The infamous file sharing website has been taken down. Try visiting Megaupload.com, the site is no longer up. The FBI made four arrests along with the closure of the file sharing website. Many internet users are shocked by this news as SOPA’s protest was only yesterday in which a huge number of highly trafficked sites closed down in hope of taking down SOPA.
Interestingly enough, the taking down of Megaupload and arrests have caught the attention of international hacktivist group Anonymous. Anon released a message to the public via YouTube to declare the beginning of some sort of cyber-war between the citizens of the United States of America and the Government. Anonymous also urged viewers to share the video via various social media platforms. In retaliation to the FBI’s actions, Anonymous attacked many government sites which resulted in them being offline for some time.
There is a huge amount of protest going on against SOPA and also PIPA as many internet users believe this will censor the internet. Most agree that online piracy needs to be combatted, but this is not an effective method to fix the issue.
This act by the FBI shows that even without SOPA’s approval, they can take any site down and arrest whoever they want, according to Anon anyway. Whether SOPA is passed will be decided in four days, we can only wait and see what will happen to the internet.
If the bill passes it will hugely affect the web in ways that cannot be fathomed. Search engines will be forced to alter their results, which will result in biased results, directly affecting the process and general industry of SEO and PPC.
If SOPA is not approved, it is likely that the US government will find another bill that the citizens of America will be happy about and to deal with online piracy once and for all.
It has been made public as of now that Google are definitely against the SOPA act, and they definitely have just reason to be. Although they are with the SOPA movement, you won’t be sent to a black screen, Google has used their staggering traffic to the best of their ability.
If you log onto Google.com, you will notice at the bottom of the page there is a message from congress which states “Tell congress: Please don’t censor the web”, and by clicking this link, it will take you to another section of Google in which you can sign an online petition to stop SOPA and PIPA, on top of that… information about the two bills are available. More importantly the effects of these bills are explained which is something that is hard to find. Then there is a community section that proves the growing community that are opposing the movements. Internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter, eBay, PayPal and of course Google, not to mention the countless others who are opposing the censorship of the internet.
The Effects
According to Google, SOPA and PIPA will do more harm than good. This is because it will force internet businesses to closely monitor everything linking to their site and if they are in violation of any new laws according to SOPA and PIPA, then it could potentially mean the end of the business, which will leave a huge number of people jobless.
It would be different if SOPA and PIPA actually worked, according to the big G!, these acts won’t stop online piracy. The regulations written in these bills wont successfully shut down their sites, they will simply transfer them to another domain and continue until they are caught again.
Conclusion
Anyone who works on the internet frequently has had their work stolen and pirated before. Whether you’re a writer or film maker, it happens so often and there is not much we can do about it. We do need a bill or law to prevent online piracy. However we need one that will work and not end up crippling the internet as we know it. This change will have a huge effect on social media and could potentially put a stop to it, not to mention SEO and PPC as the algorithm will be a completely different and most likely biased, and that is if it hasn’t been banned by a government.
SOPA is the stop online piracy act that many sites are partaking in. Sites such as Wikipedia, eBay and even Google are protesting this act, Wikipedia are even taking their site down for the day and so are many other sites. This will show how much the bill will affect the average joe and help to raise awareness about the act.
Whether you are for, or against SOPA, we really need to consider both sides, especially before we jump into any rash decisions like take our site down for the day because of SOPA. Granted, if this act does become approved, then the internet will be a completely different place for every user. Many huge sites are taking action against SOPA and if you are against the act, you must think abou what will happen if you join the blackout movement.
Points To Consider
The first point would be the obvious “am I going to make a difference”. The chances are that you won’t. As blunt as that may be, it is the truth. Compare your impact to what a site like Google would have. If Google blacked out their site for the day, then it would have a massive effect on users of the internet. It is the most popular site on the web so there would be a devastating impact, if anything would get the word out about SOPA, then no doubt it would be by Google. That said, your site is most likely no were near as popular… Unless your name is Mark Zuckerberg. Consider how much money you would lose to having a website down for a day, it can be fatal for some sites, this loss would need an indefinite gain, and unfortunately since there isn’t, then I feel it would not be a wise move to blindly jump on the SOPA band wagon, in terms of blacking your site out.
Another point would be to think of other ways you can help the cause. You can raise awareness from other methods, whether you’re for SOPA or against it, there has to be something you can do, this is where you can use your own personal experience and creativity to “fight the power”.
Conclusion
There are many reasons in which why not to jump into the SOPA act, whether you are a supporter or not. If you are not getting traffic on a scale of Facebook, Google and Twitter, it is unwise to jump into a decision like that. The best thing you can do is use your skills, whether you are a plumber or a SEO company, there is something you can do to help your side of the argument.
Yahoo and Bing have created a search alliance together. This new found partnership enables web masters to manage their PPC campaigns on both search engines, but only from one site. This means that running a campaign on both websites is more convenient than ever.
Step Up
Google is the search giant; there is no dispute about that. However, we all know that Yahoo have been slowly declining and have been in need of a comeback. This alliance could be exactly what Yahoo needs to begin to bring back higher user activity on their site. Especially since Yahoo site explorer went down, which was a tool that displayed incoming links, this tool was heavily used by SEO ‘s around the world. Now the alliance has been formed, this could be Yahoo’s big break.
What The Bing?
The question must be raised, what is in it for Bing? Well the most obvious reason would be a higher volume of search. Although Yahoo is on a downhill slope right now so the search volume required would not be that great. I think there are other reasons for this Alliance. Possibly Yahoo’s tech heads are better with PPC or may have a more technical algorithm than Bing.
Taking On The G!
Since Google is the king of search, I believe this is an attempt for the two engines (Y! + Bing) to team up and group together their current volumes of traffic and make an attempt to beat Google, this will be tough to accomplish straight away, any search engine to take on Google will not receive an instant win. So unless an awesome advance in the industry is made by Yahoo and Bing, then it will be difficult for them to overcome Google and become the top source of information on the web.
Conclusion
It is unlikely that we will be informed the true reason for this alliance. It is most likely an attempt to combat Google but the reason why they are teaming up is much more than we know. Yahoo are most likely part of this to bring themselves back from their decline. However the reasons for Bing to be a part of this alliance are unclear.
Google Plus may be the new kid on the block, but it has everything other social networks have and maybe even more. Google have had their social network not only available to the public for a while, but now also a mobile app.
Potentially copy catting Facebook and Twitter, but the famous saying of Apple is that they have an app for that. Google cannot be blamed for jumping on the mobile band wagon, every social network should be available on a mobile device and now they are.
Features
Google Plus has five main sections to the platform (not including games). These areas are the stream, messenger, photos, profile and circles. All of these factors are available on both the web on a desktop computer, and the mobile app. Notifications are also displayed at the bottom of the screen which is great when you would like to be instantly notified.
Downside
One downside about + for mobile devices is that hangouts is not really available as there would be some compatibility issues which would just cause a bad user experience. For example, the iPhone 3GS would not be able to hangout via video because it only has a back camera available so the face would not be able to be seen so it would be pointless.
Conclusion
All features that are available on the web are also available on the Google Plus app, which makes this app an ideal tool for social media marketing which goes great with SEO campaigns and other various internet marketing activities.
For the first 200,000 UK Facebook users – 5 simple steps
Hi and welcome to my Blog at SEO Positive, each week I will be providing you with my digital marketing Top Tips on how your online business can stay ahead of your competitors! We manage online marketing campaigns (SEO, PPC, Social Media and Website Design) for some of the biggest clients on the internet providing them with a healthy ROI (Return on Investment) here’s a few of them: promocodes.co.uk, luggagesuperstore.co.uk, voijeans.co.uk, partybritain.co.uk and spabreak.co.uk for more examples please see our case studies.
So you’re a Facebook user and would like to know how to get 50 FREE Business cards that costs you absolutely nothing that’s right not a penny just 5 minutes of your time!
Follow these 5 simple steps and receive 50 FREE Facebook Business Cards:
1. Log into your account.
2. You will need to be using the new Timeline profile for this to work, if not you will have to convert it.
3. Go onto your contact info in the about section in your Timeline profile.
4. Click on the Business Card logo.
5. Allow MOO Business Cards access to your information and then follow the simple steps.
Facebook has launched this to coincide with the new Timeline profile, allowing everyone to integrate more with each other’s details. So if you are considering starting up a business or already have a business and would like to take advantage of 50 Free Business Cards then why not it’s FREE!
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Hoping that you have all had a great time over the holiday season and wishing you all the best in this New Year. Many things are happening this year such as the 2012 Olympics which are coming to London this year, not to mention Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee this February.
For SEO companies and enthusiasts, we could be looking at a huge or minor change in the industry this year. There where algorithm changes last year with the integration of the social network Google Plus. So what has Google got in store for us this year? Without a doubt there will be more changes to the algorithm but maybe a few more features will be released and majorly impact search as we know it.
Another possibility is that Google Plus becomes a hugely dominant social network and leaves Facebook in the dust, which will give Google the full Monopoly board so to speak. All of this is yet to come in 2012 and there will be things that no one could have predicted as with every year.
Predictions based on last year can be made by anyone and really they are simply preparations in case something like an algorithm change happens which will cause a few sites to drop dramatically in the SERP’s. All there is to do is to wait and see until Google or any other SEO, Social Media, PPC or even Web Design related news is released.
We have all downloaded things at a snail’s pace, whether it be: music, a program or even a film, we stare at the computer screen hours on end, begging for it to go a little faster. Thanks to netindex, I can safely list the top 5 places to download stuff from. This is based on the average download speed for that country
Lithuania - 31.74mbps
South Korea - 29.74mbps
Latvia - 26.77mbps
Sweden - 26.08mbps
Romania - 25.77mbps
Just for a comparison, the UK gets 11.38mbps and the US gets 12.19mbps, which is insane to compare because that is almost twice the speed and those that live in the UK and US would like to think of their country as pretty developed and somewhat high tech.
Lithuania holds the title for fastest download speeds. SEO could be done at twice the speed in Lithuania compared to the UK, especially the link building process which involves heavy browsing.
The reason for Lithuania’s super fast internet speeds cannot be said for sure as there could be a million and one different factors effecting countries like the UK in a negative way or Lithuania in a positive way. All that can be said is that if you are in the area, make sure you get all of your downloads done.
Google released one of the most interactive doodles yet, this doodle was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem and his first ever book publication. Lem was a polish Sci Fi author and was best known for his novel called Solaris which was published in 1961. This novel was later made into a film which starred George Clooney in 2002.
Unlike previous doodles, when clicking on the animation, Google users are not transported onto another page, the animation continues and the little character walks along the screen to a giant robot with a somewhat untrustworthy calculator. Once this mini game is completed, the character walks up to another challenge in which you have to match up the lines in an oscilloscope, and your final task is to shoot a robot out of a cannon to hit a satellite dish. As you complete each task, you collect a part to build some form of robot. Towards the end, the head is added to the giant robot and explodes, sending you to the results page for Stanislaw Lem.
For those that don’t know much about Lem, this doodle can seem somewhat confusing but fun at the same time. Either way this doodle is very elaborate and must have took some work on Google’s end, which makes a change from their usual algorithm updates that constantly evolve SEO. This doodle is without a doubt, a great tribute to an age old Sci Fi novel and author.
SEOs world wide would have been redirected to the dreaded page of the “site explorer update” In a nutshell, this service is no more and we are going to have to find another place to locate a reliable source of backlinks.
We were all told that Yahoo site explorer was going to be closed down at some point, but it has come to a shock to all SEO’s of the world. Such a massively used and reliable tool is now no more.
Yahoo have said that Yahoo search has been merged with Bings’ Webmaster tools. For many toolbars such as SEO Book, this has caused a massive problem. Beforehand, we had the ease of viewing the amount of backlinks a page had, without even having to open up another browser.
What Is Next?
It is fair to say that Yahoo! Are finished and this site explorer integration to Bing was the last step. SEO’s will have to find a new source of information to base their research on, this will prove to be a difficult task, especially because Yahoo was free and provided excellent results. This could lead to many SEO companies having to go down the route of purchasing software which was once not needed but could now be an essential factor of any SEO business.
The integration into Bings’ Webmaster tools could prove to be a good thing, however this may not completely take off because it may be unable to include into a toolbar like it was for Yahoo site explorer. Fingers cross that there is something that can be done on the situation, because SEO’s will be feeling the burn of an essential tool being snatched away.
