SEO: Yep, Easy Like 1-2-3
April 29, 2021
Much ado about SEO. VentureBeat has teamed up with StackCommerce to offer a training course the publication describes in, “SEO Is Shrouded in Mystery. This Google SEO Training Can Help Answer those Questions.” The post begins by emphasizing Google’s secrecy behind the specifics of its algorithm, lamenting that the company drops tantalizing hints here and there. Of course, they say, “everyone” wants to know how the algorithm works to make the most of their companies’ Search Engine Optimization. We’re told:
“Thankfully, not everything in the world of SEO is flying blind. The training in The 2021 Complete Google SEO and SERP Certification Bundle is an extremely helpful distillation of what a marketer or brand manager needs to know to make their web pages and content search-friendly so they can scale to that search ranking pinnacle. Over 11 courses, this package explains how SEO is done, as well as all the top tools and techniques to make Google algorithms smile on your website and your brand. It starts with SEO Training 2021: Beginner To Advanced SEO and The Complete SEO Course for Beginners 2021: Zero to Hero, where even digital marketing novices can learn the ropes, understanding what known factors go into a page’s SEO ranking and the factors available to move up those Google search results. The training also includes getting familiar with popular SEO tools like Ahref, Alexa, WordAI, Articleforge, and more, some of the most effective ways Amazon sellers market products, and even how to produce simple YouTube videos that can make a surprising impact on your Google search profile.”
There is a lot of razzle dazzle here, but let us provide a little clarity: creating quality, helpful content has always been the key to higher SEO rankings. That is the whole point of the algorithm in the first place, though the SEO industry has been built on gaming that system. The other alternative is even simpler, and probably the one Google would prefer—just buy Google ads for traffic. Mystery solved? Yep, just have $20,000 per month or more.
Cynthia Murrell, April 29, 2021
You Buy a Newspaper, and Then You Read This: Will the Bezos Bulldozer Change Direction?
April 27, 2021
Jeff Bezos (via assorted financial entities) gained control of the Washington Post. MBAs can quibble about “gained control”, the idea of buying a newspaper, and associating the publication with the mom-and-pop online store. That’s okay.
Navigate to “How Big Tech Got So Big: Hundreds of Acquisitions.” Now visualize yourself as the world’s richest man and an individual who may be the smartest person in any room into which he wanders. Then read this passage from your newspaper:
You may have recognized many of these acquired companies, like Zappos, IMDb, Twitch and Goodreads — all owned by Amazon.
Skip a few lines:
But the majority of acquisitions involved small start-ups with
valuable patents or talented engineers…
And this passage:
But now, as the tech giants grow more powerful, critics who accused these companies of using monopoly power to weaken competitors have also called for more scrutiny, saying the acquisitions are not rooted in innovation but total market control — part of a tactic known as “copy, acquire, kill” — to eliminate competition…
Continuing with:
To enter the grocery arena, the company acquired Whole Foods Market and its distribution channels and retail locations in one $13.7 billion-dollar gulp. Amazon wanted to be a bigger player in the “Internet of Things,” so it swallowed up several home security companies and the home router company Eero. And as the company dived into the autonomous vehicle industry, it chose start-ups in that space, too. [Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you.] Amazon is everywhere: in your television with Prime Video, in your ears with its Echo smart speaker, and behind the websites and apps you use every day. In 2020, the company made $386 billion in revenue. The company shows no signs of slowing, with additional acquisitions that included robotics companies to assist workers and artificial intelligence to grow the capabilities of its Alexa virtual assistant service. Amazon executives have said the company is just a small part of the overall retail industry.
In your hypothetical guise of the world’s richest person, what do you do?
[a] Ignore
[b] Make a call to someone who can talk to someone about the story
[c] Pull a lever on the bulldozer and change direction
[d] Other? Explain: _______________________________
Business strategies with examples from one’s employer can be interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, April 27, 2021
Want to Change Employee Behavior? What Not to Do
April 12, 2021
I read “The One System That Changes Employee Behavior.” Interesting but disconnected from good old reality. I assume that the breezy recommendations comprise the one system a manager with an MBA and a back ground in the disconnected world of high school science club decision making are perfect for thumbtypers.
Wrong. Behavior change in a commercial enterprise is induced by hooking compensation (tangible or intangible) to specific outcomes. Another way to think about change is to think about this statement, “Do this and you get a raise and a promotion.”
Let’s look at the four recommendations that comprise the “one system that changes employee behavior.” Here are what I call “thumbtyper” suggestions. My observations appear in italics after these bullets of high powered wisdom:
1. Define corporate values.
Okay, that’s something for a first year business class. Get those values down to a snappy phrase like “Do no evil.” One can also look to outfits like Credit Suisse. That outfit’s executives are in a tizzy because of its financial sinkhole related to the ethical paragons at Archegos. To understand corporate values, talk to the former McKinsey wizards who engineered success at a large pharmaceutical firm.
2. Define pinpointed behaviors aligned with values.
Many interesting examples of this alignment thing can be located. Examples include the fascinating tale of a Google attorney who was philandering to the Big Zuck who wanted to eat meat of animals he killed. Did he wear a PETA cap whist satisfying his culinary goals? Alignment of privacy and Facebook revenue are almost as interesting. I do like the word “pinpointed”, however. Precision is required for advertisers to buy click as well as for inducing pregnancy and killing a plump French bulldog tied to a door knob on University Avenue. As you ponder the canine metaphor, define value for attendees at a virtual venture funded entrepreneur-to-be conference.
3. Change your behaviors.
Ho, ho, ho. Try that with this senior manager at a high tech firm in the cradle of ethical behavior. The behavior requiring change is described in “Prostitute Convicted in Google Exec’s Overdose Death Charged.” Yep, intervention works great. On the other hand, step back and watch how behaviors evolve once a secret is exposed. Current examples fall readily to hand; for example, explanations about data loss from social media outfits.
4. Facilitate change in others.
This is an interesting idea. Let’s take the example of Uber. Travis Kalanick, who needed to grow up, did indeed alter others. Some of his methods are documented in the BBC article “Uber: The Scandals That Drove Travis Kalanick Out.” A more mundane example may lurk in one’s own mind. How often did someone tell you, gentle reader, do your homework? Works everytime for those under the age of 13, doesn’t it?
My thought is that these ideas do not comprise a system.
What works is incentives. Pay for specific actions. When the action is delivered in a satisfactory way, provide more payoffs. Magic. The somewhat shallow “one system” ain’t gonna do it. Cash is more reliable a motivator.
Stephen E Arnold, April 12, 2021
Who Knew That Journalism Could Channel the Worldwide Wrestling Federation?
February 12, 2021
In this corner, the newspaper founded by Alexander Hamilton and now owned by the News Corporation. In case you did not know, News Corporation is the nurturer of “real” news outfits like Dow Jones (Wall Street Journal), some outfits in England, and Harper Collins. Like Crocodile Dundee, News Corporation is a tough bit of kangaroo jerky. You may recall that some Murdochers were involved in what Wikipedia describes in an amusing way as the “news international phone hacking scandal.” I can see the laser lights and hear the death metal soundtrack now.
In the other corner is the Gray Lady, clutching its digital subscription financial reports, like a mace. The Gray Lady is a deceptive entity. Due to age or a careless record retention policy, the New York Times’ power house does not recall that Wikipedia summarizes this way:
Controversies include allegations of biased and inaccurate reporting of the Russian Revolution, reporting on Wen Ho Lee’s alleged theft of government documents, the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal, articles by Judith Miller, the MoveOn.org ad controversy, the 2006 Duke lacrosse team scandal, the John McCain lobbyist controversy in 2008, and various accusations of: plagiarism, a leftist bias, Anti-Indian sentiment, Anti-British sentiment, and Antisemitism.
Does the Gray Lady remember muffing the online ball almost 50 years ago when Jeff Pemberton deployed the newspaper’s first digital service? I would be a WWF ticket stub that she nor her minions do. Cue the lasers. Crank up the rap music.
What are these two estimable outfits squabbling about?
The New York Post’s “real” news article “Read the Column the New York Times Didn’t Want You to Read” reports:
Last weekend, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote a piece criticizing the rationale behind the forced ouster of Times reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., but it was never published. Stephens told colleagues the column was killed by publisher A.G. Sulzberger. Since then, the piece has circulated among Times staffers and others — and it was from one of them, not Stephens himself, that The Post obtained it. We publish his spiked column here in full.
Is this the end of the story?
Nope. Two sweaty and quite capable contestants have now stepped into the ring. I await the bell and an opportunity to purchase a pay per view ticket so that I can enjoy the tussle.
Who knew that “real” news could be so exciting? I assume that the streaming video game version of this event will be available. Will there be an Amazon or Netflix content object available? The NFL has a good business model to emulate.
I must go. The referee is explaining the rules: No low blows, no eye gouging, etc. Would these contestants violate the ref’s instructions? Not with intent I assume.
Stephen E Arnold, February 12, 2021
Zuckasar and Bezoder or Caeberg and Alexos?
December 24, 2020
I spotted this image in Google Images. Miraculously I was able to locate it by querying “Zuckerberg Caesar.” Bingo.
The idea is that the Facebook poobah seems to look like the Big J. As you will recall, some of his friends allegedly unliked the Ruler of the World using real knives, not unfollows.
I read “Jeff Bezos Reportedly Considers Himself the Alexander the Great of Modern Exploitation.” The source of this revelation in tottering Oxford don or donette (no, not a donut, gentle reader). The insight appears in an online information service called Jezebel which recycled an interview from an alleged Amazon whiz person.
I learned:
According to an Amazon cybersecurity engineer who spoke anonymously and quite candidly with Logic Magazine, working at Amazon is much more Philip K. Dick than it is Plutarch, despite Jeff Bezos’s boner for Alexander the Great:
“Jeff Bezos studies other “great men” in history and imagines himself to be a kind of Alexander the Great. There’s even a building on the Amazon campus called Alexandria, which was the name of one of the company’s early projects to get every single book that had ever been published to be listed on Amazon.”
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I see the resemblance. Uncanny. The mosaic reminds me of the thousands of AWS services which contribute to Mr. Bezos’ wealth.
One question: Why are these business leaders embracing the war fighters and dictators of yesteryear?
There are other helpful models; for example:
JP Morgan is a potential role model.
The ancient history thing may not be about money. Perhaps the appeal is for the allure of power and the world domination thing. Interesting. I am looking forward to Messrs. Zuckerberg and Bezos commissioning Bernadette Banner. She can create the Big J armor for the Zuck and come up with a period correct outfit from 370 BC for Mr. Bezos.
Great for live streaming when the monopoly hearings become available. Perfect for Shopify T shirt vendors and TikTok snippets with Wal-Mart adverts.
Stephen E Arnold, December 24, 2020
Amazon Expands Data Monitoring
October 13, 2020
Here is an optimistic view of the future, at least for areas where residents can afford to purchase these gadgets. CNET reports, “Amazon Sidewalk Will Create Entire Smart Neighborhoods. Here’s What You Should Know.” Yes, Amazon’s vision of the smart home has grown to encompass the whole subdivision. Based on how many Echo devices are backward compatible with the new tech, the plan has been in the works for some time. But what, exactly, is this project about? Reporter Ry Crist writes:
“First announced in 2019, the effort is called Amazon Sidewalk, and it uses a small fraction of your home’s Wi-Fi bandwidth to pass wireless low-energy Bluetooth and 900MHz radio signals between compatible devices across far greater distances than Wi-Fi is capable of on its own — in some cases, as far as half a mile, Amazon says. You’ll share that bandwidth with your neighbors, creating a sort of network of networks that any Sidewalk-compatible device can take advantage of. Along with making sure things like outdoor smart lights and smart garage door openers stay connected when your Wi-Fi can’t quite reach them, that’ll help things like Tile trackers stay in touch if you drop your wallet while you’re out on a walk, or if your dog hops the fence. Maybe most noteworthy of all is that Amazon Sidewalk won’t require any new hardware, at least not for short-range benefits like easier device pairing. Instead, it’ll arrive as a free software update to the Echo speakers and Ring cameras people already have in their homes.”
To take advantage of those half-mile range 900MHz connections, though, one must have newer devices: a Ring Spotlight or Floodlight cam, the fourth generation Echo smart speaker, or Echo Show 10 smart display. (More will follow, of course.) These users will also contribute bandwidth to the cause, but Amazon was wise enough to provide an opt-out option. Not everyone’s community spirit will extend to their Wi-Fi connection, no matter how little bandwidth Sidewalk will use (which is very little, compared to streaming and other functions). Since the change will come in the form of a software update, anyone who wants to decline may have to be on the lookout for that update and find the appropriate checkbox.
Some users will have security concerns, and the company has worked to address them. The Sidewalk server only gets to see packets’ destination information, we’re told, but not any of the actual device data, which will travel under three layers of encryption. They promise to delete routing information every 24 hours. Here is the PDF of the company’s white paper addressing privacy and security for Sidewalk. Customers will have to trust Amazon to safeguard their data for Sidewalk to take off, it tells us. Considering how many have already incorporated the company’s digital potential spies into their homes, we think the project has a good chance at success.
Cynthia Murrell, October 13, 2020
Amazon: The Bulldozer Grinds Forward
October 7, 2020
It is hard to tell whether the company is shameless or clueless. Either way, SlashGear observes, “Amazon Has A Creepiness Problem.” The growingly ubiquitous tech giant recently unveiled two products that will make privacy enthusiasts shiver. Writer Chris Davies reports:
“The Echo Show 10, for example, brings movement to Amazon’s smart displays, with a rotating base that promises to track you as you wander around the room. The result? A perfectly-centered video call, or a more attentive Alexa, whether you’re stood at the sink or raiding the refrigerator. Echo Show 10 seems positively pedestrian, though, in comparison to the Ring Always Home Cam. Part drone, part security camera, it launches out of a base station that resembles a fancy fragrance diffuser and then buzzes around your home to spot intruders or misbehaving pets. Never mind wondering whether the microphone on your Echo is disabled: now, the cameras themselves will be airborne.”
Naturally, Amazon offers reassurances that users are in complete control of what the devices observe and transmit. The Ring drone maintains a certain hum so one can hear it coming, and users can limit its flight area. Also, when it is docked, the camera is physically blocked. The Echo Show 10 relies on visual and audio cues to keep the user center stage, but we’re assured that data is processed locally and immediately deleted. But there is no easy way to verify the devices respect these restrictions. Users will just have to take Amazon’s word. Davies considers:
“Rationally, nothing Amazon has announced today is any more intrusive or dangerous to privacy than, well, any other smart speaker or connected camera the company has offered before. All the same, there’s a gulf between perception and reality. I could understand you being skeptical about Amazon’s intentions – and its technology – simply because it’s, well, Amazon. The company that knows so much about your shopping habits it can make pitch-perfect recommendations; the company that wants to put microphones and cameras all over your house, in your car, and in your hotel room. […]”
The man has a point. Apparently, many consumers do trust Amazon enough to place these potential spies in their homes and offices. Others, though, do not. Will a day come when it will be difficult to function in society without them? We think Amazon hopes so.
Cynthia Murrell, October 7, 2020
Nix on Those Ethics Classes: To the Cricket Ground
September 28, 2020
I read “Cambridge Analytica’s Ex-CEO Banned from Running Companies for 7 Years.” I immediately thought about the former top dog at Fast Search & Transfer. His dalliance with financials resulted in a two year jail sentence with one year suspended if the information in Global Investigations Review is on the money; that is, actual money, not the confections generated by the enterprise search system that could do more than Autonomy’s system. The CNet article quoted a legal eagle as saying:
Following an extensive investigation, our conclusions were clear that SCL Elections had repeatedly offered shady political services to potential clients over a number of years,” Mark Bruce, chief investigator for the UK government’s Insolvency Service, said in a release. “Alexander Nix’s actions did not meet the appropriate standard for a company director and his disqualification from managing limited companies for a significant amount of time is justified in the public interest.”
Which sentence was more appropriate? A year in jail for financial impropriety or generating outputs which may have altered outcomes of democratic elections?
Good question.
Now about those ethics classes at Eton? Nope, a student will learn how to promote understanding of relationships between humans, location and environment and incorporate technology to expand learning experiences. One plus of the Etonian’s education: Lots of practice with “trials.”
Jail time? Obviously inappropriate. Just common courtesy, of course. Of course, old chum.
Stephen E Arnold, September 28, 2020
Amazon: Nope, We Do Not Have an Interest in Intelware
September 10, 2020
A number of individuals have informed me that Amazon has zero interest in what I call “intelware.” The term refers to services, features, and information products designed to meet the needs of certain government agencies. These individuals are convinced that Amazon sells online books and discounted wireless headphones.
I would point out that there are some who do not accept this denial. One example appears in the “real news” outfit The Verge’s article titled “Former NSA Chief Keith Alexander Has Joined Amazon’s Board of Directors.” General Alexander is a capable individual, and he can share his experience and wisdom to refine the process of selling electric toothbrushes and other fungible oddments. After retiring, he founded IronNet Cybersecurity. Kindles can never be too secure.
As for intelware, Amazon is not in that business. At least, that’s what I have been told. Are there challenges beyond JEDI? Obviously not.
Stephen E Arnold, September 10, 2020
Insider Threats: Yep, a Problem for Cyber Security Systems
August 20, 2020
The number of cyber threat, security, alerting, and pentesting services is interesting. Cyber security investments have helped cultivate an amazing number of companies. DarkCyber’s research team has a difficult time keeping up with startups, new studies about threats, and systems which are allegedly one step ahead of bad actors. Against this context, two news stories caught our attention. It is too soon to determine if these reports are spot on, but each is interesting.
The first report appeared in Time Magazine’s story “Former CIA Officer Charged With Giving China Classified Information.” China is in the news, and this article reveals that China is or was inside two US government agencies. The story is about what insiders can do when they gather information and pass it to hostile third parties. The problem with insiders is that detecting improper behavior is difficult. There are cyber security firms which assert that their systems can detect these individuals’ actions. If the Time article is accurate, perhaps the US government should avail itself of such a system. Oh, right. The US government has invested in such systems. Time Magazine, at least in my opinion, did not explore what cyber security steps were in place. Maybe a follow up article will address this topic?
The second news item concerns a loss of health related personally identifiable information. The data breach is described in “Medical Data of Auto Accident Victims Exposed Online.” The security misstep allowed a bad actor to abscond with 2.5 million health records. The company responsible for the data loss is a firm engaged in artificial intelligence. The article explains that a PII health record can fetch hundreds of dollars when sold on “the Dark Web.” There is scant information about the security systems in place at this firm. That information strikes me as important.
Several questions come to mind:
- What cyber security systems were in place and operating when these breaches took place?
- Why did these systems fail?
- Are security procedures out of step with what bad actors are actually doing?
- What systemic issues exist to create what appear to be quite serious lapses?
DarkCyber does not have answers to these questions. DarkCyber is becoming increasingly less confident in richly funded, over-hyped, and ever fancier smart security systems. Maybe these whizzy new solutions just don’t work?
Stephen E Arnold, August 20, 2020
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