A lot of people are using the voice-activated search courtesy of voice recognition apps for mobile phones and home speakers. Statistics reveal that by the year 2020, half of the internet searches will be voice-optimized. This means that most people will no longer need to type words in search boxes because voice search is quick and convenient. Moreover, multitaskers get more flexibility by searching for something while performing other duties. What does this tell you? Here is a secret.
The voiced results are actual results that show up on featured snippets. A voice is more efficient at fetching sophisticated results so it is important that you include well-structured content that can be understood quickly by your visitors and the search engines. Keep in mind that if you have a good organic ranking, you have a better chance to get a featured snippet plus the added benefit of your site being read out on the search engine.
Perhaps you are wondering what the fuss is about voice search. Did you know that voice input is four times quicker than typing? This means 4X faster results. Of course, there will be some accessibility hiccups. Some internet users encounter challenges typing on particular devices while others are prone to confusing menus. All in all, no matter how mobile-friendly your educational site is, or the size of the phones used to access it, mobile searches can be a little awkward to use. Google has been working hard to improve its search box so it can comprehend better the superlatives, complex combinations, points in time, and ordered items.
So, if you want to optimize your web page for voice search, you need to produce content with more direct answers to the commonly asked questions. Focus on answering queries that are asked more in natural language than what is normally put into a search engine through typing whereby keyword dominate.
Answer a Question
Another important aspect of search engine marketing is the ability to answer questions directly with your content. Google extracts data from third-party websites so as to display searches with more accurate on SERP answers to knowledge-based questions. While Wikipedia, where you can check for plagiarism online, dominates in the search boxes, Google still recognizes quality content from other publishers. As a website owner, consider what questions your website can answer and then create information based on that. It pays to be as precise as possible. You can, for instance, phrase a query on the H1 tag and give answers immediately. Sometimes, you will need to pay to get to the top. But you still need high-quality content if you are into product listing ads space. But your ads don’t always come first in the new SERPs.
Have you considered getting your educational website in Google News? Start getting into top stories and implement Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). This is an assured way to drive traffic in the short-term. If you can come up with hot stories from the presses, you will be able to answer the burning questions of internet users at the time when those stories are trending. It would also be a great benefit if other sites link to your blog as a source of the current information.
Top stories are like the ‘News’ section of a desktop setting. This section is being replaced by AMP. AMP allows webmasters to create very quick and instant loading versions of web pages that mobile users find convenient. AMP is not a ranking signal but if your site appears on Top Stories as opposed to AMP, you will be able to answer most questions by mobile users.
Website Speed
While AMP can help to speed up your web marketing on mobile devices, it is not always the best option for speeding up your website. Generally, AMP is only a quick fix and not a permanent solution. Do not underestimate the effects of website speed on conversion rate, traffic, and revenue. According to research carried out by Akamai, 47% of internet users expect websites to load in two seconds or less. 47% will leave a page that takes over three seconds to open. Basically, speed affects the following aspects of your site:
- Sales
- Conversions
- Reputation
- Traffic and page views
Are you ready to increase the speed of your site? Here are important takeaways.
These extensions can have negative effects on your site in ways you never imagined. It is especially true if you have a blog under content management systems, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. The number of plugins you have installed on your website is not all that matters. Their quality does. You may have 50 plugins and your site will load faster than if it had 10 crappy plugins. A good rule of thumb is to avoid any plugin that loads numerous styles and scripts or those that do a lot of remote requests or add extra database questions to all your website pages. While add-ons may improve the performance of your website, it is imperative that you apply only those that are absolutely necessary. For instance, you might want to use P3 for a WordPress site.
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Eliminate unnecessary add-ons and plugins
These extensions can have negative effects on your site in ways you never imagined. It is especially true if you have a blog under content management systems, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. The number of plugins you have installed on your website is not all that matters. Their quality does. You may have 50 plugins and your site will load faster than if it had 10 crappy plugins. A good rule of thumb is to avoid any plugin that loads numerous styles and scripts or those that do a lot of remote requests or add extra database questions to all your website pages. While add-ons may improve the performance of your website, it is imperative that you apply only those that are absolutely necessary. For instance, you might want to use P3 for a WordPress site.
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Minimize social sharing buttons
There is no need to install 99 social sharing buttons on a site. They end up confusing your visitors. The truth is most social share buttons use JavaScript which is very slow meaning that it will be reducing traffic on your site. There are many cases of social media sites like Facebook outage that affects the speed of websites on which they are installed. So, your best bet is to remove or limit those buttons. You may also synchronize them in a way that they will load asynchronously such that an outage of a certain social media network doesn’t slow down your pages. Asynchronous delivery prevents loss of speed in case of a server outage or a delay in your Ad network.
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Enable Expires Headers
The server response time plays the biggest role when it comes to site speed. More requests on the server slow down your website. With Expires Headers, your visitors will know when to look for certain information from your server as opposed to their browser cache. If they request files say once per month, it will minimize commotions on your site and HTTP requests on your server thereby improving the speed.
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Enable Caches
Caches guarantee faster experience on your site by preserving a version of your site on the visitors’ browsers. Statistics indicate that caching reduces load time by 1.5 seconds. Depending on what platform your site is based on, there are many ways to enable caches. If you have a WordPress site consider adding these plugins: W3 Super Cache and W3 Total Cache.
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CDN
Websites generally load fast within the country where their servers are located. Also, visitors using VPN services can access the sites quick. Otherwise, people from other countries might find the sites loading too slowly. This issue can be solved by using Content Delivery Network. CDN distributes your web pages across multiple servers in various countries so that the users are served equally. This, in turn, increases the speed of your site.
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Find a good Web Host
Have you tried everything to boost your site speed but to no avail? It’s high time you switch to a dedicated web host. Most cheap servers have poor services, so you should choose a good web hosting company to boost speed.
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Change your website theme
The theme of your site can have a big effect on the speed. Even the most effective server configuration cannot save your website if you have a crappy theme featuring bloated codes. Before you pick a theme, investigate its performance first. Don’t just look at the aesthetics because they are deceptive.
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Google Page Speed module
This is an open-source module which maximizes the speed of your site by modifying the server files and applying the best techniques without making you do extra work. If you have sufficient knowledge, you may install the module yourself or ask a web developer to do it for you.
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Minimize and optimize images
Images that are not optimized for Google are very heavy and consume a lot of data while loading. Don’t add images that are more than 1.5mbs.
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Avoid image hotlinking
This is also known as inline linking. It is the practice of linking to a photo from another site rather than uploading it directly on your server. While it can save your bandwidth, it slows down the speed on your site especially when the site you have hotlinked is having a downtime.
Bio
Nicole Lewis is an SEO expert with almost a decade of experience. He started as a Software QA engineer back in 2009. After one year of working with Oracle, he developed an interest in search engine optimization and decided to start his own web development company. Since then, he has been helping websites rank high on Google. Today he is the SEO manager of various educational sites including EduBirdie.
Online Threat Alerts Security Tips
Pay the safest way
Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.
Guard your personal information
In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.
Be careful of the information you share
Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with
Know who you’re dealing with
Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.
Check your accounts
Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.
Don’t believe promises of easy money
If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.
Do not open email from people you don’t know
If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.
Think before you click
If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.
Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond
If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.
Be careful with links and new website addresses
Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.
Secure your personal information
Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.
Stay informed on the latest cyber threats
Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.
Use Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are critical to online security.
Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs
Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.
Update the operating systems on your electronic devices
Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.
What if You Got Scammed?
Stop Contact With The Scammer
Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.
Secure Your Finances
- Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
- Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
Check Your Computer
If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.
Change Your Account Passwords
Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.
Report The Scam
Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.
Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:
- Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
- Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
- Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.
How To Recognize a Phishing Scam
Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.
Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:
Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might
- say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
- claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
- say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
- include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
- want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
- say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
- offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real
About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)
Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.
By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.
With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.
Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.
Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).