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Beanstalk's SEO News Blog

At Beanstalk Search Engine Optimization we know that knowledge is power. That's the reason we started this SEO blog. We know that the better informed our visitors are, the better the decisions they will make for their websites and their online businesses. We hope you enjoy your stay and find the SEO news contained within this blog useful.

February 4, 2013

USA Up to Bat for Copyright Alert System

On Wednesday, the New Zealand government convicted its first offender to fall under the "Three Strikes Law." The RIANZ http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/rianz_homepage.asp An unnamed offender was fined a total of $616.57 for the illegally downloaded material.
Silly judges
The amount required to prosecute the offender totaled $250,000; which leads to the question of whether or not it is really worth the expenditure to prosecute an individual for copyright infringement?

Similar problems were occurred in France when HADOPI, when the socialist party spent 16 million Euros for 60 agents to dispatch 1 million email notifications to copyright infringers. RIANZ is not happy with the resulting figures and feels that the infringement fees should be dropped to $2 per notice, but this was rejected by the Government. RIANZ argues that if the fees were set at $2 per violation, it would be able to process 5000 notices per month. "We believe this level of notices would have more fully realized the aim of the law."

This will be an important consideration as the Copyright Alert System will begin processing strikes notices in the United States very soon.

SEO news blog post by guestpost @ 11:18 am

Categories: copyright,Internet Law
Tags: copyright alert system, copyright infringement, HADPOI, mpaa, RIAA, RIANZ —

January 31, 2013

Are you Modern? Take the test!

Two pro-Microsoft posts in one week? I know, Right?!

Clearly we are not masters of fate or IT news, so today’s headline is covering the new modern:IE Test Site setup to assist web developers with creating IE compatible site content.

Wasn’t it like, two days ago that I just pointed out that the big flaw with IE is that the old versions create a web design nightmare? *tap tap* .. Apparently this thing is turned on?

What does it test?

Actually the tool is a suite of tests with some specific test cases for IE browser specific issues.

Here’s a list of categories it will test and report on without setting up a ‘Site Owner’ account:

Fix common problems from supporting old versions of IE:
Known compatibility issues
Compatibility Mode
Frameworks & libraries
Web standards docmode
Help this webpage work well across browsers, across devices:
CSS prefixes
Browser plug-ins
Responsive web design
Browser detection
Consider building with some new features in Windows 8:
Touch browsing default
Start screen site tile

If you plug your URL in the page will test all these areas and report back to you where improvements could be made.

Additionally there is a direct link to the ‘Pinned Site Tile’ testing/design tool.

This tool lets you select an image (144×144 pixel PNG) and text for your website when a Windows 8 user wants to ‘Pin’ the site to their start menu.

My experience with the tool wasn’t great, likely due to some caching, but if you test your code against sites that do work properly you can still sort out the needed meta tags quickly enough.

Other Goodies?

Included in the suite is a link to the Internet Explorer Test Drive site to compare HTML5 features and performance with other browsers..

This site includes lots of cool demos and tests like ‘Penguin Mark’ that entertain and inform.

Technically, I ended up short on time to cover more, so if you dive in and start to wonder why we didn’t point out something new/interesting, feel free to let us know, we’re always open to feedback.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 12:20 pm

January 30, 2013

The Return of Blackberry

Blackberry unveiled the BlackBerry 10 today, but for it to be any success, it will need to appeal to teens as well as business. Formerly known as RIM, Blackberry was once Canada’s signature tech company and has embedded itself into the collective Canadian identity despite its recent failures.

At Manhattan’s Pier 36, CEO Thorsten Heins revealed the latest smartphone called the Blackberry 10. The new phone comes with an updated OS and touch screen features

At one time, Blackberry held the lion’s share in the mobile phone industry and with its advanced security encryption algorithms, was used exclusively through business and governments. Once partnered with companies such as Yahoo and endorsed by the likes of President Obama, RIM has seen its share of market woes and had fallen behind in the very competitive mobile phone market.

Blackberry was at one time so successful that it has become a symbol of national pride (the polite, Canadian kind) normally reserved for Tim Horton’s, the Hudson’s Bay Company and hockey.

Although many users of Blackberry have jumped ship and moved to the competition, after two years of delays the Waterloo, Ontario-based company has released their latest phone with the anticipation that it will save the ailing company.

You can watch highlights from the unveiling taking place today on the Engadget site here: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/blackberry-10-liveblog/

Can the Blackberry Save RIM?

Blackberry 10 vs iPhone 5 Browser Compare

The History of RIM

http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/timeline-rim/

SEO news blog post by guestpost @ 11:23 am

Categories: Technology
Tags: blackberry, RIM, Thorsten Heins —

January 29, 2013

Feeling Old: Child of the 90s

Being a youthful person (aka: I never grew up) you could say I was a child of the 90s, but in all honesty, this new ‘Child of the 90s’ video promotion, from the marketing team behind Internet Explorer, just makes me feel old…

I’m pretty sure that generation YoYo came earlier & what’s up with that Apple II?

When I was young we had:
- 300baud vs. 56k
- 5.25″ vs. 3.5″
- monochrome vs. color
- Garfield™ vs. puppies
- Donkey Kong vs. Tamagotchi
- Handi-Snacks vs. Lunchables
- hockey cards vs. pogs

So it’s pretty close to my generation, but still makes me feel old.

Does it make me feel any affinity for IE, as if I can relate to it’s embarrassing past after remembering fanny packs?

Not really. It makes me remember when Netscape decided to put expiry dates on their browser so I was forced to install IE only for fear of support calls asking how to update Netscape.

Still, not a positive moment for IE, just being the browser that ’caused the least issues’, wasn’t much of a title?

How has that changed? Well now IE is, in my circles, the browser that that ’causes the most issues’.

So they grew up, but not the way we’d like, and until they expire all the old copies of IE laying around or break off to a new product name with zero ties to old IE issues, I thin IE is stuck with the ‘difficult child’ image.

When I was a kid..

When I was a kid we had electron guns we’d sit in front of, and the only thing between us and the gun firing electrons was a glass plate.

People said it wasn’t good, told us to keep our distance..

Now with Samsung offering curved OLED screens they are urging us to get close, saying that the screens offer an immersive experience:

OLED technology means less emissions, heat, and power consumption than almost any full color display technology available today.

As someone with less than 55″ inches of screen space curved around him right this moment, I’d have to say that this first screen will make it’s purchasers VERY happy once it comes to market and stops being a poster child for what’s coming.

Displays need to step-up indeed, what with all the 3d options coming out, including the very exciting Oculus Rift that’s been generating some interesting reaction videos (WARNING: Strong Language/Reactions):

Candid Anthony didn’t seem very impressed until he tried it..

So while folks were saying the next step in displays will be to plug into our brains, it appears that we are finding another step closer without the brain jack.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 1:30 pm

Categories: Browsers,Internet Explorer,IT Industry,just for fun,Technology,YouTube
Tags: Netscape, nostalgia, Oculus rift, OLED, VR —

January 24, 2013

Free Ranking Reports on Google!

I keep seeing people ask for their rank, asking what the best free ranking tools are, etc., like it’s so darn hard to ask Google where your website is in terms of it’s keywords.

First of all, Google Analytics has an ‘Average Position’ column for popular search queries that tells you a lot of great info about your site’s keywords.

This is an example of Search Queries sorted by Average Position

The link to this area is:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=
+ your URL.

Our website link would look like this:
…earch-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/

You can also click at the top of the position column to sort it, or tack this onto the end of the URL:
&grid.sortBy=8&grid.currentOrder=2d

If you aren’t getting enough data from this, first try out the download options, and load them up in a spreadsheet so you can sort/filter the data.

Most folks are surprised what a little bit of filtering and grouping can accomplish to provide you with a fresh perspective on data.

Still not enough? Well there’s a zillion free tools that will gladly trade your URL and keyword targets for a limited ranking report.

This is valuable data, so why not trade something free for it? Google does!

Indeed there’s enough free tools, that I won’t even bother mentioning one. Why don’t we just make one?

It’s not ‘hard’ to get your rank really, lets break it down:

Make a list of phrases you are trying to rank for
Do a Google search for your first phrase
Keep searching until you find your site
Take note of the position
Repeat

So how does the average person do this? It’s gets pretty technical, but all the resources are out there, and free!

To break that down in simple terms:

Setup a server or install XAMPP
Setup a database/table to store your rankings by date
Make a page that CURLs for your keywords
Setup a schedule to execute the php page regularly

Bingo, you now have your own ranking reports tool, and nobody is the wiser, besides Google, and they are usually too busy to care that you’re extra curious about your rankings.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of fine details to explain and not everyone is comfortable installing programs like this or scripting, but I am going to look at getting permission to make this a step-by-step how-to guide with full downloads so even novices can give this a try.

A final point to make is that excessive/automated queries on Google is a breach of their TOS, and could result in annoying blocks/complaints from Google if you were to attempt to use this method for a large set of keyword phrases, or wanted the reports updated constantly.

If you are a ‘power user’ who needs a lot of data, you’ll end up paying someone, and either you pay to use someone’s API key at a premium, or you get your own API key from Google and only pay for what you use.

Seems like an easy decision to me!

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 1:03 pm

Categories: Analytics,Code Tests,Coding,Google,keyword research,Rankings,seo articles,SEO Tips,SEO Tools
Tags: free ranking reports, MySQL, PHP, ranking reports —

January 23, 2013

Forget Your Password…it’s ok.

The days of trying to remember passwords and worrying about hacked accounts may be limited. Passwords have been somewhat effective in the past and are an easy way to authenticate web users, but they fall tragically short in security in today’s internet; and they always will.

USB token

According to a research paper from Google regarding the future of authentication on the web, the password problem could be solved with the aid of a USB -based Yubico log-on device. Google envisions a future where you only need to authenticate one device (with your smartphone, Yubico key, or perhaps wirelessly) and then use that similar to a car key to open up your webmail and other online accounts.

“Along with many in the industry, we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe,” state Google’s Eric Grosse and Mayank Upadhyay.

This small cryptographic device will automatically log in a user to Google using a new protocol (patent pending) for device-based authentication that will be independent of Google and will also prevent web sites from tracking users.

Other than requiring a browser that supports the technology, there is no additional software required and it could be as easy to use as tapping or swiping your card or key device the device you want to authenticate. In order for this new security standard to take hold, Google will need many other websites to get on board.

Two years ago, Google launched a two-step authentication option as part of their attempt to increase security for its users. The story of Mat Honan’s encounter with hackers, helped to inspire a quarter-million people to adopt the two step process. Google has not given any idea as to when we may see the new technology released.

SEO news blog post by guestpost @ 11:30 am

Categories: Apple Safari,Browsers,Cyber-Security,Google Chrome,Internet Explorer,internet security,Mozilla Firefox,Opera
Tags: online security, password authentication, yubico —

January 22, 2013

Oracle is meddling with search results?!

Like most headlines, there’s some leaping between facts going on, but we’ll connect the dots in short order, don’t you fret.

Scooby Doo Cartoon with additional logos

We want our Google results, not some Mystery Machine!?

Have you noticed how much/often Oracle has been updating Java on your machine lately?

You’d think, with all those security patches they are fixing, if you turned on a PC that has been dormant for 6 months it would be instantly hacked by it’s outdated Java upon loading nearly any web page?

Well that’s not exactly true, so what is true?

Here’s a list:

Oracle gets page traffic with each update
Ask.com pays for each install of the Ask Toolbar
By default the Ask.com toolbar is installed
Each update is a risk you won’t opt-out and click next
The Ask.com install waits 10 mins to install
Delayed invisible installs are a malware tactic
The Ask.com toolbar intercepts and modifies searches
Removing Ask’s toolbar won’t restore your search settings

Those are facts, and it doesn’t take a silver-tongued writer to get the reader to acknowledge how they all connect.

It’s so bad that IE, FireFox, and Chrome are all delivering UI changes to make these installs a LOT more clear to the end user..

.. and Ask.com has already started adding ‘helpers’ to make the new UI’s less likely to halt an installation where the user is just clicking along.

So it’s a back and forth struggle to keep your web browser free from unwanted clutter that pretends to be of value but actually alters your search results and steers you towards paid sites/links vs. organic search results.

How can you opt out of the war for your clicks?

If you don’t need Java, just don’t install it to begin with. If you hit something that needs Java then go ahead and use it; But don’t just install Java because you think it’s crucial.

You also don’t want to confuse JavaScript with Java; For some folks the Oracle Java installation can be completely avoided.

Use a clean installer without the added Ask.com payload. Since Oracle isn’t publishing any recent versions of the Java installer without the Ask.com toolbar components, this requires you to trust an outside 3rd party’s assistance, or use a risky/outdated version of Java.

Ninite.com

What can I say about Ninite.com? In my nerdy travels online I’ve yet to discover an easier method of installing apps without the added payloads.

Not only that, but Ninite allows you to bundle up a ton of installs into one package with zero ‘next’ clicking as the packages install. Heck, you can even save the package URL for later, or share it with friends to help them install a specific set of apps!

Since Ninite grabs the source from the actual websites, you will get trusted/current code, without the bother of carefully installing each app and side-skirting all the additional packaged software/malware.

Plus as a one-stop reference to the most popular free installations, Ninite is also great for folks that want to stick with mainstream applications and avoid trying out some ‘less popular’ choices.

I hope this helps our readers avoid some hassles, get honest search results from the search engine you’ve selected, and perhaps even gives folks the motivation to try uninstalling Java completely to see just what the heck is using it anyways.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 1:31 pm

Categories: Browsers,Coding,Google,Google Chrome,Internet Explorer,internet security,IT Industry,Mozilla Firefox,SEO Tools
Tags: Ask.com, Java, Ninite, oracle —

January 21, 2013

FaceBook Social Graph Search

It has been over ten years since people began making the choice to share their lives online, and users buying into social search will be the next step according to Facebook. Facebook has announced the release of their new search tool, called Graph Search; a reference to the network of friends its users have created.

This new search function encourages users to divulge more personal information in order to provide better advertising results.
Google began introducing semantic over the last few years, and there have been numerous attempts from other (Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Hunch) to utilize social search; but nothing at the order of magnitude at which Facebook operates.

This new search function is being regarded by many as a test for the users of the social networking site which could have repercussions for the Internet at large due to the scale at which Facebook operates. The test will show whether users are willing to allow and contribute to more sharing of their personal lives and whether or not social search is the future of online interaction.

If successful, Facebook is confident that it’s over one billion users (1.01 billion as of September 2012) will be willing to share more information from the movies they watch, the places they visit or the food they eat.

Facebook’s algorithms will filter search results for each individual and ranking the friends and brands that it thinks a user would trust the most. Initially, the new tool will mine users photos, check-ins and likes, but will later search through a users complete profile, status updates, and posts.

Tom Stocky, one of the creators of Facebook search, said in an interview this week "People have shared all this great stuff on Facebook," Mr. Stocky said. "It’s latent value. We wanted a way to unlock that."

As anticipated Facebook users have mixed feelings regarding the new search tool. Independent studies suggest that social media users are actually becoming more resistant about revealing more about themselves online. This reluctance may stem from increased media attention given to online privacy and protection, and scattered reports of employers and educators using the medium to investigate Facebook profiles.

In a survey of 500 students aged 21 and 22, Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University stated: "These behavioral patterns seem to suggest that many young adults are less keen on sharing at least certain details about their lives rather than more."

Another study from the Pew Internet Center indicated that social users (especially those on Facebook) were aggressively pruning their profiles by removing friends, comments and tagged photos.

It may be that Facebook is taking a huge gamble with their launch into social search. With many users (including myself) trying to close down the doors of Facebook instead of opening them up, Facebook may not be paying enough attention to the fact that many users are facing a social-saturation-tipping point, or "social media burnout" en masse and may they have missed the mark on this latest endeavor.

SEO news blog post by guestpost @ 12:53 pm

Categories: Facebook
Tags: graph search, mark zuckerberg, privacy, semantec search, social media burnout, social search —

January 17, 2013

Facebook Social Search: Grasping for that Third Pillar?

On January 15th 2013, Facebook planted it’s so called “third pillar” of it’s social network empire, “social search”.

If Facebook *is* all about social media, and they already had a search function, how is this a big change?

Stack of coins with a magnifying glass on the pennies.

Okay, well that *is* some small change..

From what I can tell of the new search feature, it’s an exclusive index of Facebook, powered by Bing. So you get better/different results from the previous search options because it’s been handled by Microsoft’s search methodology.

So, you may be wondering, “Why isn’t Bing offering an improved ‘Social Search’ now that they have access to all this Facebook data?”, and you will be amused to note that today Bing indeed announced an improved ‘Social Search’ to users of their services.

In fact, Bing’s social search results are appended to the Facebook search results, and all clicks stay inside Facebook.

Still, what’s really ‘new’ about this search behavior?

Allegedly if I tack on action words to a search like, “visited by friends” or “popular with friends”, it’s supposed to marry the search results with social data from my friends list.

I gave that a whirl, trying to find various searches that would result in ‘approvals’ or ‘likes’ from my friends and I got very poor results.

Could it be that my tech savvy friends have dialed in their Facebook privacy settings to the point where Bing’s assistance is negligible? Possibly. And I wouldn’t blame them for it.

Then I tried some of the same searches in Google, without engaging any ‘social’ tags or features, and viola, I can see restaurants, pubs, and even retail stores that people in my circles have rated. I also know now to never have lunch with Dave, since he loves all the types of restaurants I try to avoid.

Plus, thanks to Google’s purchase of Zagat, I have a fallback option for accurate/honest feedback if my friends aren’t reviewing restaurants or pubs that I want to try out or are simply closer to my location.

While I’m not seeing a real improvement, FB is seeing a nice reversal of their stock prices, which were on a steady downfall last year, as we mentioned in our May 22nd, 2012, blog post: FB stock drops as SpaceX soars to success!

How long this will bolster their faltering stock value?

Will ‘Social Search’ mature into a feature that entices disinterested users to revisit Facebook?

Clearly that’s anyone’s guess, but at least they are trying to keep the ship afloat, and search traffic could help bolster ad revenue, as it did for Google.

Time will tell.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 11:56 am

Categories: Bing,Facebook,Google,IPO,Privacy,Search Engine News,seo articles,social media,Technology
Tags: social search, stock prices, third pillar, ZAGAT —

January 16, 2013

Six Strikes and Yer Out!

Things seem to have been quiet on the copyright-infringement front for the last few months, but things are about to heat up again. After more than a year of delays, US ISP Verizon, has released a document showing how they plan on implementing their "six strikes policy" to combat copyright infringements.

Strike 1 & 2:
• Verizon will email you and leave a voice mail message informing you that your account in involved with copyright infringement.

Strike 3 & 4:
• Verizon will automatically redirect your browser to a webpage that will require you to acknowledge that you have received the alerts regarding copyright infringements.
• You will also be required to watch a video detailing the dangers of infringement.

Strike 5 & 6: At this point you are given three options:
• Verizon will greatly throttle your bandwidth for several days
• Wait two weeks, and then throttle your connection
• Or, file an appeal with an arbitration service for $35

IF there are more than six infringements, "nothing" will happen. Subscribers can continue to use their internet connection at regular, full speed. What is not mentioned by Verizon is that the MPAA and the RIAA have been authorized to obtain the connection details via a subpoena for repeat offenders in order to take legal action against them.

The potential for copyright holders to use the alert system as solid evidence gathering for lawsuits remains one of the most problematic aspects of the six-strike scheme.

On the other side of the globe, tribunals will begin next month in New Zealand for those infringers that have received three strikes under the “Three Strikes Law.” Currently, eleven individuals will have their cases heard. One of the individuals being investigated, states that her internet connection was used without her knowledge. It has also been noted that there has been a long history of controversy over this law; from the internet blackout protests of 2008, to the CableGate leak which revealed that the US financed and pushed the law through.

SEO news blog post by guestpost @ 11:04 am

Categories: copyright,Internet Law,Privacy
Tags: copyright infringement, PIPA, RIAA. MPAA, SOPA —

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