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Google’s “UGC” and “Sponsored” Ref Tags – Yikes!
Google announced two new link attributes today: ‘UGC’ (user-generated content) and ‘Sponsored’, along with their 15-year-old ‘nofollow’ parameter. This is an SEO game changer, watershed moment, a sweeping change…! No, I highly doubt it. In fact, I’d bet that these new attributes are totally meaningless and the same exact weight as any other nofollow backlink. Google claims these new attributes are the evolution of the classic and infamous do-not-follow! Let’s take a quick look at these two new fresh identities: rel=”sponsored” Used for identifying links that were created by the facilitation of compensation (Google considers compensation as an advertisement, sponsorship, or a cash exchange). This, of course, encompasses the majority of decent backlinks created. Did you write a guest post on someone’s blog in exchange for a social media shoutout? Rel=sponsored. Did your agency add your website’s link in a client’s footer? Rel=sponsored. Did you buy a press release? Rel=Sponsored. rel=”ugc” User generated content. Somehow even vaguer than the sponsored attribute. The official description of UGC backlinking doesn’t help: “forum posts and comments”. Let’s ignore the fact that most modern comment engines and forums don’t even have the functionality for an end-user to add a rel= attribute. Could this possibly […]
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What You Need To Know About HIPPA Complaint Websites
Is your website HIPPA Compliant? Hopefully if you are reading this you are already familiar with what HIPPA compliancy means and how important it is from both a security and privacy standpoint to maintain these strict guidelines. With the rise of HIPPA litigation it’s never been more important to pay attention to a subject that was easily overlooked in the past. Since most health care related documentation has been digitized, this has increased the realm of opportunities for this sensitive data to be exposed. It is generally considered common practice to have a HIPPA policy and perhaps a full-time HIPPA compliant officer on staff. Unfortunately this is too important of a matter to delegate the full responsibility. In general, the following list lays out what you need to be concerned about. Information regarding the 6 annual audit/assessment requirements Documenting gaps found in the above audits/assessments Plans to repair the gaps found Marinating staff HIPPA training standards Are your HIPPA Policies and Procedures inline with the current HIPPA Privacy, Security and breach notification rules Is your list of Vendors and Business Associates complete Identifying your procedures for breaches or incidents There are two assessments that need to be performed annually, they […]
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Technical SEO Factors for 2019
What You Need To Know About HIPPA Complaint Websites There are 5 key areas of concern when considering your SEO goals for 2019. While improving results by adjusting your strategies towards any one of them will yield good outcomes, to really display the full potential it is important to pay attention to all of them as a whole. Doing so will more than likely increase your search results. It can certainly be beneficial to have these technical SEO factors applied to your site. 1. Crawl-ability 2. Index-ability 3. Accessibility 4. Rank-ability 5. Click-ability Crawl-ability: This is where you really want to start. Crawl-ability refers to how the URL is perceived by the search engine bots. While your website can still be found manually, without the bots being able to find it you will miss out on appearing in the search results. To increase your URL’s Crawl-ability, * Make sure your links and sitemaps are known to search engines * Make sure you haven’t not forbidden bots, in your meta robot instructions or by your directives in the robots.txt file * Allocate accordingly to the websites crawl budget Index-ability: You want the search engine to be able to display the catalog […]
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The Correlation Between Beyonce and the Americans With Disabilities Act
Most everyone has heard of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). This Act is a set of standards that makes it possible for people with disabilities to function and live their life a close to normal as it can be considering their disability. You have heard of ADA when it comes to building codes including sidewalks, doorways etc. But what does that mean for your website or online business? Recently in the news performance artist Beyoncé was under fire and a lawsuit was brought against her website being in noncompliance with ADA standards. The suit was filed when then legally blind Mary Connor sought out listening to music on Beyoncé’s website, but was stopped in her tracks when she was not able to search music on her website using a text reader. The way that works is if someone visually impaired can not see the pictures on the webpage, there is an alt text that is imbedded in the picture and read aloud to enable a disabled person to search, play, or buy an item. Now you may wonder how this would have anything to do with your website or online business or how this could impact you and your […]
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Email marketing trends that will boost your business in 2019
Email Marketing Trends for 2019 In the list of leading marketing channels, email marketing will always rule in both performance and results. The most recent studies have demonstrated the prowess of the channel and provided us with the emerging trends of this industry. Here are the trends to watch in 2019: Automated segmentation and targeting The amount of business owners and marketing agencies using email marketing has been steadily increasing. That means that their returns are on a rise and that the process of segmenting and targeting contacts is becoming more intricate. People are using smarter and more intricate strategies to increase their profits. Segmented and targeted emails, according to HubSpot, account for around 58 percent of earnings. Through segmenting and targeting, business experts are seeing huge increases in their profits, somewhere up to 18 times. The statistics show that marketers are more likely to start relying on the practices more than ever. Even more, automated of segmenting and targeting in email marketing is increasing. Marketers want to send their email messages to individuals who can engage with them and find value in them. Here’s a quick example: if someone fails to open your emails for a long time, the […]
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How Shopify Sites Can Benefit from the Most Recent Instagram Stories Update
Since the launch of their new product sticker feature, Instagram has greatly improved the functionality of their ‘Stories’ system. The new update enables Shopify merchants to use the Instagram Sales Channel to help their customers discover, shop, or buy new products all through Instagram. Business can now use Instagram Stories to keep their loyal followers engaged while also leaving their content open to discovery by new audiences. Ever since Instagram started testing their new update in June 2018, Shopify (Shop +2.4%) has seen an improvement. As a key e-commerce site and software provider for point-of-sale systems and social media brands all Shopify Merchants will benefit from the update. For example, the value of Kylie Cosmetics has been increasing since its launch three years ago and it is now over $900 million worth of value. Since the update, merchants can run their entire business within Instagram Stories and the Shopify dashboard. For several years, Facebook (FB +1.90%) has owned Instagram and has steadily built the effectiveness of Instagram Stories. Even though most people see the stories as a duplicate of Snapchat, the retail and advertising possibilities are endless. Shopify launched its Instagram’s sales channel in March 2017 and since then, users […]