Video: Rhea Drysdale on hyperlocal SEO & saving clients money

From running a small business to digging deep into SEO to help clients win. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Build SEO seasonality projections with Google Trends in Python

Here’s how you can use Python and some very basic Excel functions to build your SEO traffic goals. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Announcing the new Bing Webmaster Tools

The new version of Bing Webmaster Tools is here. Try out now! 
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Soapbox: SEO community must temper responses when idea-sharing to avoid shaming

If our focus is to gaslight others in the cause of righteousness, then we’re on a path to the dark side. There is a difference between truth and cruelty. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Google Search Console Change of Address tool adds redirect validation & reminder

Google has some new features in Search Console to help you move your site. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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New skills for Indonesia’s next generation

As a teacher, Nur Ernawati believes in the value of lifelong learning—including for herself. Ernawati was one of 140 Indonesian teachers who signed up for a Bebras Indonesia course on computational thinking: a way of learning that stresses critical thinking and problem-solving rather than learning by rote. She’s since passed those lessons on to more than 400 of her students. Now she wants to see the program rolled out across Indonesia—and we’re ready to help make it happen.  At an event in Jakarta today, we announced a $1 million Google.org grant that that will enable Bebras—a global education nonprofit—to launch Gerakan Pandai: a new program designed to train another 22,000 Indonesian teachers in computational thinking over the next two years.  Why is this so important? With 64 million students, Indonesia has the fourth-largest education system in the world. But to give those students the best possible future, we need to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to handle changes in technology and solve the challenges they’re likely to face in the workplace. Bebras’ programs train teachers to help students break problems into smaller parts, assess data, prioritise information, and create solutions to complex issues: skills that are relevant to every career path, not just in the technology industry. Announcing our $1 million Google.org grant with Awaluddin Tjalla from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ibu Inge and Ibu Nur from Bebras Indonesia, and Scott Beaumont, Google’s APAC President. So far, teachers trained by Bebras have taught computational thinking to more than 5,000 students—including 14-year old Nasha Rainy, one of Nur Ernawati’s students. ”Initially, I found the class very challenging, but Mrs. Erna was always there to support and inspire me to do my best,” Nasha said. “This experience has increased my self-confidence.”  By 2023, with Google.org’s support, Bebras-trained teachers will have reached two million more students across 22 locations in Indonesia, reaching underprivileged communities which might not have had these kinds of opportunities in the past.   Not only will Gerakan Pandai help young Indonesians shape their future with confidence, it will also contribute to closing Indonesia’s digital skills gap—one of our country’s most urgent priorities for the 2020s.  The Google.org grant was one of several steps we announced today, at the launch of our Grow with Google skills program in Indonesia, as we work to help millions more people succeed in Indonesia’s $40 billion internet economy.   Our skills training programs range from helping entrepreneurs use digital tools to supporting Indonesia’s most promising developers with courses in artificial intelligence and machine learning. But it all starts with education: what we teach our children and how well we prepare them for the opportunities that technology creates. With the support of Bebras—and brilliant teachers like Nur Ernawati—I’m confident the next generation will be ready to lead Indonesia forward.
http://j.mp/2V7HOIO

Funding 21 news projects in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey

Finding new and meaningful ways to engage readers is a hot topic for news organizations of any size, and the first Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa prompted a myriad of different approaches. The GNI Innovation Challenges,  part of Google’s $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive in the digital age, saw news innovators step forward with new thinking. In South Africa, Daily Maverick proposed a “relevancy engine” that would aggregate data feeds about reader behavior for small and medium publishers. In Jordan, podcast startup Sowt looked to tackle the challenge with a new hosting platform for news podcasts. We launched the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge last June, and received 527 applications from 35 countries. After a rigorous review, a round of interviews and a final jury selection process, we selected 21 projects from 13 countries to receive $1.93 million in funding. The call for applications listed four criteria: impact, feasibility, innovation and inspiration, and the successful projects clearly demonstrated all four. Here are just a few of the awardees (you can find the full list on our website): * Demirören Teknoloji Anonim Şirketi in Turkey wants to solve the tagging process for the Turkish language to help with the news discovery distribution process. Currently this work requires cumbersome manual work from their journalists, taking a precious share of their time.  * Daily news publisher Israel Hayom will be creating a loyalty scheme where online users get real-life rewards in the form of tickets or money-saving offers.  * Nas News wants to engage Iraq’s citizens in video debates for positive change with a mobile-first social and news platform that allows users to read and debate on local and national topics. * L'Orient le Jour in Lebanon wants to build a new loyalty plan to offer special and personalized privileges to subscribers via an interactive platform. * The National in the UAE will develop a service that converts quality text news into audio in real time, in both English and Arabic. * Ringier Africa Digital Publishing in Nigeria will be increasing personalization across their platform using a blend of prediction, recommendation and local information pages to increase user engagement. A second round of theMiddle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge will open for applications later in the year: Watch for details on our website.
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Google Ads offers more granular conversion actions for leads and sales

The new options give advertisers more options to track website actions through the customer journey. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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An agency veteran goes in-house to help build and lead a new PPC team

T-Mobile’s Natalie Barreda shares insights on bringing PPC in-house — and advice for building strong agency relationships. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Video: Chris Boggs on experience in the SEM industry

This former US Marine built a professional career in SEO and SEM while giving back to the community. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Google Partners clarifies why clients may be listed as ‘eligible users’ toward new certification requirement

Here’s how to see who counts toward the new 50% certification rule and what to do about it. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Spread the love this Valentine’s Day!

You may know that Microsoft Rewards lets you earn points just by searching with Bing or shopping with Microsoft and redeem those points towards gift cards and other items, but did you know that you can also use these points to donate to nonprofits? Here at Bing, we wanted to invite you this Valentine’s Day to share your affection not only with your loved ones, but also with causes close to your heart.
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Addressing equity in CS curriculum with Kapor Center

Editor’s note: This post is authored by Dr. Allison Scott, Chief Research Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact. The Kapor Center received a Google.org grant, as part of Code with Google’s $25 million commitment to increasing Black and Latinx students’ access to computer science education. In our increasingly technology-driven world, computer science is critical for all students to learn. Computing is shaping the future of fields as diverse as medicine, entertainment, transportation, manufacturing and agriculture, and our students must be prepared with the technical skills to succeed in the fastest-growing and highest-paying occupations in our future. However, not all students have the opportunity to learn computing concepts. Large access gaps exist, especially for low-income students and students of color. And even when computing courses are available, classrooms are not always inclusive and engaging for students from all backgrounds. When developed intentionally, curriculum is a powerful tool for creating inclusivity. It’s the playbook that teachers build from, and provides an opportunity to incorporate students’ backgrounds, interests, and passions, with the knowledge and skills needed in their futures, regardless of what they choose to pursue. In computer science classrooms, students can assess air quality, predict performance of athletes or political candidates, consider the ethical implications of autonomous vehicles and facial recognition software, and understand how data can diagnose and treat cancer.  Today the Kapor Center received a $3 million Google.org grant to establish the Equitable Computer Science Curriculum initiative. This effort will bring together leaders in education equity, inclusive teaching practices, and computer science education, along with teachers and students to improve K-12 CS curriculum and resources. Alongside a diverse advisory board, we'll develop guidelines for creating culturally-relevant learning materials and support curriculum providers to implement those best practices. Through this initiative, thousands of teachers will access CS curricula that counteracts stereotypes, builds CS interest, and affirms the diverse identities of the millions of students across the country. It will take more than one organization or one intervention to improve computing education and we look forward to working with many experts across many disciplines to improve inclusion, participation, and equity in CS classrooms. Join us in this exciting initiative.
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The state of tracking and data privacy in 2020

Here’s where search marketers find themselves in the current entanglement of data and privacy and where we can expect it to go from here. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Microsoft Office hits pause on forcing Bing search in Chrome, Firefox

Rather than automatically changing default search engines for Chrome and Firefox, administrators are required to opt-in for it to do so network-wide. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Leverage Python and Google Cloud to extract meaningful SEO insights from server log data

This is the first of a two-part series about how to scale your analyses to larger datasets from your server logs. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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TechTarget cites technical SEO issues as reason for 25% decline in Google traffic

In TechTarget’s recent earnings report, the company said unpaid traffic represented 94% of overall traffic in the quarter. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Learn how to chart and track Google Trends in Data Studio using Python

By using the codes in this article, you can connect Google Spreadsheets and Jupyter Notebook to import data into Google Data Studio and easily share the analysis with your team. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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New chart annotations make Google Ads’ change history reports much easier to navigate

Annotations are available in campaign-level change reports in the Google Ads UI. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Attend Search Marketing Expo next week for FREE

Join hundreds of search marketers next week in San Jose for an unrivaled training experience! Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Google: Use (relevant) keywords in your Google My Business description

An update to the help page ends the debate over whether keywords can impact your visibility in local search results. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Most Reliable Hosting Company Sites in January 2020

Rank Performance Graph OS Outage hh:mm:ss Failed Req% DNS Connect First byte Total 1 GoDaddy.com Inc Linux 0:00:00 0.000 0.402 0.004 0.028 0.029 2 Rackspace Linux 0:00:00 0.000 0.459 0.006 0.014 0.015 3 Webair Linux 0:00:00 0.000 0.308 0.070 0.140 0.140 4 Hyve Managed Hosting Linux 0:00:00 0.000 0.170 0.074 0.148 0.149 5 EveryCity SmartOS 0:00:00 0.000 0.229 0.075 0.150 0.150 6 www.
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Unconfirmed Google Search ranking update feels big

The SEO industry is very busy watching the Google search results fluctuate and change rapidly since this weekend. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
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Connect Clixtell with Google Analytics

In your Google Analytics account click “Admin”. In the Admin screen, click “Goals” Click “+New Goal” Setup the Goal as in the image below. You can name it anyway you like, but make sure the category = Calls. Click “Save” That’s it! All Clixtell calls will be reported to Google Analytics. The post Connect Clixtell with Google Analytics appeared first on Clixtell - Click Fraud Protection & Call Tracking Software.
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9 Must Listen To PPC Podcasts

No matter if you’re a beginner or expert in paid search, you should always be looking to keep up to date with the latest advancements and changes in the world of PPC. For many busy PPC managers and executives, finding and reading tens of paid search articles per week can be very time-consuming. Luckily, there […] The post 9 Must Listen To PPC Podcasts appeared first on PPC Protect.
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[Ebook] Digital Trust & Safety for QSRs: Why Legacy Rules Can’t Keep Up

It’s not every day that the average person associates quick-service restaurants with cutting-edge technology—after all, french fries and milkshakes are quintessentially basic. But today’s QSRs offer far more than traditional American fast food fare, serving up globe-spanning cuisines and delivering a world of dining options to consumers that are only possible with the help of […] The post [Ebook] Digital Trust & Safety for QSRs: Why Legacy Rules Can’t Keep Up appeared first on Sift Blog.
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