Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings.
The market
In 2007, U.S. advertisers spent US $24.6 billion on search engine marketing . In Q2 2015, Google (73.7%) and the Yahoo/Bing (26.3%) partnership accounted for almost 100% of U.S. search engine spend. As of 2006, SEM was growing much faster than traditional advertising and even other channels of online marketing. Managing search campaigns is either done directly with the SEM vendor or through an SEM tool provider. It may also be self-serve or through an advertising agency. As of October 2016, Google leads the global search engine market with a market share of 89.3%. Bing comes second with a market share of 4.36%, Yahoo comes third with a market share of 3.3%, and Chinese search engine Baidu is fourth globally with a share of about 0.68%.
BRIEF HISTORY OF SEM
As the number of sites on the Web increased in the mid-to-late 1990s, search engines started appearing to help people find information quickly. Search engines developed business models to finance their services, such as pay per click programs offered by Open Text in 1996 and then Goto.com in 1998. Goto.com later changed its name to Overture in 2001, was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, and now offers paid search opportunities for advertisers through Yahoo! Search Marketing. Google also began to offer advertisements on search results pages in 2000 through the Google AdWords program. By 2007, pay-per-click programs proved to be primary moneymakers for search engines. In a market dominated by Google, in 2009 Yahoo! and Microsoft announced the intention to forge an alliance. The Yahoo! & Microsoft Search Alliance eventually received approval from regulators in the US and Europe in February 2010.
Search engine optimization consultants expanded their offerings to help businesses learn about and use the advertising opportunities offered by search engines, and new agencies focusing primarily upon marketing and advertising through search engines emerged. The term “search engine marketing” was popularized by Danny Sullivan in 2001 to cover the spectrum of activities involved in performing SEO, managing paid listings at the search engines, submitting sites to directories, and developing online marketing strategies for businesses, organizations, and individuals.
SEO is not an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be more effective, such as paid advertising through pay per click (PPC) campaigns, depending on the site operator’s goals. Search engine marketing (SEM) is the practice of designing, running and optimizing search engine ad campaigns. Its difference from SEO is most simply depicted as the difference between paid and unpaid priority ranking in search results. Its purpose regards prominence more so than relevance; website developers should regard SEM with the utmost importance with consideration to visibility as most navigate to the primary listings of their search. A successful Internet marketing campaign may also depend upon building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure results, and improving a site’s conversion rate. In November 2015, Google released a full 160 page version of its Search Quality Rating Guidelines to the public, which revealed a shift in their focus towards “usefulness” and mobile search. In recent years the mobile market has exploded, overtaking the use of desktops, as shown in by StatCounter in October 2016 where they analyzed 2.5 million websites and found that 51.3% of the pages were loaded by a mobile device . Google has been one of the companies that are utilizing the popularity of mobile usage by encouraging websites to use their Google Search Console, the Mobile-Friendly Test, which allows companies to measure up their website to the search engine results and how user-friendly it is.
SEO may generate an adequate return on investment. However, search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors. Search engines can change their algorithms, impacting a website’s placement, possibly resulting in a serious loss of traffic. According to Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, in 2010, Google made over 500 algorithm changes – almost 1.5 per day. It is considered a wise business practice for website operators to liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic. In addition to accessibility in terms of web crawlers (addressed above), user web accessibility has become increasingly important for SEO.
SEO refers to the improvement of unpaid results (known as “natural” or “organic” results) and excludes direct traffic/visitors and the purchase of paid placement.
Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, adding content, and modifying HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines like Google ,Yahoo etc. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic. By May 2015, mobile search had surpassed desktop search.
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, the computer-programmed algorithms that dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. SEO is performed because a website will receive more visitors from a search engine the higher the website ranks in the search engine results page (SERP). These visitors can then be converted into customers.
SEO differs from local search engine optimization in that the latter is focused on optimizing a business’ online presence so that its web pages will be displayed by search engines when a user enters a local search for its products or services. The former instead is more focused on national or international searches.
History of seo
Webmasters and content providers began optimizing websites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters only needed to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a “spider” to “crawl” that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine’s own server. A second program, known as an indexer, extracts information about the page, such as the words it contains, where they are located, and any weight for specific words, as well as all links the page contains. All of this information is then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.
Website owners recognized the value of a high ranking and visibility in search engine results, creating an opportunity for both white hat and black hat SEO practitioners. According to industry analyst Danny Sullivan, the phrase “search engine optimization” probably came into use in 1997. Sullivan credits Bruce Clay as one of the first people to popularize the term. On May 2, 2007, Jason Gambert attempted to trademark the term SEO by convincing the Trademark Office in Arizona, that SEO is a “process” involving manipulation of keywords and not a “marketing service.”
Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag or index files in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide a guide to each page’s content. Using metadata to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster’s choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site’s actual content. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches. Web content providers also manipulated some attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines. By 1997, search engine designers recognized that webmasters were making efforts to rank well in their search engine, and that some webmasters were even manipulating their rankings in search results by stuffing pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords. Early search engines, such as Altavista and Infoseek, adjusted their algorithms to prevent webmasters from manipulating rankings.
Relationship with Google
In 1998, two graduate students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, developed “Backrub”, a search engine that relied on a mathematical algorithm to rate the prominence of web pages. The number calculated by the algorithm, PageRank, is a function of the quantity and strength of inbound links. PageRank estimates the likelihood that a given page will be reached by a web user who randomly surfs the web, and follows links from one page to another. In effect, this means that some links are stronger than others, as a higher PageRank page is more likely to be reached by the random web surfer.
Page and Brin founded Google in 1998. Google attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design. Off-page factors (such as PageRank and hyperlink analysis) were considered as well as on-page factors (such as keyword frequency, meta tags, headings, links and site structure) to enable Google to avoid the kind of manipulation seen in search engines that only considered on-page factors for their rankings. Although PageRank was more difficult to game, webmasters had already developed link building tools and schemes to influence the Inktomi search engine, and these methods proved similarly applicable to gaming PageRank. Many sites focused on exchanging, buying, and selling links, often on a massive scale. Some of these schemes, or link farms, involved the creation of thousands of sites for the sole purpose of link spamming.
By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times’ Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions. Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines. In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users.
In 2007, Google announced a campaign against paid links that transfer PageRank. On June 15, 2009, Google disclosed that they had taken measures to mitigate the effects of PageRank sculpting by use of the nofollow attribute on links.
The word technology comes from the Greek words “techne” and “logos”. A modern definition proves hard to pin down.
What is technology? We spend a lot of time talking about it, but the answer is both easy and surprisingly difficult to locate.
Merriam-Webster says technology is:
“Application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making things happen.”
That’s a tidy definition, but there is nothing in it that could not also be construed to apply to the world of mining, for instance. The word technology is a combination of two Greek words, techne and logos. Techne means art, craft, or skill. Logos means “to speak of”. Some have since taken the word logos to imply the practical application of techne, but others say that is stretching its etymological roots.
LOOK AT SOME QUOTES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ― Arthur C. Clarke
“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.” ― Sydney J. Harris Interesting. Implies an important role for the right side of the brain, not just the analytical left brained stuff.
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it” Alan Kay The bold mind of an innovator.
“There are cameras nowadays that have been developed to tell the difference between a squirrel and a bomb.” ― George W. Bush
Perhaps the best way to look at technology is in terms of progress. In many ways, the world simply gets better because technology has the ability to create a higher standard of living. A vaccine eliminated polio. The internet breaks down social, racial and sexual barriers. Computers provide better access to education. But is it always true that more technology is the answer to the world’s problems?
Few people talked about technology and it’s advancment and how it can also save the world.
The second world richest man talked about technology helping the world
according to tech, Bill Gates. Gates say that while the dream of providing internet access to the billions of people who do not have it is a noble one, is isn’t even close to being as important as ensuring that more people have proper plumbing, or access to vaccinations against infectious diseases.
“Innovation is a good thing,” Gates told The Financial Times recently. “The human condition – put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes – is improving because of innovation,” he says. But while “technology’s amazing, it doesn’t get down to the people most in need in anything near the timeframe we should want it to”.
New advancments on tech
Blackline Safety is one of our Top Picks for 2020, PI Financial says
A record fourth quarter and growing top line have analyst David Kwan of PI Financial upping his price target for Blackline Safety (TSXV:BLN). In an update to clients on Thursday, Kwan reviewed the company’s latest quarterly results and pointed to the company’s healthy pipeline as a good sign of things to come.
Makers of wearable safety tech and personal and area gas monitoring software and analytics, Calgary-based Blackline Safety reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, showing Q4 revenue of $10.7 million, a 94-per-cent increase year-over-year, which brought the year’s sales to $33.3 million, an 87-per-cent improvement over 2018.
“Throughout utility, energy, petrochemical and manufacturing industries, digital transformation is changing the way that leading businesses operate, optimize and keep their employees safe,” said Cody Slater, CEO and Chairman at Blackline Safety, in a press release.
“Our remarkable year of record revenue and significant growth in every market and across every industry demonstrates that Blackline’s connected safety technology and award-winning wearables are a key pillar of the most advanced, digital-forward and people-centric organizations,” Slater wrote.
Blackline had significant expansion in 2019 into Europe, notably within the United Kingdom’s water utility industry. This past October, for example, the company announced a $3.4-million contract for its connected gas detection solution with a major UK water and sewerage authority. Revenue from recurring service and product sales in Europe were up 275 per cent, up 69 per cent in the US and up 50 per cent in Canada, quarter-over-quarter.
In his report, Kwan said BLN’s quarterly top line of $10.7 million beat both the Street’s forecast of $8.4 million and his $9.7 million estimate. Adjusted EBITDA came in at negative $1.8 million, slightly ahead of consensus at $1.9 million but below Kwan’s $1.6-million forecast. The analyst said that excluding some non-recurring items, adjusted EBITDA would have been negative $1.1 million. Kwan called the company’s balance sheet strong at negative $3.1 million in free cash flow and ending Q4 with $30.6 million in cash and $0.3 million in debt.
Kwan pointed to Blackline’s launch of its EXO area monitor product line over the next quarter as significant.
“Currently in beta testing, the Exo fixed area monitor is set to begin shipping toward the end of Q2 FY20. The Exo should help open up new markets for BLN (e.g., plant turnaround, construction, emergency response). We believe the higher margin Exo could generate $5-$10M in revenue its first year,” Kwan wrote.
“BLN is off to a great start to 2020 and we expect more positive news/developments to come, aided by a growing and healthy pipeline. Management continues to execute exceptionally well on its high (organic) growth plan, which should help the share price outperform. As a reminder, BLN is one of our Top Picks for 2020,” said Kwan.
The analyst has upped his target due to de-risking of BLN’s story and with the update he is maintaining his “Buy” rating with a new target of $11.50 per share (previously $9.00), implying at press time a projected 12-month return of 61 per cent.
A web search engine or Internet search engine is a software system that is designed to carry out web search (Internet search), which means to search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a line of results, often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a mix of links to web pages, images, videos, infographics, articles, research papers, and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in databases or open directories. Unlike web directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search engines also maintain real-time information by running an algorithm on a web crawler. Internet content that is not capable of being searched by a web search engine is generally described as the deep web.
TinEye Reverse Image Search Engine. TinEye is a reverse image search engine that helps you source images and finds where they appear
Facebookwill create a cash fund of $550 million for its Illinois users who filed a lawsuit over itsprivacypractices, law firm Edelson PC said on Wednesday. The settlement came after Facebook was sued for collectingfacial recognition data to use in tagging photos, which allegedly violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
Tagging someone in a photo on Facebook creates a link to his or her profile, with thefeature finally made opt-in by Facebooklast year. Facebook’s photo tag suggestions come from collecting facial recognition data from other photos.
The Galaxy S20 is pegged to be a “revision model” following the familiar tick-tock pattern and the S10’s own design overhaul, but leaks suggest that Samsung isn’t kicking back and taking it easy for 2020.
Reports claim a slightly trimmed-down bezel and a Note 10-esque centered punch-hole camera cutout, with screen sizes of 6.4in, 6.7in, and 6.9in across the line. The screen might be a bit less curvy than before, with no plans for a Huawei Mate 30 Pro-esque waterfall display. Also, the 6.4in model (the Galaxy S10e successor) reportedly won’t have a flat screen this time around.
And the back of the 6.9in Galaxy S20 Ultra (shown) could have a very noticeable change with an enormous camera module that packs five cameras. Add more power to the equation and it should be a plenty desirable handset, but we’ll have to see how the price point shakes out.
Samsung has officially dated a new Galaxy Unpacked event for 11 February, where we fully expect to see the Galaxy S20 and its myriad variations.
Apple iPhone 12. …
This phone is dangerous
After three versions of the bold and inventive iPhone X design, will 2020 see Apple shake things up? Rumours point to yes, but it’s still very early.
Reports suggest an iPhone 12 that keeps the all-screen face while adopting a flattened metal frame that’s more akin to the classic iPhone 4, not to mention the current iPad Pro. Screen sizes could shift a bit too, going to 5.4in, 6.1in, and 6.7in (as opposed to the 5.8/6.1/6.5in of now).
As for the notch… well, there’s no consensus there yet. We’ve seen concepts suggesting no notch at all, with all of the sensors packed into the slim upper bezel, while others claim Apple will redesign the notch. It’s TBD at that point, in terms of what we know. Rumours also point to a four-eyes design on the back, with a time-of-flight camera added to the current trio of the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.
We should see the iPhone 12 models launch in September, and there’s no indication yet on pricing… probably not cheaper than the current models.
Huawei P40 Pro. the new production of Huawei which will be released March.
Early leaks suggest that the Huawei P40 Pro will continue the design evolution seen since the P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro, mixing and matching to create what might ultimately be the company’s best flagship hardware to date.
This purported leaked render from Evleaks offers a look at what we’re expecting the P40 Pro to look like. Leaks point to a waterfall-style curved “Horizon Display” (around 6.5in) at QHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. You’ll see a dual-camera punch-hole cutout there, too – but more noticeably, a huge back camera module with five total cameras. And a rumoured 5,500mAh battery would be absolutely enormous. Yes, please.
The Mate 30 Pro was fantastic from a hardware standpoint, but the lack of Google services essentially killed it… and reportedly, Huawei won’t have them on the P40 Pro unless the situation with the United States clears up quickly. A Huawei rep reportedly pointed to a late March debut in Paris, so it shouldn’t be long before we see the real deal.
Social media is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
It is also interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.[1][2] The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features:[2]
Users create service-specific profiles and identities for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.[2][4]
Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user’s profile with those of other individuals or groups.[2][4]
Users usually access social media services via web-based technologies on desktops and laptops, or download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets). As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate and modify user-generated content or self-curated content posted online.
Networks formed through social media change the way groups of people interact and communicate or stand with the votes. They “introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals.”[1] These changes are the focus of the emerging fields of technoself studies. Social media differ from paper-based media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) and traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting, Radio broadcasting in many ways, including quality,[5]reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and performance. Social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers).[6] This is in contrast to traditional media which operates under a mono-logic transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers, or a radio station which broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users, include Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger), YouTube, WeChat, Instagram, QQ, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Telegram, Baidu Tieba, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, VK, Reddit, bbm and more.
Observers have noted a wide range of positive and negative impacts of social media use. Social media can help to improve an individual’s sense of connectedness with real or online communities and can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, political parties, and governments.
cyber tech 
