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  • Google Brings Back Validate Fix Button in Search Console

    Google Brings Back Validate Fix Button in Search Console

    Google has brought back the validate fix button in its Google Search Console after it disabled it earlier this month for upgrades.

    Google disabled the validate fix feature earlier in August in order to add in item classification features. According to Search Engine Land, the search giant has brought back the feature alongside its new additions:

    Now when you go into Google Search Console and click on some of the coverage reports, the “validate fix” button should be back. Google disabled it while upgrading the classification system. There was a notice that read “Limited functionality: We are making some minor updates in the next few days. During this period you will not be able to issue new validation requests.” That notice has been removed and you now have the validate fix feature back.

    While some may prefer the older validate fix, the newer classification feature provides similar information in a simpler, more streamlined manner. Google described the benefits in their initial blog post detailing the change:

    We are grouping the top-level item (a rich result for the rich result reports, a page or URL for the other reports) into two groups: pages or items with critical issues are labeled something like invalid; pages or items without critical issues are labeled something like valid. We think this new grouping will make it easier to see quickly which issues affect your site’s appearance on Google, in order to help you prioritize your fixes. Read more about how this change will affect each of the reports in the Help Center.

  • DOJ May Be Prepping Antitrust Suit Against Google

    DOJ May Be Prepping Antitrust Suit Against Google

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) may be preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google over its advertising business.

    Google has faced ongoing scrutiny over its advertising business, thanks to its dominance in the search market. According to Bloomberg, the DOJ could be ready to move forward with its case as soon as September.

    Google controls the entire advertising stack, from the tools websites use to the search engines customers use to find websites. Given the company’s dominance in the search industry, the DOJ believes it represents an illegal monopoly.

    This isn’t the first time Google has faced issues as a result of its dominance. Senators recently introduced a bill to force Google and Meta to divest all or parts of their advertising businesses as a result of their tight control over the entire process.

    Google denies any wrongdoing.

    “Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels. “The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.”

  • Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Digital marketing entrepreneur Eric Siu, asks an interesting question, “Is TikTok the NEW Google?” The idea is that younger people are starting to search immersive social apps like TikTok and Instagram directly instead of searching Google.

    “Is TikTok going to replace Google? 40% of 18-24-year-olds report that they are using apps like TikTok to search for things like lunch. The engagement on Google Maps is also starting to grow down. In addition, people are now using fewer keywords to discover. They prefer immersive experiences instead.”

    “Now, things are changing quite a bit because Google is actually starting to index Instagram posts and TikTok posts. If you use Google as much as I do for my business or you do any search marketing at all, stay tuned.”

  • DuckDuckGo Adds More Microsoft Tracking Protection, Now Better Than Ever

    DuckDuckGo Adds More Microsoft Tracking Protection, Now Better Than Ever

    DuckDuckGo has added additional protection against Microsoft tracking, addressing concerns that were raised in May.

    DuckDuckGo is one of the leading privacy-oriented companies, providing a suite of apps and services that help users protect their privacy online. Despite blocking the vast majority of Microsoft trackers, researchers discovered in May that a very small percentage of Microsoft’s trackers were not blocked under some circumstances.

    DuckDuckGo has been working hard to address the issue and will be rolling out additional protections over the next week to block even more Microsoft trackers, specifically those loaded by third-party websites.

    CEO Gabriel Weinberg outlined the steps the company is taking:

    Over the next week, we will expand the third-party tracking scripts we block from loading on websites to include scripts from Microsoft in our browsing apps (iOS and Android) and our browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Opera), with beta apps to follow in the coming month. This expands our 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection, which blocks identified tracking scripts from Facebook, Google, and other companies from loading on third-party websites, to now include third-party Microsoft tracking scripts. This web tracking protection is not offered by most other popular browsers by default and sits on top of many other DuckDuckGo protections.

    Interestingly, because of the method used to load Microsoft trackers, the number of additional ads being blocked is very small.

    “Prior to this update, we were already blocking most MSFT scripts from loading and further restricting Microsoft tracking through our other web tracking protections, like blocking Microsoft’s third-party cookies in our browsers,” a company spokesperson told WPN. “Often websites use tag managers to load multiple other scripts, the most popular one is Google Tag manager. Since most Microsoft scripts load through tag managers, those requests were already being blocked by 3rd Party Tracker Loading Protection before this update. In fact, we ran a test to see how much more blocking is happening as a result of this new update and based on the top 1,000 websites we found the increase was only 0.25%.”

    The company’s findings illustrate how effectively it was already blocking Microsoft’s trackers and how overblown the initial concerns were.

    Even so, with these latest rounds of improvements, DuckDuckGo has cemented its reputation, offering better out-of-the-box privacy than Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and others.

  • PM Boris Johnson: A Master In Manipulating Search Engines

    PM Boris Johnson: A Master In Manipulating Search Engines

    According to many cyber specialists, Boris Johnson is nothing less than a genius when it comes to his abilities to manipulate search engine results about himself. In other words, the experts contend that he knows all too well how to bury all news that is embarrassing to him and portray him in a negative light. And the incumbent UK Prime Minister has been using his SEO manipulative skills for years now according to expert Richart Ruddie who consults with Brandefenders, a subsidiary of the reputation management set of companies which is one of the largest reputation repair agencies in the world.

    How Does Johnson Do This?

    Briefly put, Ruddie says by creating sensational news items at every opportunity he gets and especially, when there are certain negative contents circulating about him or when he is being criticized for one or other of his actions. In the UK it’s a weekly occurrence whereas in the USA it was daily gaffes coming from George Bush, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden with the latest having Joe Biden falling off his bicycle and then The Atlantic having to defend against fake headlines credited to them.  


    To cite the most current example, Johnson received a lot of flak from many quarters, including from members from his own party, when photos surfaced of Johnson leaving a party on 13 November, 2020—at a time when the nation was under strict lockdown and social gatherings of any kind were completely prohibited. 

    What did Johnson do in the wake of the event and the subsequent widespread criticism? He immediately issued an apology, to be sure. However, here is the interesting bit. He did not stop there. He made an elaborate statement repeating his belief that ‘working from home’ does not really work and renewing his call to people to get back to the offices. However, shrewdly enough, he peppered his message with such remarks such as coffee and cheese distract people from the work at hand and slow them down, etc. And importantly, these remarks were made in a humorous vein. 

    Accordingly, major media outlets made the story a headliner since they assumed (rightly enough) that people would find the report amusing. Accordingly, the partygate reports were partially buried, in the sense that they were pushed down the search engine results in favor of the NEW ‘Boris Johnson content according to Ruddie in a recent podcast that creative strategies like this are not luck but advice from experts who direct the Prime Minister on how to help sculpt a better search engine results page through these crafty tactics. 

    SEO Manipulating Tactics: Nothing New with Johnson, Experts Suggest 

    Many from the digital marketing community actually have been suggesting, since at least a couple of years ago, that this plot is nothing new with Johnson. And that he has been using these same tactics for quite some time now. For example, these SEO experts contend that many bizarre answers and remarks that Johnson routinely makes during his interviews are actually well-calculated messages, put forth with the aim of changing the dominant online narrative about him and altering what the users see when the next time they google his name, for example. 

    When in 2019, he remarked in an interview that he likes crafting model buses by painting wine boxes, this bizarre statement was interpreted by many as an attempt to divert people’s attention from older news stories that paint him in a bad light and are harmful to his overall image. For example, the story of his flight and carouse with his now wife Carrie, his declared plans about the NHS Brexit Bus, or that of his one-time affair with a former model—stories that were pushed down the search engine results courtesy his bizarre remark vis-à-vis his ‘relaxation technique.’ 

    The Way It Works With Search Engines

    According to experts, the method Johnson is thought to be using works mainly because of Google’s auto suggest feature. Malta, a small island in Europe, made headlines in their top newspaper when it came out that they had used similar tactics to help attract tourists back to their island thanks to Richart Ruddie and his companies’ services. So why would Boris Johnson be any different? Did his team ask Ruddie for advice in changing around search results? Experts asked if he was working with Ruddie and he declined to comment on that matter.   

    When we type something at the search bar (Boris Johnson for example), Google will offer auto-completed strings of text in a drop-down menu. Accordingly, the trick is to make the new content or remark interesting enough so that one or more major media outlets will actually end up using the most catchy words or phrases from the remark in the headline of their article(s). And that often is enough to convince Google and other search engines that the article merits a high rank in the search results (especially since search engines commonly favor newer content over older ones).

    By way of example, we may mention Johnson’s stated plan about an Irish Sea Bridge, regarded as fantastical from the very beginning. However, the very fact that it was fantastical actually made it newsworthy and accordingly, helped push down older articles such as the ones about Johnson’s failed London Garden Bridge project. 

    Does Boris Johnson Use a Reputation Management Company? 

    Online reputation management services have for some time now become a subset as well as an integral part of digital marketing strategies. Nowadays, there are practically thousands of firms offering reputation management services and the people working for these concerns are equipped with adequate knowledge of how to clean up negative contents about their clients and push positive articles and/or websites higher up the search engine results.


    It is only natural that politicians (and their publicists) will be well aware of these services. And since any and all bad press can often have a serious negative impact on a politician’s career, it is equally understandable that many will hire the services of these reputation management firms. However, does Boris Johnson use a reputation management company to showcase a positive image of his own?

    While we cannot provide a definitive answer to that as Richart Ruddie declined to comment on any relation between the ministry of foreign affairs, Boris Johnson, and himself so add this to one more mystery in how things change in Google.

  • 5 Digital Marketing Mistakes Beginners Keep Making

    5 Digital Marketing Mistakes Beginners Keep Making

    From the local grocery shop to conglomerates – every business needs digital marketing. And the beginning is the most difficult part.

    People new to digital marketing often find themselves stunned by its size and complexity. That is why we are going to talk about the most common digital marketing mistakes beginners make.

    Let’s jump right into it!

    1.   Not using social media

    Everyone is on social media today. In the last decade, social media has become the most influential channel for digital marketing – both for new brands and for well-established ones.

    So, why do beginners fail to utilize this powerful tool?

    The short answer is that people new to social media don’t understand the power of following through. For example, brands new to Instagram start out great. They create a nice tone of voice, followed by pleasant aesthetics. They gain some traction, and boom – radio silence for days, even weeks, making the brand lose its chance to promote itself.

    The key to preventing this from happening is planning your content upfront and posting consistently.

    2.   Overlooking cybersecurity

    Since virtually everything online is automated, we often overlook things like cybersecurity.

    Now, when it comes to digital marketing, you will probably deal with a lot of different platforms at the same time. The larger your brand is, the more work needs to be done cybersecurity-wise.

    Losing access to your accounts (e.g., Instagram or WordPress) can set you back to square one.

    But, it’s not all that bad. You just need to take a proactive stance toward cybersecurity. Here’s where you can start:

    ●          Sync your accounts whenever possible.

    ●          Use 2FA (2-factor authentication).

    ●          Get a VPN to help you browse the web safely.

    ●          Triple-check the links you open to avoid phishing and other scams.

    ●          Make sure you have a clear list of people who have access to your brand’s accounts, and keep it as short as possible.

    3.  Trying too hard

    Contrary to the not-following-through concept, we have tried-too-hard as another common mistake in digital marketing. While we can’t exactly put a definition on trying too hard, we can outline what it means in terms of digital marketing.

    Brands often try to stay relevant by using memes and writing witty copy based on current events. This may sound great at first, but it leads brands (especially new ones) into risky territory. If your brand isn’t about memes and news, you should steer clear of these methods as marketing strategies.

    One more trap beginners often fall into is posting about the product/service they’re offering exclusively. If your digital presence revolves entirely around your product, you won’t provide actual value for your followers. Add a human touch to your posts, share a story, a testimonial, or some kind of interactive content.

    4.   Failing to keep track of stats

    Reaping rewards from your ad campaigns feels great. But the real power lies in documenting both failure and success.

    Most digital marketing work revolves around trial and error and the concept of A/B testing. This means you should write down the results so you can repeat what works and avoid what doesn’t.

    You will feel the full effect of well-done documentation a few years down the line, but it will certainly be worth it.

    5.   Not taking breaks

    Lastly, we need to talk about the exhaustion and fatigue that digital marketers face all the time. As you probably know, digital marketers are the modern-day jack of all traders. Trends change almost daily, new platforms emerge every year, and all this can lead to burnout faster than you can say “conversion”.

    The cure to digital burnout is time away from your laptop and work. Plan a time of the day when you can disconnect from the world. Meditate (you can find guided meditations on YouTube or on apps like Yours App), go for a walk, cook a three-course meal, or play with your pet.

    The stress that digital marketing brings is rarely sudden. It’s rather a cumulative effect of all the small things you have to do and keep track of on a daily basis.

    It’s ok to make mistakes

    Every beginning is difficult, but there’s no need to be discouraged by possible bumps along the way.

    It’s good to talk about the most frequent mistakes beginners keep making. The world of digital marketing looks intimidating as is, and it’s expected for newbies to make mistakes. Hopefully, this article will help you prevent some of them!

    Just remember to stay safe and to take breaks. Good luck!

  • How HubSpot is Using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales

    How HubSpot is Using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to Drive Sales

    “There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas,” says Scott Tousley of HubSpot. “He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website.”

    Scott Tousley, Senior Team Lead of User Acquisition for all products at HubSpot, was recently interviewed on the B2B Growth Podcast by David Kelly, General Manager at Sumo Dojo. Tousley discusses how HubSpot is using Surround Sound Marketing Strategy to drive leads and sales:

    Surround Sound Marketing Strategy Starting to Take Off

    There is a very smart individual at HubSpot named Alex Birkett based out of Austin, Texas. He is working on this concept that is really starting to take off called Surround Sound Strategy. Essentially what that means is that it runs with the notion that marketers are selfish. All we care about is how do we drive more traffic to our website. I don’t care where it comes from. Whether it comes from search or social or referral traffic or email, it doesn’t matter. You’re always looking at how do I get more traffic to my website? The reality is that when we are trying to buy something you don’t go to one website. You go to multiple different websites when you are trying to make a purchasing decision.

    For example, I’m in South Lake Tahoe right now. One search I just did recently was “best bars in South Lake Tahoe.” I wanted to see a list and I wanted to see some reviews from a couple of different websites. I also like to surf, so let’s say I’m in the market for a new shortboard. So I search for “best shortboards 2019.” First, I’ll read a listicle, then I will go back to Google and I will click on the next list. Then I will go back again and click on the next list. Then I will start to narrow my decision based on seeing the same thing over and over. Once I narrow it down I will do a versus search such as “lost puddle jumper” vs. “channel islands average joe.” I’ve narrowed my decision at that point.

    We Want To Be At All Stages of the Purchasing Decision

    What we are trying to do at HubSpot right now is figure out how to be everywhere. We want to be at all stages of that purchasing decision when people are searching for “what is the best blank that exists today.” Well, there are a ton of lists that are out there and a ton of review sites and HubSpot’s B2B software (has to be there). There are a lot of review sites just dominating search engines right now like Capterra, G2 Crowd, and Software Advice. A lot of those are pay to play. You have got to pay to get listed on what appears when you land via search. Most of them are.

    But listicles are free. Not only are they free to get added to, but they are free to create. That’s one of the biggest things we are working on right now. How do we change our mindset from being so obsessed at driving traffic to our website? How do we make sure that HubSpot’s brand is everywhere when you are doing your product research and you are on many different websites? We actually sometimes prefer that we drive traffic to multiple different websites where we are listed versus just to our own. It’s good for social grouping.

    Listen to the full interview with HubSpot’s Scott Tousley.

  • Googlebot Will Index the First 15MB of a Webpage

    Googlebot Will Index the First 15MB of a Webpage

    Google has clarified how its Googlebot ranks pages, saying it will automatically index the first 15MB of a page.

    As the dominant search engine by a wide margin, many websites live or die by their Google rankings. As a result, understanding exactly how it works is the goal of many a webmaster. Google has shed a bit more light on the topic, outlining how its Googlebot crawls and indexes pages:

    Googlebot can crawl the first 15MB of content in an HTML file or supported text-based file. After the first 15MB of the file, Googlebot stops crawling and only considers the first 15MB of content for indexing.

    The tidbit is important, giving webmasters a target to shoot for. The 15MB limit should also encourage the design of lean, performant websites, ones that are equally suitable on a smartphone as a desktop with a high-speed connection.

  • Google Local Search Ads Will Now Require Five Reviews

    Google Local Search Ads Will Now Require Five Reviews

    Google is changing how Local Search Ads work, requiring five reviews for a listing instead of just one.

    First spotted by Search Engine Land, some users are receiving notice that, as of June 30, they will need five reviews to run Local Service Ads. A Google Ads Liaison confirmed the change to some users via Twitter, saying that “more customer reviews help build trust and will mean more opportunities to connect with potential clients.”

    Currently the industries listed below are impacted:

    • House cleaners
    • HVAC
    • Personal injury Lawyers
    • Real estate agents and brokers
    • Roofing
    • Tree service

    It remains to be seen if the change will eventually roll out to other industries, or if it will only apply to the current ones.

  • Google May Open YouTube Ads to Rivals

    Google May Open YouTube Ads to Rivals

    In an ongoing effort to stave off an EU crackdown, Google is offering to open up its YouTube Ads platform to rivals.

    Google is under increased scrutiny in the US and the EU over its dominance in the ad market. Several bills and legislative efforts are being put forward to limit a company of Google’s size from dominating the entire advertising chain, something that Google currently does. In an effort to prevent the worst of the fallout, Google is now offering to open its YouTube Ads platform to rivals, according to Reuters.

    In particular, the EU’s competition watchdog raised concerns over Google requiring advertisers to use its own Ad Manager, rather than any competing platform, to place ads on YouTube. According to Reuters’ sources, Google has been discussing potential solutions with the Commission since last year in an effort to keep from being fined up to 10% of its global revenue.

    While the YouTube concession is a good start, sources familiar with the matter said the company will need to do more to secure a deal, an unsurprising stipulation given that YouTube is only one part of Google’s vast advertising business.

  • Yahoo Names Jessica Alba to Its Board

    Yahoo Names Jessica Alba to Its Board

    Yahoo appointed six people to its board, including Jessica Alba, Hollywood actress and entrepreneur.

    Verizon sold Yahoo to Apollo Funds in September 2021, essentially putting Yahoo under its own name for the first time in years. The company has been working to rebuild its fortunes and compete in an internet landscape far different from the one it started in. As part of its attempt, the company is reworking its board in an effort to increase diversity, according to Reuters.

    At the time of the purchase, Apollo Funds made it clear it intended to help rebuild Yahoo over the long haul:

    “We look forward to partnering with Yahoo’s talented employee base to build on the company’s strong momentum and position the new Yahoo for long-term success as a standalone consumer internet and digital media leader,” said Reed Rayman, Partner at Apollo.

    As Reuters points out, since the acquisition Yahoo has been growing its Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports properties, as well as its advertising an e-commerce platforms.

    The company is clearly determined to regain its place as one of the preeminent internet companies, and hopefully its latest efforts will help it accomplish its goal. More competition is a good things, and Yahoo is one of the few companies that has the name brand necessary to give Google and Meta a run for their money.

  • Microsoft Pushing Bing Service 2.0 Update to Windows and Users Can’t Uninstall It

    Microsoft Pushing Bing Service 2.0 Update to Windows and Users Can’t Uninstall It

    Some Windows users are less than thrilled with a recent update, as Microsoft is pushing Bing 2.0 on them with no way of uninstalling it.

    First spotted by Neowin, Windows users on a number of forums are reporting the installation of an update that includes Bing Service 2.0. Microsoft appears to be pushing the update to both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

    Microsoft describes the service the following way:

    “The Bing Service allows you to retrieve Bing results. Bing can return web and news results in your language, images, and videos for many countries/regions around the world.”

    Interestingly, the update creates a new folder in the Microsoft folder within Program Files(x86), called “BingSvc.” When running one of the executables in the new folder, the computer’s wallpaper was changed to a Bing wallpaper.

    As Neowin points out, this may be indicative of some plans of Microsoft to incorporate Bing wallpapers on the Windows desktop. Either way, there appears to be no way to uninstall the new update.

  • Sundar Pichai: Google to Invest $1.2 Billion in Latin America Over the Next Five Years

    Sundar Pichai: Google to Invest $1.2 Billion in Latin America Over the Next Five Years

    Google CEO Sundar Pichai has written a blog post outlining the company’s plans for Latin America, including a $1.2 billion investment over the next five years.

    Pichai is well-known for his belief in using technology to help drive opportunity. Late last year, Pichai announced Google’s intention to invest some $1 billion in Africa, and he has now outlined his company’s plans to invest $1.2 billion in Latin America.

    “At Google, we see that potential today in Latin America,” Pichai writes. “Communities have been hit hard by the pandemic, and closing digital access gaps will be vital to an inclusive recovery.

    “We’ve been investing in Latin America over the last 17 years, and today we’re announcing a five-year, $1.2 billion commitment to the region,” he adds. “We will focus on four areas where we believe we can best help the region to thrive: digital infrastructure, digital skills, entrepreneurship and inclusive, sustainable communities.”

    As part of its investment, Google has set aside $300 million, $50 million in cash grants and $250 million donated ads, to support nonprofits. In particular, the company wants to support organizations that are focused on sustainability, as well as developing opportunities for women and young people.

  • $5.5 Million — That’s the Price Americans Want for Their Search History

    $5.5 Million — That’s the Price Americans Want for Their Search History

    A new report demonstrates Americans may value their search history a little more than some companies may have expected, putting a $5.5 million price tag on it.

    Google and Facebook have led to a massive erosion of privacy, as users have been willing to trade away their personal information for the free services the companies, and many others, provided. In recent years, however, users have begun pushing back, valuing their privacy more and more. According to a survey by SimpleTexting, Americans are finally valuing their search, putting a price tag of $5.5 million on it.

    SimpleTexting surveyed 3,000 US participants to see just how much they valued their search results and what they would give up in exchange for making it public. The results were surprising.

    • Users would require $5.5 million in exchange for making their search history public.
    • 1 in 4 users would give up their car for a year instead of making their search public.
    • Nearly 3 in 10 would rather give up their smartphone for a year.
    • Nearly 7 in 10 would rather give up alcohol for a year.
    • 2 in 5 would rather give all streaming services for a year.
    • More than 1 in 3 would give up rather give up sex for a year.

    The survey is good news for privacy advocates and hopefully indicates increased awareness of the importance of privacy.

  • France Warns Companies Over Google Analytics Use

    France Warns Companies Over Google Analytics Use

    Companies in France are being warned that default use of Google Analytics is illegal over concerns of data transfer between the EU and US.

    France’s National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) ordered a website to stop using Google Analytics in February over data privacy concerns. The CNIL has now issued updated guidance that deems the default use of Google Analytics illegal.

    Unlike the US, the EU has comprehensive privacy legislation in the form of the GDPR. A 2020 EU court ruling established that US cloud providers do not meet GDPR requirements. In particular, there is concern over US cloud providers being forced to work with intelligence agencies and hand over customer data to them.

    By default, Google Analytics shares customer data, transferring it from the EU to the US. This gives Google access to the data, and is therefore in breach of the GDPR. The CNIL has already sent out notices to some organizations, but is warning all to make changes as soon as possible. Those changes can include modifying how Google Analytics works, so it does not export data to the US, or stop its use altogether.

    Below is a statement from the CNIL website [translated]:

    “Organizations given formal notice have a period of one month to comply and justify this compliance to the CNIL. This one-month period may be renewed, at the request of the organizations concerned.

    “All data controllers using Google Analytics in a similar way to these organizations must now consider this use as illegal under the GDPR.”

  • Ahrefs Launching Yep, a Content Creator and Privacy Focused Search Engine

    Ahrefs Launching Yep, a Content Creator and Privacy Focused Search Engine

    Ahrefs, the company known for making SEO tools, is getting into the search engine game with Yep, a search engine focused on privacy and content creators.

    Google is by far the most dominant search engine on the market, with Bing a distant second. Despite Google’s dominance, or perhaps because of it, alternative options are becoming increasingly popular. DuckDuckGo and Brave are two examples of search engines that protect user privacy, and Ahrefs’ Yep is about to be another.

    According to TechCrunch, Ahrefs has invested $60 million of its own capital into developing Yep. What’s more, the company is building on its years of crawling the web for its SEO business. The company says its crawler can visit 8 billion web pages per 24 hours.

    “Creators who make search results possible deserve to receive payments for their work. We saw how YouTube’s profit-sharing model made the whole video-making industry thrive. Splitting advertising profits 90/10 with content authors, we want to give a push towards treating talent fairly in the search industry,” said Ahrefs founder and CEO, Dmytro Gerasymenko. “We do save certain data on searches, but never in a personally identifiable way. For example, we will track how many times a word is searched for and the position of the link getting the most clicks. But we won’t create your profile for targeted advertising.”

    If Ahrefs is able to deliver on its promise of privacy, combined with giving content creators the lion’s share of the profits, it may well have a winner on its hands in Yep.

    In the meantime, users can try out Yep here.

  • Microsoft Reverses Course, Will Allow (Some) Crypto Ads on Microsoft Ads

    Microsoft Reverses Course, Will Allow (Some) Crypto Ads on Microsoft Ads

    Microsoft has made a major change in its stance toward crypto, allowing some crypto ads on its Microsoft Ads platform.

    First spotted by Search Engine Land, Microsoft Ads will allow pre-approved crpyto ads, starting in the US only. The company hopes that the pre-approval process will help prevent scammers. The program will also allow “educational content,” provided it is offered by the primary party.

    There are still some limitations, including:

    • No ads promoting crypto investments or training programs.
    • No ads for sites that incentivize users with free crypto, offers subscription services, or otherwise monetize their advice.

    As Search Engine Land points out, this is a fairly reasonable compromise that should help protect Bing users, while at the same time providing legitimate crypto outlets a valuable advertising opportunity.

  • Google Faces Another UK Competition Probe

    Google Faces Another UK Competition Probe

    Google is facing another probe from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over whether the company illegally favors its own services.

    Google has been under increasing pressure in multiple jurisdictions, with probes and lawsuits over how it conducts business. The CMA was already investigating Google over its ad deal with Facebook, but BBC News is reporting the watchdog is now investigating whether Google illegally used its dominance in the ad business to push its own services.

    The investigation is focused on the “ad-tech stack,” of which Google dominates all aspects. In fact, Google’s control of the entire ad stack has been a growing concern in the US as well. Senators recently introduced a bill that would prohibit a company of Google’s size from owning more than one part of the ad ecosystem.

    In the meantime, BBC News quoted a Google spokesperson saying the company welcomes the opportunity to work with the CMA:

    “We will continue to work with the CMA to answer their questions and share the details on how our systems work.

    “Advertising tools from Google and many competitors help websites and apps fund their content – and help businesses of all sizes effectively reach their customers.

    “Google’s tools alone have supported an estimated £55bn in economic activity for over 700,000 businesses in the UK – and when publishers choose to use our advertising services, they keep the majority of revenue.”

  • Researcher Discovers DuckDuckGo Allows Some Microsoft Trackers

    Researcher Discovers DuckDuckGo Allows Some Microsoft Trackers

    DuckDuckGo is receiving criticism for the terms of a deal with Microsoft that has resulted in some Microsoft trackers being whitelisted.

    DDG has made a name for itself as a privacy-first company, building a search engine, browser extensions, and web browsers around the premise of protecting user privacy. The company is one of the few that truly makes an effort to protect user privacy and data. Unfortunately, its terms with Microsoft have caused some concern.

    Unlike Google, Bing, or Brave, DDG gets its search results from other engines, with the bulk of them coming from Bing. The company has long claimed to strip out trackers from the search results it provides, although clicking an ad from Microsoft in the search results is handled differently. DDG has never made a secret of the fact that clicking on those ads sends a user’s IP address to Microsoft, since the user is leaving DDG and entering Microsoft’s space.

    Unfortunately, DDG had not been able to disclose the terms of the deal that whitelisted some Microsoft trackers, due to a confidentiality clause in the agreement between the two companies. Security researcher Zach Edwards first made the discovery and tweeted about it:

    Sometimes you find something so disturbing during an audit, you’ve gotta check/recheck because you assume that *something* must be broken in the test. But I’m confident now. The new @DuckDuckGo browsers for iOS/Android don’t block Microsoft data flows, for LinkedIn or Bing.

    — Zach Edwards (@thezedwards), May 23, 2022

    Ironically, DDG doesn’t even block Microsoft’s data trackers on Workplace.com, a Facebook-owned domain that it brags about blocking Facebook’s trackers on.

    Needless to say, DDG CEO Gabriel Weinberg is doing his best to put out the fire:

    We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes to change these requirements, though our syndication agreement also has a confidentially provision that prevents disclosing details. Again, we expect to have an update soon that will include more third-party Microsoft protection.

    — Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg), May 23, 2022

    Of course, Weinberg might not have to put out so big a fire if his company had disclosed this issue first, rather than waiting until it was uncovered by a security researcher.

    In the meantime, Shivan Kaul Sahib, Privacy Engineer for Brave, highlighted the inherent conflict of interest for a company that relies on the good graces of another company making money off of ad trackers.

    This is shocking. DuckDuckGo has a search deal with Microsoft which prevents them from blocking MS trackers. And they can’t talk about it! This is why privacy products that are beholden to giant corporations can never deliver true privacy; the business model just doesn’t work.

    — Shivan Kaul Sahib (@shivan_kaul), May 23, 2022

    Speaking of Brave, the company is one of the only ones on the market that provides a truly independent alternative to Google and Bing. The company bought Tailcat, allowing it to build its own search engine that relies on a completely independent web index. This keeps Brave from being beholden to Microsoft, Google, or any other company.

    With a privacy-focused browser and a truly independent search engine, Brave is quickly establishing itself as a much better privacy solution than DDG.

    In the meantime, here is a statement from Weinberg that was provided to WPN:

    “We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isn’t possible given how quickly trackers change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer. When most other browsers on the market talk about tracking protection they are usually referring to 3rd-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection, and our browsers for iOS, Android, and our new Mac beta, impose these restrictions on third-party tracking scripts, including those from Microsoft. 

    “What we’re talking about here is an above-and-beyond protection that most browsers don’t even attempt to do — that is, blocking third-party tracking scripts before they load on 3rd party websites. Because we’re doing this where we can, users are still getting significantly more privacy protection with DuckDuckGo than they would using Safari, Firefox and other browsers. This blog post we published gets into the real benefits users enjoy from this approach, like faster load times (46% average decrease) and less data transferred (34% average decrease). Our goal has always been to provide the most privacy we can in one download, by default without any complicated settings.” 

    “I understand this is all rather confusing because it is a search syndication contract that is preventing us from doing a non-search thing. That’s because our product is a bundle of multiple privacy protections, and this is a distribution requirement imposed on us as part of the search syndication agreement that helps us privately use some Bing results to provide you with better private search results overall. While a lot of what you see on our results page privately incorporates content from other sources, including our own indexes (e.g., Wikipedia, Local listings, Sports, etc.), we source most of our traditional links and images privately from Bing (though because of other search technology our link and image results still may look different). Really only two companies (Google and Microsoft) have a high-quality global web link index (because I believe it costs upwards of a billion dollars a year to do), and so literally every other global search engine needs to bootstrap with one or both of them to provide a mainstream search product. The same is true for maps btw — only the biggest companies can similarly afford to put satellites up and send ground cars to take streetview pictures of every neighborhood.

    “Anyway, I hope this provides some helpful context. Taking a step back, I know our product is not perfect and will never be. Nothing can provide 100% protection. And we face many constraints: platform constraints (we can’t offer all protections on every platform do to limited APIs or other restrictions), limited contractual constraints (like in this case), breakage constraints (blocking some things totally breaks web experiences), and of course the evolving tracking arms race that we constantly work to keep ahead of. That’s why we have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing outside our search engine, because that frankly isn’t possible. We’re also working on updates to our app store descriptions to make this more clear. Holistically though I believe what we offer is the best thing out there for mainstream users who want simple privacy protection without breaking things, and that is our product vision.”

    Updated 5/25/22: Edited for clarity and to add Gabriel Weinberg’s statement.

  • Google Ads Error Impacting Video Pages in Google Ads Frontend

    Google Ads Error Impacting Video Pages in Google Ads Frontend

    Google Ads is experiencing a major issue, one that is impacting access to Video pages in the Google Ads Frontend.

    First spotted by Search Engine Land, the issue has been acknowledged by Google and is impacting “a majority of users.” The issue happens when users try to access the Video pages, leading to an error message and red banner. The company says there is no work around, although it is working on a fix.

    We’re aware of a problem with Google Ads affecting a majority of users. We will provide an update by May 19, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change. The affected users are able to access Google Ads, but are seeing error messages, high latency, and/or other unexpected behavior.

  • Google’s Russian Subsidiary Files For Bankruptcy

    Google’s Russian Subsidiary Files For Bankruptcy

    Google’s Russian subsidiary is filing for bankruptcy in the wake of the company halting some business in the country and authorities seizing its assets.

    Like many companies, Google suspended some operations within Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the company halted its ad business in the country. In response, Russian authorities have seized Google’s bank accounts, making it impossible to continue doing business, according to CNET.

    “The Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

    Google plans on keeping its free services available in-country, including YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.