Secure Domains for All on WordPress Sites

WordPress blogs on custom hosting packages set to gain HTTPS domains

WordPress secure domain image.
Image via Shutterstock.

Automattic, owners of the WordPress blogging platform, have extended the use of secure domains to websites using their custom hosting packages. Since 2014, weblogs hosted on a subdomain of WordPress.com have had a secure domain.  Its extension brings them in line with WordPress.com hosted sites.  Fears of increased surveillance and security concerns have prompted the company’s decision. Continue reading “Secure Domains for All on WordPress Sites”

Apply These 5 Secret Techniques to Improve the Net66 Blog

Net66 looks at blog title generators

Ground coffee, an iMac, and a flash of inspiration: essential tools for many a blogger. Blog image by RawPixel.com/Shutterstock.

 

Here are the five secrets of our blog:

  1. High-quality content;
  2. Striking imagery;
  3. Current and relevant blog posts;
  4. Effective use of social networking sites;
  5. Eye-catching titles.

O.K., forget the above list, we know there’s nothing better than blowing our own trumpet every now and again. The whole point of our blog post title is the way it was constructed. Whereas all our blog titles are beautifully crafted, this one was created with a blog title generator. Yes, we at Net66 cheated a little by using a title generator. Oh, the shame. Continue reading “Apply These 5 Secret Techniques to Improve the Net66 Blog”

Many Happy Retweets: Happy 10th Birthday to Twitter

Net66 celebrates Twitter’s tenth year in cyberspace

Twitter graphics
So Much to Say, So Few Characters: That is Twitter to a tee, proof that less can be more. Image by JeremyKramerDesign/Shutterstock.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then a pixel paints 140 characters. This, alas, isn’t Twitter’s tagline, but the world’s favourite microblogging site has captured the imagination of many users. Some famous, several not-so-famous. Twitter first made its presence known on the 21 March 2006. Continue reading “Many Happy Retweets: Happy 10th Birthday to Twitter”

Lee Sedol versus Google: An ‘Aye’ for AI?

AlphaGo’s emphatic victory over human opponent

A completed Go board, though not a game between Lee Sedol.
Popular: Go, mastered by Lee Sedol and – as we have found this week – Google’s ActiveGo AI engine. 60 million people saw the clash in South Korea on Chinese and Korean televisions. Image by Saran Poroong/Shutterstock.

The battle between man and machine has been contested since the Industrial Revolution. In recent times, this has seen Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at Chess in 1997. Over the last week, a similar contest has taken place between Lee Sedol and a Google AI robot at the Four Seasons hotel in Seoul, South Korea. This time with the Chinese board game of Go. Continue reading “Lee Sedol versus Google: An ‘Aye’ for AI?”

PageRank: Its Part in its Own Downfall

The end of an era as PageRank fades from public view

For nearly 16 years, Google’s PageRank has been, simultaneously, a help and a hindrance. It has created a cottage industry in its own right with search engine consultancies working on improving PageRank figures. This meant emphasising on link building and aiming to link with higher ranking pages. Sometimes at the expense of high-quality content and creating an audience for your website. Continue reading “PageRank: Its Part in its Own Downfall”

They’re Just Burning Doin’ the Google Dance

Google Dance reunion evokes memories of one of Google’s social events, inspired by one of the search engine’s most infamous updates

Almost the Google Dance going off the colour scheme.
Havin’ a Party: image by Zeber/Shutterstock.

Where were we in 2008? Well, back then, Net66 was only four years old. The top tunes of that year included Duffy’s Mercy and The Ting Tings’ That’s Not My Name. Top of the SEO technician’s hit parade was – and remains – the power of Google. The key to this was Google’s algorithm changes, known as the Google Dance. Continue reading “They’re Just Burning Doin’ the Google Dance”

Facebook: Taxing Times for Social Media Giant

Corporation Tax switch sees Facebook paying more tax in 2016-17 Financial Year

Taxing times for Facebook.
Taxing times: Facebook has agreed to pay UK Corporation Tax for its British operations. On the other hand, it is using an employees’ bonus scheme to streamline its tax bill. Image by RawPixel.com/Shutterstock.

 

Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking site is set to pay more Corporation Tax in the next Financial Year, following a recent outcry. The popular social media site will switch the tax base of its UK operations from Dublin to London. Continue reading “Facebook: Taxing Times for Social Media Giant”

Kiddle: A Look at the Junior Google

Introducing a new child-friendly take on Google

The internet can be an exciting yet daunting place for young children. Search engine results (unless you turn the search engine’s Safety Mode on) could lead children to unsavoury websites. Some of which could expose children to, for example, violence, pornography or gambling. Using Google’s results as its base is a new search engine, Kiddle. Continue reading “Kiddle: A Look at the Junior Google”

Search Engine Optimisation: Are You Getting It?

SEO strategy lost on one in two American small businesses

Search Engine Optimisation image.
Search Engine Optimisation matters: small to medium-sized businesses could be missing out on potential traffic and business. With half of the UK’s advertising budget spent online, it is foolhardy to neglect this sector. (Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Scandinavian Stock).

 

For over a decade, search engine optimisation has been in Net66’s DNA along with web design. In a 2015 survey from Smart Insights, it accounts for 45% of SME sector spending on digital advertising in the UK. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, one in two U.S. small businesses has yet to implement an SEO strategy, according to a survey by Clutch. Continue reading “Search Engine Optimisation: Are You Getting It?”

The Importance of Product Reviews in SEO

Product reviews and their role in consumers’ buying habits

Product Reviews chalkboard.

Imagine you’re going on holiday or about to make a major purchase. Among the first things you look at after price is the customer reviews. For your next trip, you look at customers’ experiences of the hotel, tour operator or airline. If purchasing white goods, you weigh up their responses to the item’s performance. The first place they turn to for product reviews is the internet. Continue reading “The Importance of Product Reviews in SEO”

The Strange Demise of Adobe Flash

End of an era for file format that shaped today’s websites

Adobe Flash for every one of us...?
Flash: Several years from now, we could be watching ourselves at home and commenting on clips.
Dale Arden: I doubt it. They would rather waste their time in front of cat videos.
Flash: Leave it to me. Then again, I bet someone will beat me to it in 2005 and call it Adobe Flash. Anyway, the Majestic on Old Street wouldn’t allow it, let alone the ODEON on Leicester Square.

On the internet, Adobe Flash (née Macromedia Flash) has died gracefully in its sleep. In its wake came changes to HTML, which offered similar facilities to Adobe’s technologies. Today, Flash has diminished in general use. For example, YouTube supports HTML5 videos by default.

Continue reading “The Strange Demise of Adobe Flash”

AMP Sets to Speed Up Mobile Browsing

Introducing Accelerated Mobile Pages, a look at Google’s current framework for tablets and smartphones

On the 07 October 2015, Google introduced AMP. Also known as Accelerated Mobile Pages, it aims to reduce loading times on portable devices. Known on the Moz website as Diet HTML, pages load in a quarter of the time of standard web pages. With people viewing sites on mobile browsers likely to give up after 10 seconds wait, this framework placates the impatient. Continue reading “AMP Sets to Speed Up Mobile Browsing”

Ten SEO Related Google Queries using Autocomplete

Google autocomplete suggestions for SEO or search engines

Google Queries screenshot.
SEO related Google queries: a Google screenshot courtesy of the search engine’s autocomplete functions.

 

In some sources, it was claimed that favouritism was shown towards the Conservative Party on Google’s search engine results.  Over the last three days, entering ‘Conservatives are’ was found to have returned no negative autocomplete suggestions.  On entering ‘Labour are’, or ‘SNP are’ into Google’s search box returns negative suggestions. Continue reading “Ten SEO Related Google Queries using Autocomplete”

Introducing the Google Looking Glass

A mirror for our times

Max Braun's Google Looking Glass.
Sneak Preview: a look at Max Braun’s Google Looking Glass. Photograph by Max Braun himself, 2016 (Creative Commons License – Some Rights Reserved).

 

When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you do?  Switch off the alarm?  Turn your smartphone or tablet on?  If you fall in the latter, you’re probably the kind of person who wants to check the news, weather or traffic information prior to going out.  You feel safe in the knowledge you’ve put the right coat on, or avoided the busiest roads.  Could the Google Looking Glass (our name for it, not theirs as yet) be a suitable alternative to the tablet?

Continue reading “Introducing the Google Looking Glass”

In Pictures: Google Maps 3D Views

Notable landmarks seen within Google Maps’ 3D views

We at SEO Manchester Ltd are fans of Google’s enhanced recent tools, especially the enhanced 3D views seen in principal towns and cities all over the world. Their introduction of Tilt mode enables you to view three dimensional views in a number of perspectives, and isometric views. For our latest post, we have 12 examples of 3D imagery of noted landmarks around the world.

From then on, we shall let the pictures do most of the talking.

Continue reading “In Pictures: Google Maps 3D Views”

Chrome Blitz on Insecure Websites

Google’s Chrome browser set to ‘shame’ sites without secure domain

Vintage chrome Chopper bike.
Secure, as in this chrome Chopper being tied to a cyclist’s post.

 

Web browsers, when kept to speed with the latest updates are made more secure, immune from the latest insecurities. This year, Google is set to go a step further. Through its Chrome browser, it intends to ‘shame’ websites that are hosted on a HTTP domain. Continue reading “Chrome Blitz on Insecure Websites”

Google Tax Deal Sparks Fresh Inquiry

Anger over search engine’s tax deal sees move by MPs

Naughty Google!

For many small businesses, our customers, and of course Net66 ourselves, there is a rush towards HMRC’s Self Assessment deadline (which is midnight, on the 31 January 2016).  Tax rates are non-negotiable and, whether you are a one-man band or a multinational concern, this means the deadline for online annual tax returns.  Taxation, at best, is the bargain we strike with HMRC for keeping our streets in tip-top condition, and the funding of our public services.  Whether you pay the basic rate of Income Tax or VAT on a meal out, it is inescapable. Continue reading “Google Tax Deal Sparks Fresh Inquiry”