Tag Archives: online industry news

Google and Oracle have been at odds for a decade, and it all centers around the use of computer code. When Google created the operating system for its Android line of phones -- one of the most popular phones, along with Apple's iPhone series -- they used part of a coding language called Java. Oracle, which created Java, said that it was a breach of their intellectual property rights, that it was their language, not Google's, and that Google should have obtained a license. Android was not the only system to use the code, but the size of the system made them a target for a lawsuit, and it's now headed to the Supreme Court.

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For many online marketing divisions, the click-through rate (CTR) may be the most important measure of success. Getting that search result in front of people is just the first step. Once you get your link onto the first page of the search results -- after all, most users never even get to the second page, much less results that are even further down -- you still need to get people to actually click that link and visit your site. Then the game shifts to trying to increase dwell times and keep them on the site, giving you a chance to make a sale. Your conversion rate is calculated by looking at what percentage of visitors make a purchase.

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A new documentary called "The Social Dilemma" has been making waves lately. It relies largely on interviews with tech insiders who have worked for companies like Facebook and Google. They talk a lot about how these social platforms are designed and controlled. The overall message in the documentary suggests that social media has become a problem for modern society in a number of ways, and many people are taking this as a push to leave Facebook -- and related sites like Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, etc. But why, exactly, are they leaving? What does this actually mean for online marketing? Let's break it down.

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It's easy to get pulled into the trap of thinking of search engines like Google as nothing more than computer systems that you need to appease with your content. You start thinking exclusively about statistics and numbers: how many keywords to use, how to break them up, what the ideal word count looks like, where you should put your links, etc. And let's be clear: All of this does matter. It's all an important part of SEO, and it's a complex process to get it right. But don't think that these details are all that matter, as if you can write any content you want and rank well as long as you check off the right boxes. The quality of your content still matters.

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Did you know that Google was storing your audio recordings? If not, the news that they've stopped may come as a surprise to you on many levels. The company doesn't want to stop collecting this important information, but they have stopped doing it automatically. Instead, to get people to opt into the program, they're giving every user the option and explaining what the storing process means and why it happens. They've recently sent users an email detailing the change. This shows that they're not only thinking about privacy, but also about transparency.

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