major restaurant chain hacked again, more cyber security needed
Chillis, a large chain of restaurants was hit with a major cyber-attack in 2018.
The chain restaurant reports the attack occurred between March and April 2018
Do you believe your credit information is safe when you eat out? If you believe so, think again! Chillis stock symbol is found by typing eat. Well, the restaurant chain sure ate it on this one.
Between March and April of 2018, Chili’s restaurants were hit by a data breach that may have compromised some guests’ payment card information. The breach was discovered last Friday, according to a press release by Brinker International, which owns the 1,600+ location chain.
Per Chili’s press release:
♬ Hey you got maybe hacked, maybe-hacked, maybe-hacked ♬
♬ Hey you got maybe hacked, maybe-hacked, maybe-hacked ♬
♬ Chili’s got hacked, baby, hacked ♬
Ok, I’m going to level with you. That wasn’t the press release. And I will probably never get a PR job with Chillis. But seriously, how could you even be mad at that?
Back to the real press release, though. Here is what happened:
On May 11, 2018, we learned that some of our Guests’ payment card information was compromised at certain Chili’s restaurants as the result of a data incident. Currently, we believe the data incident was limited to between March – April 2018; however, we continue to assess the scope of the incident. We deeply value our relationships with our Guests and sincerely apologize to those who may have been affected.
Chili’s immediately launched into its response plan and is currently working with third-party forensic experts to investigate exactly what happened.
Based on the information currently available, it appears as though malware was used to collect payment card information, specifically credit and debit card numbers and cardholder names, used during in-restaurant purchases at affected restaurants.
Chili’s does not collect certain personal information (such as your social security number, your full date of birth, or federal or state identification number). Therefore, this personal information was not compromised.
Chili’s suggests that all customers monitor their bank accounts for any unauthorized transactions. So far the complete scope of the breach is not known, including how many restaurants were affected and how many customers had their data compromised. The restaurant will continue to issue updates as they become available.
Overall, Chili’s handled this situation with aplomb. We’ve reached a point where, for big companies, data breaches aren’t a matter of if, they’re a matter of when. Chili’s had a contingency plan in place, it disclosed the breach within 72 hours of its discovery (something that would make GDPR compliance specialists proud) and the company is communicating clearly and giving customers actionable advice to help ensure that they aren’t negatively impacted.
All in all, at least externally, Chili’s has handled itself fine here. Besides, a data breach is not what keeps successful chain restaurants up awake at night. Millennials are the prime source of stress.
It is important for Chillis ensure that their customers continue dining at their restaurants. In order to create trust, the chain will be forced to spend more money for cyber security. That’s where readers of our ABCO Technology articles will benefit. If you want a promising career in cyber security, contact ABCO Technology. You can reach our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday at: (310) 216-3067.
Email all questions to: info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for funding.
ABCO Technology is located at:
11222 South La Cienega Blvd. in STE #588
Los Angeles, Ca. 90304
Cyber-crime is growing faster than professionals can be hired. Train and certify for a cyber security career today!
As if we didn’t have enough to think about with respect to any given SEO campaign, it is now imperative to separate and refine your approaches to mobile and desktop search.
While mobile has moved to 70% of all searches over the past five years, this shouldn’t be to the neglect of desktop. Although SEO for mobile and desktop follow the same basic principles and best practices, there are nuances and discrepancies that need to be factored in to your overall ranking strategy.
Part of this is the keyword rankings: you won’t ever know how to adapt your strategies if you’re not tracking the rankings separately for each. Research from Bright Edge found that 79% of listings have a different rank on mobile devices compared with desktop, and the top-ranking result for a query is different on desktop and mobile 35% of the time. These are statistics that simply cannot be ignored.
Why are they different?
Before delving into how to compare keyword rankings on mobile and desktop, it’s highly important to acknowledge the why and the what: why they rank different and what it means for your SEO strategy.
It’s paramount to understand that desktop and mobile searches use different algorithms. Ultimately, Google wants to provide the best user experience for searchers, whatever device they are using. This means creating a bespoke device-tailored experience and in order to do that, we need to delve deeper into user intent.
It’s all about user intent
The crux of the mobile versus desktop conundrum is that user intent tends to differ for each device. This is particularly important when considering how far along the funnel a user is. It’s a generalization, but overall mobile users are often closer to the transactional phase, while desktop users are usually closer to the informational phase.
For example, we can better understand user intent on mobile by understanding the prevalence of local search. If a user is searching for a product or service on mobile, it is likely to be local. In contrast, users searching for a product or service on desktop are more likely to be browsing non-location-specific ecommerce sites.
Let’s also consider the types of conversions likely to occur on each device, in terms of getting in touch. Users on mobile are far more likely to call, by simply tapping the number which appears in the local map pack section. Alternatively, desktop users would be more inclined to type an email or submit a contact form.
What on earth is a micro-moment?
To better understand the different ways in which consumers behave, it may help to spend a little time familiarizing yourself with micro-moments. These refer to Google’s ability to determine a searcher’s most likely intent, and is particularly important for mobile users, when a consumer often needs to take immediate action.
For example, if a user is searching for a local product or service, the local map pack will appear, but if they are searching for information then the quick answer box will appear. These micro-moments therefore have a significant impact on the way the SERPs are constructed.
Once you’ve understood the user intent of a given searcher, you can ensure that you are providing content for both mobile and desktop users. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that content with longer word counts continues to perform well on mobile, despite the general consensus that people on mobile simply can’t be bothered to consume long form content. This harks back to Google’s prioritization of high quality content. Besides, anybody who has a long train commute into work will understand the need for a nice, long article to read on mobile.
Rankings tools
With that context, we can now return to the matter at hand: rankings. Of course, you could record the rankings for both desktop and mobile the old-fashioned way, but who has time for that? In short, any good SEO tool worth its salt will enable you to track both desktop and mobile rankings separately. Here are some favorites:
◾SEMRush is a personal favorite among the plethora of fancy SEO tools. SEMRush provides a comprehensive breakdown of mobile vs desktop results (as well as tablet if you really want to geek out) and displays the percentage of mobile-friendly results for your domain.
◾Search Metrics offers Desktop vs. Mobile Visibility metrics, detailing individual scores for desktop and mobile, as well as overlap metrics which show how many keyword search results appear in exactly the same position for both. You can also drill down further to view how a website performs with regard to localized results.
◾Moz. Through Moz Pro, you can track the same rankings metrics for both desktop and mobile. Filter by labels and locations to dig further into the data.
◾Google Search Console. Don’t have access to any of the above tools? Don’t panic as you can still rely on the trusty Google Search Console. When looking at your search analytics, filter devices by comparing mobile and desktop. Even if you do have access to a SEO tool that allows you to do comparison analysis, it’s still worth checking in on your Search Console insights.
Rankings are only part of your overall page strategy.
It’s important to remember that rankings are basically a tiny part of the picture; it’s essential to take a more holistic approach to the mobile vs desktop issue. This means taking the time to dig around Google Analytics and unearth the data and meaning beyond the vanity metrics.
You may have higher rankings for mobile, but those users might be bouncing more regularly. Is this a reflection of the user intent or is it a poor user experience? Does higher rankings for one device correlate to higher conversions? If not, then you need to consider the reasons for this. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, so you must take a tailored approach to your search engine strategy.
ABCO Technology teaches a comprehensive course for web development. Call our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday. You can reach our campus at: (310) 216-3067.
Email all questions to: info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for funding.
Are you a network administrator who wants to gain a big advantage over your competition when applying for that dream information technology job you’ve always wanted?
If you answered yes to this important question, The #CompTIA Security + certification is the solution for you.
The CompTIA Security + is gaining in popularity across the United States. Over one million companies are requiring the CompTIA #Security + as a major requirement for network administrators.
The reason for this surge in demand for this certification is because of the massive increase in #cybercrime. Cyber-attacks are a part of a network administrator’s business day. These attacks usually are made upon the corporate server, routers, attacks on individual work stations and in some cases hackers have been known to gain access through a device like a printer or fax.
The US government is now requiring all companies who contract with the government to have a person on staff who is certified in cyber security. The CompTIA Security + is the certification most recognized by the US government.
What is needed to fight these costly cyber-attacks, is a qualified person who has certified cyber security skills. The CompTIA Security + is your credential, which will prove to employers that you can defend their network against a cyber-attack.
The CompTIA Security + is not a standalone certification. In order to receive maximum benefit from this certification, network administrators should have the CompTIA A+, Microsoft’s MCSE, Cisco CCNA and if the MCSE isn’t possible the CompTIA Network + will be sufficient to advance to the CompTIA Security + certification.
The CompTIA Security + is completed in 78 hours. While in class, you will learn the critical strategies you can employ to harden your network against all kinds of cyber-attacks.
In addition, the US Department of Defense recognizes the CompTIA Security + as a major proof of cyber security competence. In fact, the CompTIA Security + is a key part of a Department of Defense security clearance known as DOD 8140.
Veterans, persons working in network administration and candidates who have various degrees in the field of information technology will benefit from this high demand certification.
If you are interested in learning about cyber security, contact ABCO Technology.
Reaching our campus by telephone is easy. Call Monday through Friday between 9 AM and 6 PM. Our phone number is (310) 216-3067.
Email all questions to info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for funding.
ABCO Technology is located at:
11222 South La Cienega Blvd. STE #588
Los Angeles, Ca. 90304
Learn about an exciting career in cyber security today!
Google announced yesterday that after a year and a half of testing it was beginning a wider rollout of its mobile-first indexing and had started migrating sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing.
Google started to move a small number of sites over late last year, but this is the first announcement of what seems to be a larger scale move.
Sites which are migrating will be notified via a message in Search Console:
migration
Google said site owners would see significantly increased crawl rate from the Smartphone Googlebot and that Google would show the mobile version of pages in search results and Google cached pages. It said that for sites which have AMP and non-AMP pages, Google would favor the mobile version of the non-AMP page.
Google moved to reassure site owners who are not included in this rollout that rankings would not be affected and that sites which only have desktop content would still be indexed.
“Sites that are not in this initial wave don’t need to panic. Mobile-first indexing is about how we gather content, not about how content is ranked. Content gathered by mobile-first indexing has no ranking advantage over mobile content that’s not yet gathered this way or desktop content. Moreover, if you only have desktop content, you will continue to be represented in our index.”
However, the push towards mobile friendly sites continues with Google noting that mobile friendly content can perform better, and that slow loading content will be a ranking factor for mobile searches from July.
You can find more information about best practices for mobile-first indexing in Google’s developer documentation.
Google says it will continue to have one single index and there won’t be a mobile-first index separate from the main index. Historically it was the desktop version that was indexed but increasingly Google will now be using the mobile version of content, responding to the growth in use of mobile devices.
See Google’s blog post for full details.
ABCO Technology teaches a comprehensive course for mobile web site development. Call our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday. You can reach us at:
(310) 216-3067.
Email all questions to: info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for federal funding.
Do you know about the phrase “a perfect storm?” It’s that situation where unrelated factors combine and amplify together, all to create something horrible? That’s what is taking place with companies scrambling to hire CompTIA Security+ certified professionals. Factors about this certification include: a long legacy, a strong reliance across the industry, and changes in the current exam version in 2017 all form the perfect climate for anyone who doesn’t yet have this powerful certification. And one more factor remains, an upcoming surge in credibility, but more on that later. The bottom line is, if you don’t have the Security+ certification in 2018, you should get it now. But before you do, read about each factor in this article.
Long Legacy
The CompTIA Security+ certification is nearing its sixteenth year. For some people, 16 years is not a long time, but it means Security+ came before YouTube and Facebook. The very first iPod was released 11 years ago, as was the first USB flash drive. In terms of security certifications, Security+ predates ISACA’s CISM and Red Hat’s Certified Security Specialist.
In the information security field, 16 years seems a much longer time. Information security has matured a great deal in less than 20 years, seeing new focus on areas like identity management, risk management and governance. IT professionals familiar with keeping financial information secure will remember the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in July 2002 (hey—also less than 20 years old!). Indeed, a lot of ground was covered in the past 16 years. And the Security+ certification has lived through it all.
Industry Respect for Security+
Just because something is older doesn’t make it better. But in this case, maybe it does. I find the Security+ increasingly becoming a baseline. Take, for example, how the Security+ certification gets used as a prerequisite toward a higher level certification. The most well-used case is in Microsoft’s Certified Solutions Expert, where a person seeking their MCSE can use CompTIA’s Security+ as an elective. In fact, CompTIA is the only third-party option available to Microsoft MCSE certification seekers. For Microsoft’s security specialization, again, the CompTIA Security+ is an alternative to Microsoft’s own security courses. This kind of endorsement creates a considerable level of credibility for the Security+. This credibility comes unbiased, from both the private and public sectors.
The CompTIA Security+ certification is vendor-neutral. This means the certification is not biased, does not promote, nor heavily dependent on a strong familiarity of one vendor. This means when talking about identify management, for example, you are not going to miss a question because you aren’t overly familiar with implementing Cisco products. Nor are you bound to focus on one solution provider such as Microsoft.
Endorsement in the Public Sector
It’s not just private companies that leverage how popular the Security+ certification is. The public sector refers to it as well in defining job requirements and training. For example, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has manual 8140.01M (last updated April 2015), which describes the training and certification requirements for all Information Assurance professionals within the DoD. That includes all the US military, the Pentagon, the NSA and the rest of the 3 million employees and service members.
The DoD manual describes the requirements of “IAT” or Information Assurance Technical personnel at particular levels within the DoD. In the manual’s words: “The IA workforce focuses on the operation and management of IA capabilities for DoD systems and networks.” Regarding Department of Defense information assurance technical and managerial personnel, there are three possible levels. The manual details experience and training requirements for all three levels. For example, an IAT Level 3 person is more qualified than an IAT Level 1 person.
But how does this manual (and DoD) regard the Security+ certification? According to the manual, an IAT Level 2 person “normally has at least 3 years in IA technology or a related area” to be considered qualified. However, if a person holds the Security+ certification, that person now meets the minimum requirements for IAT level 2 work.
Yes, the Security+ certification qualifies a person for IAT Level 2 work, a position for someone assumedly having “at least 3 years” experience. Bear in mind that even CompTIA does not require but only recommends 2 years’ experience before taking the Security+ exam. This is because the Security+ is designated as a “DoD approved certification” for IAT Levels 1 and 2, and IAM (management) Level 1 positions.
All told, there are noticeable shifts in how the industry—both private and public—valuate the Security+ certification. In every case, it seems to reflect a growing respect for the Security+, so I feel the investment spent in gaining the certification is bound to pay off.
Changeover in exam version
CompTIA is noticing that growing respect, too. Perhaps one response is their recent, complete makeover of the exam. Earlier in 2017, CompTIA released a new revision of the popular exam, the exam’s fourth version since its start in 2002. And the revision is timed with yet another “perfect storm” factor, to be explained later. It’s enough to say their timing was well-thought out. This can be good and bad news.
The good news, as we discussed above, is that CompTIA is continuing to improve upon the certification. The bad news, if you’re the kind of certification student that relies on notes and experience from past students, is that a new revision means new areas of study with completely new questions. Depending on the source, study guides could be edited and honed multiple times during one exam revision. In contract, a new exam revision means untested territory for study guide providers. In short, study guides of “today” are of little help for the exam of “tomorrow.”
To be certain, we’re talking about the same exam revisions. The new revision is SY0-401 and has been available to exam takers since July 2017. However, the expiring exam revision is called SY0-201 and is available to you until the end of the year, as noted per the CompTIA website.
Credibility Surge
Remember in the introduction I added another important factor, an upcoming surge in credibility? Let me explain.
In 2011, CompTIA announced they removed the “open-ended” trait from their three foundation certifications, of which Security+ is the most senior. What does that mean? In the past, if you got a Security+ certification, you keep it for life, regardless of any effort to upkeep or exercise it. No more “free ride” now.
This means holders will need to demonstrate their ongoing practice by recording a number of activities such as teaching, publishing, or attending conferences. This should sound familiar to many certification holders who already have to record their Continuing Education Units or CEUs. Now, Security+ becomes one more certification where you can apply the same conference.
Why do I consider this a smart move? Simply put, much more credibility is given to certifications kept up-to-date compared to ones given “for life.” Five years from now, you can be sure those certified as Security+ are dedicated to their trade. And so will employers.
In Summary—A Perfect Storm
Remember I called this the “perfect storm”? A perfect storm is what this is because of the timing of multiple factors. The factors include its legacy and the certification’s growing respect, the waning availability of the older exam revision, and the removal of the certification’s “open-ended” quality. All told, the timing for getting this certification couldn’t be better. Waste no more time and secure a good class to take this in demand job certification.
ABCO Technology offers courses in a program known as the cyber security engineer, which includes this certification plus five others.
If you are interested in a cyber security career, contact our campus by telephone between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday at: (310) 216-3067.
Email your questions to info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for funding.
If you can repair a computer, laptop or smart phone, you’ll have a job today! The CompTia A+ is the ultimate certification for a high school senior or teenager to enter the work force. The CompTia A+ is the best starting point for a career in the field of information technology.
Gone are the days of those easy to get summer jobs most high school seniors used to enjoy. In the work place of 2018, workers who have specific employable skills are hired. Those who are not trained to do a specific task, sit home watching TV or stream their lives away on the Internet.
The CompTia A+ certifies that its holder can repair all types of computers, install devices on a network and repair smart phones. Local Apple stores are constantly looking for young workers holding these skills.
The CompTia A+ can be completed in a standard course, which lasts 78 hours. The material is usually completed in five weeks. Students taking the A+ course pass two exams: 901 for hardware and 902 for operating systems.
It is important when taking this exam that you learn how to answer those simulation questions. Many of those self-study manuals can’t duplicate the new simulator questions found on the A+ exam. CompTia, like many vendors is moving away from the multiple choice format.
After passing both exams, students will be able to apply for the job of desktop technician, computer repair specialist or work for an information technology customer support center.
The problem today is that most companies report that it is very hard to find qualified young candidates. If you are between the ages of 17 and 24, this opportunity is right for you. Get trained and certified for A+ today.
ABCO Technology offers a comprehensive program for the CompTia A+. If you are interested in this opportunity, contact our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday by telephone at: (310) 216-3067.
Email your questions to info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for federal education funding.
Facebook shares were down 15 points as of 12.30 PM California time. Monday, after a Friday report revealed that a Trump-linked analytics firm improperly obtained the personal data of tens of millions of users.
The massive $15-per-share drop, which represents a roughly $43 billion loss in market capital, comes just three days after it was revealed that a Cambridge University professor accessed the data of more than 50 million Facebook users by creating a data-mining survey, which exposed the personal information of the 270,000 respondents as well as their unwitting friends.
Facebook confirmed that the professor, Aleksandr Kogan, obtained the data entirely in accordance with the site’s guidelines; his only violation was sharing it with Cambridge Analytica, which was founded by Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and Hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer.
Facebook’s apparent inability to prevent user data from falling into the hands of a third-party organization once obtained by a seemingly benign actor prompted widespread criticism. The social-media giant learned Kogan had shared the data with Cambridge Analytica in 2015. At the time, Cambridge Analytica offered assurances that all of the data had been deleted, but Facebook has admitted that it recently learned that wasn’t the case
Facebook confirmed that the professor, Aleksandr Kogan, obtained the data entirely in accordance with the site’s guidelines; his only violation was sharing it with Cambridge Analytica, which was founded by Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and Hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer.
Facebook’s apparent inability to prevent user data from falling into the hands of a third-party organization once obtained by a seemingly benign actor prompted widespread criticism. The social-media giant learned Kogan had shared the data with Cambridge Analytica in 2015. At the time, Cambridge Analytica offered assurances that all of the data had been deleted, but Facebook has admitted that it recently learned that wasn’t the case
Facebook confirmed that the professor, Aleksandr Kogan, obtained the data entirely in accordance with the site’s guidelines; his only violation was sharing it with Cambridge Analytica, which was founded by Breitbart executive Steve Bannon and Hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer.
Facebook’s apparent inability to prevent user data from falling into the hands of a third-party organization once obtained by a seemingly benign actor prompted widespread criticism. The social-media giant learned Kogan had shared the data with Cambridge Analytica in 2015. At the time, Cambridge Analytica offered assurances that all of the data had been deleted, but Facebook has admitted that it recently learned that wasn’t the case.
The scale of the breach coupled with Facebook’s lack of awareness bolstered calls for regulation on Capitol Hill.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) responded to the report by demanding that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appear in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain “what Facebook knew about misusing data from 50 million Americans in order to target political advertising and manipulate voters.”
Cybercrime and misuse continues to increase. Demand for cyber-security professionals is exploding nationwide.
If you want to learn more about how a cyber security certification will benefit your career, call ABCO Technology. You can reach us by phone from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday. Call today at: (310) 216-3067.
The amount of the world’s information has doubled since 2013. The fact the amount of stored data continues to increase, the career of database administrator gains in importance.
The term database basically is defined as a collection of information. The collection can be as simple as the old phone book or it can be as complex as unstructured data mining, which is becoming more important as technology advances.
The career position of database administrator has been growing rapidly since the early eighties, when Ashton Tate introduced the first commercial database system for companies.
In 2018, two primary certifications are open to database administrators, which will prepare them for a fulfilling career. These certifications are Microsoft and Oracle.
Let’s begin by looking at the Microsoft database certification for database administrator. If you have little experience working with databases, the Microsoft database certification may be just the right one for you. Microsoft has gained a 90% market share through its networking products. The Microsoft database is used widely in smaller companies who have less than 1,000 employees. Microsoft has loads of technical support and their database will communicate with Oracle and the open-sourced MYSQL. A certification for Microsoft database administrator is completed in six months when students attend courses full time. Microsoft has a version of SQL, which is structured query language, which is the language for all databases. Students who earn the Microsoft database certification receive a Microsoft MCSE for database. Microsoft’s database curriculum is well structured. Many students continue training after Microsoft to obtain their Oracle database certification.
The second database certification, which is for more experienced database professionals is the Oracle database administrator. The Oracle database is used at large companies who have vast amounts of data and many employees accessing the same records at the same time. For example, the Los Angeles Unified School District uses Oracle. Oracle is used in major hospitals, fortune 500 companies, the US Department of defense and the US Department of Home Land security. Oracle is a bit more complicated to learn. Having some knowledge of programming and how technology operates is a major plus when learning Oracle. The Oracle database administrator program is completed in eight months. Students will need to complete three exams for the certification of OCP, which stands for Oracle certified Professional. Many job opportunities exist on major job sites including Indeed and Monster for the position of Oracle Database administrator.
A college degree isn’t a requirement for either Microsoft or Oracle certifications. Companies are looking for a professional who can use the software and will not require hours of training. Oracle and Microsoft certifications let a prospective employer know that you are fully trained and can use the software.
ABCO Technology teaches a comprehensive program for either Microsoft or Oracle database administrator. You can reach our campus by telephone at: (310) 216-3067 from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday.
Email your questions to: info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who can qualify for funding.
ABCO Technology is located at:
11222 South La Cienega Blvd in STE # 588
Los Angeles, Ca. 90304
Database administrators are in demand get trained and certify for this career opportunity today!
When you think local SEO, you think Google. But another big name has been making some moves lately to enter the conversation, and that’s Facebook.
In the past few years, Facebook’s made a lot of strides to become a real player in local search, improving their search results to the extent that they rival Google’s. Meanwhile, Google has made investments in Google My Business to justify business owners devoting time to it instead of treating it like a defunct social media listing.
Both of these trends bode well for the impact of search on social, and of social on search.
Let’s review some of the most recent changes in local SEO from Google and Facebook.
Prioritizing local news for community engagement
At the end of January 2018, shortly following Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Facebook would be demoting content from of brands and publishers in favor of those from family, friends, and groups, the social media giant announced that they were tweaking their algorithm to also highlight local news in the News Feed.
Facebook
The focus on aggregating and finding local news indicates Facebook plans to double down on local search. The more they can pick up on local search signals, the better they can provide hyper-localized, relevant content for their users. Consumers increasingly expect more personalization, and assuming (like Facebook does) that there is a correlation between personalization and hyper-localized content, this change will make their platform a more valuable source of information for their users. The more valuable the information on the platform, the likelier that user base is to stick on it, using it as both a local search engine as well as a place for updates on friends and family. Let the advertising dollars roll in.
In his announcement, Zuckerberg said,
“People constantly tell us they want to see more local news on Facebook.”
Apparently Facebook wasn’t the only one listening, as earlier that same week, Google launched its own local news app.
Currently only available in two cities, the free Google Bulletin app lets users post news updates and upload photos and video about events and happenings in their area. The app essentially combines the social community features of Nextdoor with the You Report It feature many local news sites rely on to crowdsource content.
You reported
With Bulletin, Google may well be hoping to encourage users to visit it first as the source of immediate information, instead of turning to Facebook as people so often do during an emergency or to find a local event.
Google Bulletin and Facebook’s prioritization of local news are also a strong response to the pressure both companies received for disseminating fake news during the 2016 U.S. election. Both are making the same assumption – that hyperlocal necessarily means more relevant and, since it’s coming from news sources, more trustworthy.
However, both initiatives are in their early days and their assumptions don’t seem fully fool-proof. Facebook’s algorithm currently determines something is local news by noting the domain, and then seeing whether users from a concentrated geographical area engage with the content – a setup which should be fairly easy to game. Meanwhile, there’s currently no vetting process on Google Bulletin that would prevent users from uploading inaccurate information.
Crowdsourcing content to inform business listings
Besides news sources, both Facebook and Google are relying on crowdsourced information to complete, categorize, and rank the business listings in their database. On either platform, users can add places, update address information and hours, write reviews, and answer questions about the business. Then, the platform uses this information to determine the most relevant result based on a searcher’s query, their location, and even local time.
Both Google and Facebook provide robust results that display helpful attributes sourced by user reviews, ratings, and busy times.
Google crowdsourcing
Facebook also includes additional filters based on whether your friends have also visited a place – bringing the social into search.
Facebook crowdsourcing
Facebook’s City Guides do the same at a macro-level, providing trip planning for various large cities around the world, and showing the top places your friends as well as locals have explored.
Facebook city guide
Launched in November 2017, the Facebook Local tab incorporates local event results along with the business listings and displays which of your friends are attending. This hyper social aspect, as opposed to hyperlocal, is a unique differentiator that gives Facebook real value as a local search engine.
To its credit, Google has been working on ways to make its own search results more social. One of the biggest changes they introduced to Google My Business in 2017 was the Q&A feature. Users can click a button to ask questions about a business, which are then available to be answered by anyone, including the business itself, as well as local guides, regular Google users, and even competitors.
Q and A
The fact that anyone can answer leads to misinformation, or less than helpful information as in the last example shown above (“Depends what you order”). Google’s attempt to introduce social discussion to their local business listings shows a singular lack of foresight similar to their failure to include a vetting process with Bulletin. In their defense, Google may be dealing with information overload. Each month, 700,000 new places are added to Google Maps. They’ve turned to users to help, but they’ve needed to incentivize users to get the information they need, rather than crowdsourcing it as Facebook has successfully done with Facebook Local. The more users answer questions on Google, upload photos, and edit business information, they earn points that designate them as a Local Guide – which they can exchange for early access to Google initiatives, exclusive events, and real monetary benefits like free storage on Google Drive.
Helping businesses convert users from their listings
We’ve been a bit hard on Google in the previous sections, but that’s about to change. Last year, Google also introduced Posts for Google My Business. Google Posts for Google My Business, as opposed to regular posts on a Google+ page, allowing businesses to update their listing with info that appears in the SERP along with their Knowledge Panel.
wellness
Posts offer business owners to promote new products, upcoming events, or simply useful information such as special holiday hours. Early studies indicate that engaging with Google Posts on a frequent basis can positively impact rankings – which may be an indication that Google is using a social feature as a search ranking factor.
Both Google and Facebook have also introduced CTA buttons businesses can add to their profiles, easing conversion from the SERP or social platform. Google users can book appointments with fitness and wellness-focused businesses directly from the SERP. Again, Facebook has outpaced Google here, since they offer seven CTA options which serve a variety of business needs: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, or Watch Video.
The convergence of local search and social
When you think about it, Facebook is the only business who could feasibly take on Google in the world of search. Its 2+ billion monthly users are a formidable force for Google’s 95% market share of mobile search users. While Google has access to email, Facebook has access to social profiles. Both companies have access to an incredible amount of demographic information on their users.
Which will reign supreme in the realm of local search is yet to be decided, although Facebook is giving Google a real run for their money thus far. Facebook’s local search results have become smarter, while Google’s attempts to incorporate social into search seem clumsy at best.
Likely, what we’ll ultimately see is a merging of local search and social as the two platforms meet somewhere in the middle.
If you are interested in using local search and social media as a powerful marketing set of strategies for your webpages, contact ABCO Technology. You can reach our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday. Call today at: (310) 216-3067.
Email your questions to: info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who qualify for funding.
ABCO Technology is located at:
11222 South La Cienega Blvd. STE #588 Los Angeles, Ca. 90304
On December 1st, 2017, Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Land that Google had officially confirmed a change to how it displays text snippets in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Barry wrote,
“A Google spokesperson told us: ‘We recently made a change to provide more descriptive and useful snippets, to help people better understand how pages are relevant to their searches. This resulted in snippets becoming slightly longer, on average.’”
These snippets are the blurbs of text displayed in Google’s SERPs along with the clickable blue text and the page URL.
A quick Google search corroborates this – let’s use the query “how were the pyramids built” as an example:
In the answer to the general query, you can see that where Google would previously display a snippet approximately 150-165 characters long including spaces (give or take, you can see it varies now and it varied before Google made the change too), but now they’re much longer.
The text snippet Google shows in the SERP is *supposed* to be (more on this later) the contents of the meta description tag in the HTML of the page – let’s check each of these page’s actual meta descriptions and their lengths.
Here they are, in the same order as above:
◾There are no photographs of the pyramid being built, and the engineers didn’t leave detailed blueprints. [Length:109]
◾The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stones by transporting them over wet sand. [Length:122]
◾No meta description specified in the HTML
◾No meta description specified in the HTML
◾Here’s everything you need to know about the incredible Egyptian pyramids. [Length:74]
Two things jump out right away.
1.Google is not displaying the page’s actual meta description as the SERP snippet for these specific listings for this specific query, even when the meta description is specified in the HTML, but instead is being pulled directly from the text that appears at or near the top of the page.
2.The length of the snippets is longer than the length that Google previously displayed, congruent with Google’s confirmation that they’re showing longer SERP snippets.
Here’s how that breaks down for the above query, again in the same order as the SERP listing screenshot above:
◾The first sentence of the text is used as the SERP snippet
◾The first sentence of the text is used as the SERP snippet
◾The H1 page headline, followed by ellipses ( … ), followed by the second, third, and fourth sentences on the page in the first paragraph (skipping the first sentence in the first paragraph) are used as the SERP snippet.
◾The first and second sentences, and part of the third, are used as the SERP snippet
◾The first and second sentences, the image ALT attribute (or the image caption, they’re both the same text), plus text via HTML code associated with the image, Checking a number of other queries returned similar observations about what Google is using as the SERP snippet, but note that some SERP snippets were indeed taken from the actual meta description.
For example, in the SERP for a query for musician “Todd Rundgren”, this SERP snippet is obviously taken directly from the meta description:
For many other queries I performed, both commercial and non-commercial in query intent, it turned up a mix of SERP snippet sources – primarily either text on the page or the actual meta description specified in the HTML, and in some cases via image ALT attribute, and occasionally from some other bit of code in the HTML.
On mobile devices, the SERP snippets were very similar, in many cases the same as on desktop.
The SERP orders were slightly different, so yes, there’s going to be ranking variations based on various factors (it’s well known that Google can and will alter the SERPs you see based on your search history, geo-location, query type, your previous interaction with SERPs, etc.).
However, the overall scheme of the SERP snippets remained constant – text was taken mostly from either the first paragraph of the page, or the meta description, and in some cases the image ALT attribute, and occasionally from other text in the HTML code.
Dr. Pete Meyers over at Moz conducted research late last year on 89,909 page-one organic results.
Pete noted that the average SERP snippet was 215 characters long with the median length at 186, and he was quick to point out that, “big numbers are potentially skewing the average. On the other hand, some snippets are very short because their Meta Descriptions are very short”.
Pete also noted no significant differences between desktop and mobile snippet lengths, sometimes seeing mobile snippets longer than desktop snippets.
For sure the actual SERP snippet you see, and the length, will vary by query type.
What is going on here?
Google is trying to satisfy searchers.
Yes, traditionally the idea was that Google would pull the SERP snippet from the meta description, but for years now Google has been using whatever text its algorithms determine makes the most sense based on the user’s query.
Not all sites – for example, Wikipedia and another we saw above – don’t even make use of the meta description tag in the HTML of their pages, so what’s a poor search engine to do in that case?
Similarly, what if the meta description is badly written, or spammy-sounding with lots of keyword stuffing, or doesn’t well-reflect the page’s theme and topic(s)?
So that’s what’s going on here – Google evolved over time to use whatever it deems makes the most sense to a user performing a certain query.
Wait: What the heck is a meta description, anyway?
Meta descriptions are HTML code that Google understands, and that is meant to provide a synopsis of the page.
Here’s an example:
This code goes between the tags of the HTML and is not displayed on the visible content that a user would see.
Do meta descriptions impact SEO?
Meta descriptions will not impact rankings.
But, if Google does use a page’s meta description as the SERP snippet, that can impact click-through from the SERP.
That’s because a well-written meta description that is compelling, relevant to the page, and relevant to the query or queries for which the page is ranking, can impact organic traffic.
And that can have a downstream impact on conversions (the desired actions you want website visitors to take – fill out a form, buy something, and so on).
Poorly written meta descriptions, if used as the SERP snippet, can have the opposite effect and discourage the user to click through to your page, and instead go to your competitors.
So, what should be your strategy now that Google has increased the SERP snippet length?
In summary, you could do any of the following:
◾Do nothing at all
◾Rewrite longer meta descriptions for all your pages
◾Rewrite longer meta descriptions for some of your pages (e.g. your top ten or twenty organic landing pages, or some pages you determine have low click-thru rates)
◾Delete all your meta descriptions
◾Audit your site’s content to ensure that the first text on your page is compelling, uses keywords congruent with how someone would search for your content, ensure the first paragraph contains at least 300-350 characters of text including spaces, and front-load the first 150 characters in case google changes back to shorter snippets in the future.
What you decide to do (or not do) will at least in part hinge upon resources you have available to make changes.
Don’t take a “set it and forget it” attitude with your website’s content and your meta descriptions. It’s common for businesses to put in a fair amount of work into their website, then just let it go stale.
A good recommendation here would be to cycle through this stuff on a regular basis – think quarterly or a couple times per year. Once per year at a minimum.
Here’s what I recommend
First, it should be obvious that your page’s textual content is for humans to consume, and that should always be your primary consideration.
You’ve heard the phrase “dance like no one’s watching” – well, write like Google doesn’t exist. But Google does exist, and their mission is satisfied users (so that people continue to use their service and click on ads) – Google is chasing satisfied users and so should you.
The refrain of “write great content” has been used ad nauseum. The only reason I’m mentioning the whole “write for your users” thing is simply because often people focus primarily on “how do I SEO my pages?” instead of “what’s good for my users?”.
Okay, with that out of the way and forefront in your mind, here’s what I recommend. Adjust this according to your specific needs – your industry, your users – don’t just take this as a cookie-cutter approach.
And, do this on the time frame that makes the most sense and works for you and the resources you have available to you to make changes to your site. If you haven’t looked at your page content and meta descriptions in a year or more, then this is a higher priority for you than if you refreshed all that 60 days ago.
Meta descriptions
◾Make them about 300-320 characters long, including spaces
◾Make the meta description super-relevant to the page text
◾Front-load the first 150-165 characters with your most-compelling text – compelling to your users who might see the text as a SERP snippet (just in case Google decides to shorten them again)
◾Use a call to action if applicable, but don’t be a used car salesman about it – and as appropriate, use action-oriented language
◾Remember WIIFM – what’s in it for me – as applicable, focus on benefits, not features
◾Don’t be deceptive or make promises your page content can’t keep
Keep in mind that Google may not use your meta description as the SERP snippet and may instead use content from your page, likely from the first paragraph.
With that in mind:
Review & refresh your content
◾Make sure the H1 page headline is super-relevant to the page’s topic
◾Include an image (as applicable) that is super-relevant to the page (not one of those dumb, tangentially-related stock images) and craft an excellent and page-relevant image ALT attribute
◾Ensure that your opening paragraph is enticing and practically forces the reader to keep reading – that way if it’s the text used as the SERP snippet, that will capture people’s attention.
Summary
My summary is that if you haven’t already, please go back and read the whole article – I promise you it’ll be worth it. But I will add one more piece here and that is that ostensibly the type of content you’re creating is going to dictate how you configure your meta descriptions, H1 page headlines, and especially the opening text on the page.
In some cases, it makes sense to use the “how to feed a (Google) hummingbird” technique where you pose the topic’s question and answer it concisely at the top of the page, then defend that position, journalism style, in the rest of the text under that.
Similarly, you may be shooting for a SERP featured snippet and voice-assistant-device answer using bullet points or a numbered list at the top of your content page.
The point is, the guidelines and recommendations I’ve provided for you here are not a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach to your meta descriptions and your content. SEO experience, switching your brain into the on position, and a willingness to test, observe, and adjust are all mandatory to achieve the best results.
ABCO Technology teaches a comprehensive class for web development. Call our campus between 9 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday at: (310) 216-3067.
Email your questions to info@abcotechnology.edu
Financial aid is available to all students who can qualify for funding.
ABCO Technology is located at :
11222 South La Cienega Blvd. STE #588 Los Angeles, Ca. 90304
