right in front of the vendor, before they part ways (note we didn’t see their hands, so we cannot rule out the exchange of narcotics) because it’s now time for the Wearer’s date with Jess! Like all good relationships, as soon as he remembers the date he legs it to the highest point he can find.

Of course it’s a video date! He says “Do you wanna see something cool”, on a date, and then whips out his instrument and strums awkwardly until the screen goes white.

Welcome to the future.

The right candidate must be a self-starting individual, with strong organisational and written skills. You must possess a passion for the SEO industry, and be committed to keeping up to date with industry news, trends and best practices.

Main responsibilities will include:

• On-page SEO
• Keyword research
• Technical website audits (inc. knowledge of HTML/CSS)
• Content creation
• Running and assisting full SEO campaigns
• Maintaining client relationships
• Producing client reports

Skills required:

• Thorough understanding of SEO (both on-page and off-page)
• Knowledge of other marketing activities that impact SEO performance
• Strong organisational and time-keeping skills
• Strong written and communication skills (inc. telephone manner)
• Strong research and analysis skills
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc)
• Experience with Google Analytics

Beneficial skills for the role include:

• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign knowledge (inc. Google AdWords)
• Experience of link building
• Experience with social media

To apply for this role, please send a CV and covering letter to: info@pushon.co.uk. Please also include any examples of your own work you may have, including a blog or online portfolio.

Strictly no recruitment agencies.

Hayley

Why are you emailing me? Did you bother reading our recruitment page?

http://www.pushon.co.uk/about/recruitment/

Please don’t contact us again

I don’t know about you Ms Smith (of Blayze Unguem), but I thought I was fairly clear. So why have you spammed me again tonight? Do the people who trust you with their CVs know you randomly spam agencies rather than thinking about their needs for their career development? I suspect they don’t.

Thankyou once again for your email spam, but please, I think it’s best for all concerned that you take me permanently off your contact list.

Magento Go

Magento is the first and the most powerful e-commerce development platform with a plethora of features and functionalities. Within this amazing growth, they have introduced several products such as Enterprise, the deployed solution.

In February 2011, Magento launched a hosted solution, Magento Go. It is a SaaS (software as a service) which supports cloud technology. With this feature, Magento has become an even more feasible option for online sellers to beat their competitors. Within days of its first release, thousands of merchants were registered to test drive the turnkey servers for building and running their online stores.

In Magento Go, you can build your powerful store on your own to sell your products and services online quickly and easily. Magento Go provides the robust setup tools to manage your store such as customisable designs and out of the box professionally designed themes, attention and loyalty tools, customer engagement tools to increase the interaction for the best customer experience and product variations such as bundles and group products. It offers an impulsive navigation system so people with limited knowledge of the web can also handle it very well. Magento Go makes it a lot easier to edit the site through the CMS.

M2E extension flow

Recently people have built their confidence in online buying and have become more sophisticated in how they use it. They have started looking for products through different online channels such as eBay, Amazon, Facebook, etc. From seller point of view, they are more tempted to synchronise their online store with eBay or Amazon stores to control the inventory in one place.

M2E extension

Recently Magento partnered with ESS-UA to create an impressive M2E extension for which enables Magento Go stores to seamlessly connect to eBay platform. M2E is a single data entry management point with full control over inventory across different channels. You can connect multiple eBay accounts to multiple Magento stores, which provides the user a flexible data synchronization for prices, products information and stock levels. Also eBay orders get imported into Magento and treated as native Magento orders.

The part I liked the most is you can create and list products from Magento Go with M2E extension. Basically you don’t even need to login to your eBay store account anymore.

The best part is, it is completely FREE and includes full technical support, I think it is worth a try. There is similar extension scheduled to come out for Amazon in spring 2012.

This option wasn’t carried over from the previous version of Google Analytics, and left a number of people frustrated as they wanted to be able to export PDF-formatted reports.

As of this afternoon, I am now able to see this option across our accounts within Google Analytics (screenshot below).