December 26, 2019, 10:19 am CST
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https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/top-10-aba-journal-stories-of-2019/
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Top 10 ABA Journal stories of 2019
Year in Review
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Every year, we take a look at the stories that drove the most web traffic to ABAJournal.com. In 2019, these were the articles that piqued the most interest:
1. “Brendan Dassey’s meowing former lawyer is suspended from the bench”
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Brendan Dassey’s former lawyer from acting as a reserve municipal judge because of his unusual interactions with a court manager who accused him of harassment.”
2. “Lawyer who told BigLaw attorneys to ‘eat a bowl of dicks’ faces possible sanctions”
“A California lawyer who told opposing counsel in an email to ‘eat a bowl of dicks’ says his insulting and expletive-laden missives were a negotiating tactic and weren’t intended as actual insults.”
3. “Conservative student says law school biases infringe on his right to free speech”
Your Voice column: “As a third-year law student, I have the concerns that any other 3L has: getting my reading assignments done before class starts, completing internship work, passing the bar exam and finding gainful employment. In addition, when I don my ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, I add the concerns of ostracization among my peers and castigation from professors—the very people I have come to professionally admire.”
4. “Judge tells lawyer who sent ‘eat a bowl of dicks’ emails the profession doesn’t need him”
A show-cause hearing began badly and then got worse for a California lawyer who told opposing counsel in an email to “eat a bowl of dicks.”
5. “BigLaw associate was duped into transferring over $2.5M to fraudster’s account, decision reveals”
“An associate at Dentons Canada was duped into transferring more than $2.5 million into a fraudster’s account, according to an opinion by an Ontario judge in an insurance coverage dispute.”
6. “This 16-year-old was accepted at nine law schools”
“Haley Taylor Schlitz loves learning and likes standardized tests. She is looking forward to classes this fall at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.”
7. “ABA approval withdrawn for Thomas Jefferson School of Law”
“ABA approval for Thomas Jefferson School of Law, which was placed on probation in November 2017, has been withdrawn by the council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, according to a memo posted online .”
8. “Meet Stephen Castor, the GOP lawyer stealing the show in Trump impeachment hearings”
“GOP lawyer Stephen Castor is getting some attention for his facial expressions and demeanor at the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump, where he is questioning witnesses.”
9. “Kim Kardashian West wants to skip law school and become a lawyer this way”
“Media personality and socialite Kim Kardashian West hopes to follow in the footsteps of President Abraham Lincoln by skipping law school and becoming a lawyer through ‘reading the law.’”
10. “Female lawyers describe ‘fraternity culture’ at Jones Day in $200M sex-bias lawsuit”
“A $200 million lawsuit filed against Jones Day alleges that female associates are discriminated against based on gender, pregnancy and maternity. The firm hires about the same number of male and female associates, but the women make less money and are outnumbered in the partnership, the proposed class action says.”
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The big list of Google My Business changes, upgrades and tests in 2019
By Greg Sterling
For businesses that operate in the physical world, Google My Business (GMB) has become the center of the digital universe. Google is relying increasingly on content in GMB for ranking and less on third party citations and off-page signals than in the past.
A lot happened with GMB this year, far too much to summarize in one post. (Joy Hawkins does a great job of capturing and summarizing most local SEO-related changes.) In addition to four major Google algorithm updates there was at least one major local algorithm update tied to neural matching, although BERT will affect local results as well.
Below is a summary of most (though not all) of the GMB updates and changes that happened this year, together with a few that don’t strictly belong to GMB. I’ve also tried to add some perspective at the end with an assist from local SEOs and experts Carrie Hill, Adam Dorfman, Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm.
January: Messaging, SAB flow, virtual office rules
- Google started emphasizing messaging in the GMB profile — although it compelled business owners and agencies to message exclusively through the Google My Business app — following its abandonment of SMS-based messaging.
- The company introduced a new sign-up flow for service-areas businesses. It starts with a question about whether the business has a store or office. If the answer is no, it sends the user down a SAB-specific path.
- Google also provided guidance surrounding who is eligible to create a GMB page for a virtual office. In particular, there must be on-site staffing.
February: Map reviews, AR directions, join waitlist
March: Duplex rollout, Core update and SAB addresses disappear
April: Assistant local results, GMB paid services survey
May: Popular dishes, food ordering and CallJoy
June: Mapspam and Shortnames
July: Get a quote and place topics
- A “get a quote” button started appearing in local Knowledge Panels for some businesses that opted-in to GMB messaging. It showed up in mobile and on the PC as well. (A related feature appears in December.)
- Google tested “place topics,” which are tags, themes or keywords extracted through machine learning from user reviews. They only appear when there are enough user reviews, under the reviews tab on the GMB profile.
August: Carousel pack, bulk reviews, Google Screened
September: Post highlights, food ordering opt-out
October: Search by photos, Incognito Mode for Maps
- Google showed users a new option to “search by photos” in mobile results. They appear as a module in the SERP that opens to a larger page of images with star ratings.
- Google implemented a number of promised privacy controls for users. These included Incognito Mode for Google Maps, voice control to delete Google Assistant search activity and auto-delete for YouTube history.
November: Local algo update, follow local guides, no more phone support
December: Review carousels, auto-Posts, choose area
The local SERP is evolving
Most of these changes above impact local marketers, but there are some developments that are clearly more important than others. Google is using machine learning extensively to improve relevance and auto-generate content (Posts, reviews in carousels) for uses that vary by query and context. It’s also making local-mobile search results much more visual. Accordingly, David Mihm pointed to “image-focused packs and carousels” as a new and significant change. Mike Blumethal agreed and said, “Repurposing reviews to answer Q&A, provide more granular review understanding and answer product queries via the carousel” were key changes. Carrie Hill also emphasized the query carousel and remarked, “Surfacing review, Q&A Posts and product feed content above address and phone is a big change.” Finally, Adam Dorfman added, “The survey regarding packaging of potential products and services businesses could pay Google for was one of the larger signals of where they are likely to head.” I agree.About The Author
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Mass Tort and Class Action Outlook for 2020
https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/mass-tort-and-class-action-outlook-for-2020/
Friday, December 27, 2019
7 Ways a Mobile-First Index Impacts SEO via @martinibuster
1. Mobile-First Informational Needs Are Changing
It may be inappropriate to generalize what kind of content is best for a mobile-first index. Every search query is different and how it is ranked in Google can be different. Here is a sample of a few kinds of queries:- Long tail queries
- Informational queries (what actor starred in…)
- Local search queries
- Transactional queries
- Research queries
- How do I queries?
- Conversational Search
- Personal Search
Personal Search & Conversational Search in Mobile
Personal Search and Conversational Search are the latest evolution in how people search. It is driven by mobile searches. The way people search has changed because they are searching on phones. This must be taken into consideration when creating your search strategy. Personal Search According to Google’s page on Personal Searches:“Over the past two years, we’ve seen an increase in searches that include highly personal and conversational language—using words like “me,” “my,” and “I.”According to Google, Personal Searches fall into three categories:
- Solving a problem
- Getting things done
- Exploring around me
- Mobile searches for “do I need” have grown over 65%. For example, “how much do I need to retire,” “what size generator do I need,” and “how much paint do I need.”
- Mobile searches for “should I” have grown over 65%. For example, “what laptop should I buy,” “should I buy a house,” “what SPF should I use,” and “what should I have for dinner.”
- Mobile searches starting with “can I” have grown over 85%. For example, “can I use paypal on amazon,” “can I buy stamps at walmart,” and “can I buy a seat for my dog on an airplane.”
Mobile Search Trends Drive Content Relevance Trends
The above kinds of queries for both personal and conversational search are trending upwards and represent a meaningful change in what people are looking for. Content should adapt to that. Each kind search query can be answered by a different kind of web page, with different content length, with different needs for diagrams, maps, depth, and so on. One simply cannot generalize and say that Google prefers short-form content because that’s not always what mobile users prefer. Thinking in terms of what most mobile users might prefer for a specific query is a great start. But the next step involves thinking about the problem that specific search query is trying to solve and what the best solution for most users is going to be. Then crafting a content-based response that is appropriate for that situation. And as you’ll read below, for some queries the most popular answer might vary according to time. +For some queries, a desktop optimal content might be appropriate.2. Satisfy the Most Users
Identifying the problem users are trying to solve can lead to multiple answers. If you look at the SERPs you will see there are different kinds of sites. Some might be review sites, some might be informational, some might be educational. Those differences are indications that there multiple problems users are trying to solve. What’s helpful is that Google is highly likely to order the SERPs according to the most popular user intent, the answer that satisfies the most users. So if you want to know which kind of answer to give on a page, take a look at the SERPs and let the SERPs guide you. Sometimes this means that most users tend to be on mobile and short-form content works best. Sometimes it’s fifty/fifty and most users prefer in-depth content or multiple product choices or fewer product choices. Don’t be afraid of the mobile index. It’s not changing much. It’s simply adding an additional layer, to understand which kind of content satisfies the typical user (mobile, laptop, desktop, combination) and the user intent. It’s just an extra step to understanding who the most users are and from there asking how to satisfy them, that’s all.3. Time Influences Observed User Intent
Every search query demands a specific kind of result because the user intent behind each query is different. Mobile adds an additional layer of intent to search queries. In a Think with Google publication about how people use their devices (PDF), Google stated this:“The proliferation of devices has changed the way people interact with the world around them. With more touchpoints than ever before, it’s critical that marketers have a full understanding of how people use devices so that they can be here and be useful for their customers in the moments that matter.”
Time plays a role in how the user intent changes.
The time of day that a query is made can influence what device that user is using, which in turn says something about that users needs in terms of speed, convenience, and information needs.
Google’s research from the above-cited document states this:
“Mobile leads in the morning, but computers become dominant around 8 a.m. when people might start their workday. Mobile takes the lead again in the late afternoon when people might be on the go, and continues to increase into the evening, spiking around primetime viewing hours.”This is what I mean when I say that Google’s mobile index is introducing a new layer of what it means to be relevant. It’s not about your on-page keywords being relevant to what a user is typing. A new consideration is about how your web page is relevant to someone at a certain time of day on a certain device and how you’re going to solve the most popular information need at that time of day. Google’s March 2018 official mobile first announcement stated it like this:
“We may show content to users that’s not mobile-friendly or that is slow loading if our many other signals determine it is the most relevant content to show.”What signals is Google looking at? Obviously, the device itself could be a signal. But also, according to Google, time of day might be a signal because not only does device usage fluctuate during the day but the intent does too.
4. Defining Relevance in a Mobile-First Index
Google’s focus on the user intent 100% changes what the phrase “relevant content” means, especially in a mobile-first index. People on different devices search for different things. It’s not that the mobile index itself is changing what is going to be ranked. The user intent for search queries is constantly changing, sometimes in response to Google’s ability to better understand what that intent is. Some of those core algorithm updates could be changes related to how Google understands what satisfies users. You know how SEOs are worrying about click-through data? They are missing an important metric. CTR is not the only measurement tool search engines have. Do you think CTR 100% tells what’s going on in a mobile-first index? How can Google understand if a SERP solved a user’s problem if the user does not even click through? That’s where a metric similar to Viewport Time comes in. Search engines have been using variations of Viewport Time to understand mobile users. Yet the SEO industry is still wringing its hands about CTR. Ever feel like a piece of the ranking puzzle is missing? This is one of those pieces. Google’s understanding of what satisfies users is constantly improving. And that impacts the rankings. How we provide the best experience for those queries should change, too. An important way those solutions have changed involves understanding the demographics of who is using a specific kind of device. What does it mean when someone asks a question on one device versus another device? One answer is that the age group might influence who is asking a certain question on a certain device. For example, Google shared the following insights about mobile and desktop users (PDF). Searchers in the Beauty and Health niche search for different kinds of things according to device. Examples of top Beauty and Health queries on mobile devices are for topics related to tattoos and nail salons. Examples of Beauty and Health desktop queries indicate an older user because they’re searching for stores like Saks and beauty products such as anti-aging creams.
It’s naïve to worry about whether you have enough synonyms on your page. That’s not what relevance is about.
Relevance is not about keyword synonyms. Relevance is often about problem-solving at certain times of day and within specific devices to specific age groups.
You can’t solve that by salting your web page with synonyms.
5. Mobile First Is Not About User-Friendliness
An important quality of the mobile-first index is convenience when satisfying a user intent.- Does the user intent behind the search query demand a quick answer or a shorter answer?
- Does the web page make it hard to find the answer?
- Does the page enable comparison between different products?
6. Would a Visitor Understand Your Content?
Google can know if a user understands your content. Users vote with their click and viewport time data and quality raters create another layer of data about certain queries. With enough data, Google can predict it what a user might find useful. This is where machine learning comes in. Here’s what Google says about machine learning in the context of User Experience (UX):Machine learning is the science of making predictions based on patterns and relationships that’ve been automatically discovered in data.If content that is difficult to read is a turn-off, that may be reflected in what sites are ranked and what sites are not. If the topic is complex and a complex answer solves the problem then that might be judged the best answer. I know we’re talking about Google, but it’s useful to understand the state of the art of search in general. Microsoft published a fascinating study about teaching a machine to predict what a user will find interesting. The paper is titled, Predicting Interesting Things in Text. This research focused on understanding what made content interesting and what caused users to keep clicking to another page. In other words, it was about training a machine to understand what satisfies users. Here’s a synopsis:
“We propose models of “interestingness”, which aim to predict the level of interest a user has in the various text spans in a document. We obtain naturally occurring interest signals by observing user browsing behavior in clicks from one page to another. We cast the problem of predicting interestingness as a discriminative learning problem over this data. We train and test our models on millions of real world transitions between Wikipedia documents as observed from web browser session logs. On the task of predicting which spans are of most interest to users, we show significant improvement over various baselines and highlight the value of our latent semantic model.”In general, I find good results with content that can be appreciated by the widest variety of people. This isn’t strictly a mobile-first consideration but it is increasingly important in an Internet where so people of diverse backgrounds are accessing a site with multiple intents multiple kinds of devices. Achieving universal popularity becomes increasingly difficult so it may be advantageous to appeal to the broadest array of people in a mobile-first index.
7. Google’s Algo Intent Hasn’t Changed
Looked at a certain way, it could be said that Google’s desire to show users what they want to see has remained consistent. What has changed is the users’ age, what they desire, when they desire it and what device they desire it on. So the intent of Google’s algorithm likely remains the same. The mobile-first index can be seen as a logical response to how users have changed. It’s backwards to think of it as Google forcing web publishers to adapt to Google. What’s really happening is that web publishers must adapt to how their users have changed. Ultimately that is the best way to think of the mobile-first index. Not as a response to what Google wants but to approach the problem as a response to the evolving needs of the user.Image Credits Featured Image: Paulo Bobita All screenshots taken by author
https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/7-ways-a-mobile-first-index-impacts-seo-via-martinibuster/
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Top 7 legal tech stories from the Journal in 2019
Year in Review
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Between facial recognition, Facebook and state privacy laws, it was a busy year for law and technology. The ABA Journal takes a look back at 2019's biggest legal tech stories.
December 23, 2019, 11:59 am CST
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1. Facial Recognition Goes Mainstream
Smile! You’re on camera! And chances are, your image is being analyzed and run through a database so that you can be identified for all sorts of reasons. Facial recognition programs are already being used by several law enforcement and governmental agencies throughout the country, and admitted as evidence in criminal trials. Meanwhile, businesses, airports, and venues, including Amazon, are either using facial recognition or plan to identify new customers or make user experiences easier. This year, several cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, California pushed back and banned the use of facial recognition by government agencies, citing privacy concerns, as well as reported inaccuracies in the software. “Good policing does not require that we live in a police state,” Lee Hepner, legislative aide to San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Aaron Peskin, who championed the bill, told the ABA Journal in September. Proponents of the technology feel like they’re being singled out unfairly. “A lot of people miss the value of facial recognition because they’ve got a lot of questions about how it actually works,” Peter Trepp, CEO of FaceFirst, a facial recognition company told the ABA Journal in September.2. Rough Year for Facebook
Good thing Facebook added sad and angry emojis for users to use in reacting to posts on their timeline. Mark Zuckerberg could use either to describe the year he and his company have had. In July, Facebook was hit with a $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission over its privacy practices, most notably relating to its association with Cambridge Analytica. The social media giants promised to overhaul their privacy policies and do more to safeguard user data. Then, in October, Zuckerberg was grilled by Congress over a myriad of things, including Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency, Libra, as well as defend its stance against fact-checking political ads. While Facebook’s stock price remains healthy, the social media company has lost nearly 15 million users over the past two years, according to reports. Am Law firms, in particular, are fleeing. According to a November report from Good2BeSocial, lingering concerns over privacy have caused large firms to turn to other social media platforms, in particular LinkedIn and Instagram (the latter is owned by Facebook).3. Alternative Legal Service Providers Rake in the Cash
It’s a good time for alternative legal services providers—at least when it comes to their bank accounts. In September, cloud-based practice management company Clio announced a $250 million Series D funding round, one of the largest ever in legal technology. Meanwhile, in February, Axiom announced plans to file an IPO—only to change course seven months later and sell a majority stake to private equity company Permira. The new majority shareholders in Axiom are no strangers to the legal tech arena, having purchased a controlling stake in LegalZoom in 2014. Those were only a couple of examples. In September, Bob Ambrogi of LawSites reported the $1.2 billion invested in legal tech companies in the first three quarters of 2019 was already a record for any year. Additionally, the ABA Journal reported in May that eight for-profit and nonprofit legal tech organizations have taken part in Silicon Valley’s prestigious accelerator, Y Combinator, since 2018—a sign that some experts believe is indicative of a robust legal tech market.4. Bar Associations Lead the Way on Controversial Reforms
Nonlawyer ownership, fee splitting and allowing certain nonlegal professionals to provide legal services have long been a no-go zone for many lawyers and bar associations. But in 2019, bar associations in three states took the first steps toward entering that previously forbidden territory. In California, the Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services released a report over the summer recommending reforming unauthorized practice of law regulations to allow certain nonlegal professionals to provide legal services under certain conditions and amending state ethics rules to allow for fee-splitting and nonlawyer ownership of law firms. The proposals engendered quite a bit of controversy and opposition from public commenters. As such, the California bar’s board of trustees announced in November that the task force’s final recommendations would be delayed until March 2020 to better evaluate the public comments. Meanwhile, in August, the Utah Work Group On Regulatory Reform put forth its suggested reforms. Stopping short of allowing nonlawyer ownership or reforming UPL regulations, the group, instead, called for a regulatory sandbox where alternative legal services providers could test out new ways to deliver legal services without running afoul of ethics rules. Then, in October, Arizona’s Task Force on the Delivery of Legal Services proposed removing the prohibition on nonlawyer ownership of law firms.5. States Lay Down the Law on Digital Privacy
When the European Union enacted the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, one of the big questions would be whether the United States would follow suit. That hasn’t happened at the federal level, but that hasn’t stopped some states from taking the initiative. In January, the California Consumer Privacy Act went into effect. Seen as “GDPR-lite,” the California law is the strongest data privacy law in the country, giving consumers access to their data, the right to have their personal data deleted and the ability to opt out of having their data sold. That same month, Vermont enacted a law regulating third parties that buy or resell consumer data.6. EU Courts Grapple with Takedown Requests
This autumn saw a pair of seemingly contradictory court decisions in Europe concerning the right to force an internet company to take down or de-list information online. In September, the European Court of Justice ruled Google did not have to de-list or de-reference information pertaining to a French citizen worldwide—just in the EU. In its opinion, the court seemingly shut down the argument that the so-called “right to be forgotten” applied throughout the world, finding: “It follows that, currently, there is no obligation under EU law, for a search engine operator who grants a request for de-referencing made by a data subject … to carry out such a de-referencing on all the versions of its search engine.” Some experts, however, pointed to another line in the opinion, which refused to rule out a worldwide application: “EU law does not currently require that the de-referencing granted concern all versions of the search engine in question, it also does not prohibit such a practice.” Meanwhile, in October, the same court ruled that EU courts can force Facebook to remove specific posts on all versions of its site internationally if said posts violate national laws. “This judgment raises critical questions around freedom of expression and the role that internet companies should play in monitoring, interpreting and removing speech that might be illegal in any particular country,” said a Facebook spokesperson in a statement. “It undermines the long-standing principle that one country does not have the right to impose its laws on speech on another country.”7. Keep an Eye on China
The country is rapidly moving forward with several technological innovations, including blockchain, all-virtual internet specialty courts and, most controversially, DNA surveillance. In February, the New York Times reported that the government set up “free physicals for all,” took DNA swabs from the patients that showed, and then put them into a DNA tracking database built, in part, with help from a Massachusetts-based company. The Times reported that the information was used to track ethnic minorities, primarily Uighur Muslims, in the name of national security. Then, in December, China instituted a rule requiring all citizens to get their faces scanned by telecommunications carriers before they can sign up for mobile telephone service or access the internet. The government’s rationale, is to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens in the cyberspace” and prevent fraud, according to Quartz.https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/top-7-legal-tech-stories-from-the-journal-in-2019/
Monday, December 23, 2019
The Ultimate Guide for an SEO-Friendly URL Structure via @clarkboyd
1. Use Your Keywords
Every time you launch a page on your domain, it should have a purpose. Whether transactional, informational, or administrative, its reason for existence should be clear at the outset. You’ll want this page to be discovered by the right people (and crawlers), so you will incorporate some keyword research and include the relevant terms. The most descriptive of these — the term that gets to the nub of what this page is about — should be included in the URL, close to the root domain. We’ll deal with multiple pages that broadly tackle the same topic later, but for now, let’s assume the simple example of a page that clearly handles one topic. Let’s go for whiskey. Generic example: https://example.com/topic Whiskey-based example: https://example.com/whiskey Even this isn’t quite as simple as it seems, though. Should we use “whiskey” or “whisky” as our standard spelling? Both are valid, with the former being an Irish spelling and the latter Scottish. The Irish spelling has been adopted in the U.S., but we’ll need more proof before proceeding with that as our chosen variation. The Moz Keyword Explorer is great for this sort of predicament, as it groups keywords together to give an estimate of the search volume for particular topics. In this era of vague keyword-level search volumes, it provides a nice solution.
The search volume is with “whiskey” and our site is based in the U.S., so let’s run with that.
2. Build a Sound Structure for the Future
Perhaps the biggest challenge we all face when defining a sitewide URL hierarchy is ensuring that it will still fit our purpose for years to come. It is for this reason that some websites end up as a patchwork quilt of sub-domains and conflicting paths to arrive at similar products. This is poor from a user’s perspective, but it also sends confusing signals to Google about how you categorize your product offering. An example of this would be: https://example.com/whiskey/irish-whiskey/jameson https://example.com/bushmills The first URL flows logically from domain to category to sub-category to product. The second URL goes from domain to product. Hierarchically, both products should sit at the same level in the site and the Jameson example is better for SEO and users. We encounter this a lot, though. Why? It can be a simple lack of communication, with a product team launching a new item straight onto the site without consulting other parties. It can also be down to a failure of future planning. Either way, it’s essential to lay out your structure in advance. Work together with different teams to understand the future direction of the business, then add your SEO knowledge to shape the site architecture. It will rarely be perfect, but the more you plan, the fewer errors you will have to undo down the line.3. Avoid Superfluous Words & Characters
As a rule of thumb, make sure a user can understand what your page is about by looking at the URL. That means you don’t need to include every single preposition or conjunction. Words like “and” or “the” are just distractions and can be stripped out of the URL altogether. Just as users can understand what a topic is about without these short words, Google will derive all the meaning it requires too. You should also avoid keyword repetition within URLs. Adding the same keyword multiple times in the hope of increasing your ranking chances will only lead to a spammy URL structure. An example of this unnecessary repetition would be: https://domain.com/whiskey/irish-whiskey/jameson-irish-whiskey/jameson-irish-whiskey-history The first two uses of the main keyword make sense, but the third and fourth are overkill. A few additional points to bear in mind on this topic:- Case Sensitivity: It is surprisingly common to find multiple versions of the same URL, with one all in lower case and the others using occasional capital letters. Use canonical tags to mark the lower-case URL as the preferred version or, if possible, use permanent redirects.
- Hashes: These can be useful to send users to a specific section of a page, but restrict their use in other circumstances if possible. If the content users are sent to after the # symbol is unique, make it available via a simple URL instead.
- Word Delimiters: Stick with hyphens to separate words within your URL strings. Underscores will serve to join two words together, so be wary of using these.
- URL Length: After 512 pixels, Google will truncate your URL in search results pages. A good rule of thumb is to keep y0ur URLs as short as you can, without losing their general meaning.
4. Minimize Dynamic URL Strings
This one can be harder than it sounds, depending on the content management system you use. Some e-commerce platforms will automatically spit out character strings that leave you with URLs like: https://domain.com/cat/?cid=7078. These are a bit unsightly and they also go against the rules we’ve been outlining above. We want static URLs that include a logical folder structure and descriptive keywords. Although search engines have no problem crawling or indexing either variant, for SEO-based reasons it’s better to use static URLs rather than dynamic ones. The thing is, static URLs contain your keywords and are more user-friendly since one can figure out what the page is about just by looking at the static URL’s name. So how do we get around this? You can use rewrite rules if your web server runs Apache, and some tools like this one from Generate It are helpful. There are different fixes for different platforms (some more complex than others). Some web developers make use of relative URLs, too. The problem with relative URLs for SEO is that they are dependent on the context in which they occur. Once the context changes, the URL may not work. For SEO, it’s better to use absolute URLs instead of relative ones, since the former are what search engines prefer. Now, sometimes different parameters can be added to the URL for analytics tracking or other reasons (such as sid, utm, etc.) To make sure that these parameters don’t make the number of URLs with duplicate content grow over the top, you can do either of the following:- Ask Google to disregard certain URL parameters in Google Search Console in Configuration > URL Parameters.
- See if your content management system allows you to solidify URLs with additional parameters with their shorter counterparts.
5. Consolidate the Different Versions of Your Site
As a rule, there are two major versions of your domain indexed in search engines: the www and the non-www version of it. We can add to this the complexity of having a secure (https) and non-secure (HTTP) version too, with Google giving preference to the former. Most SEOs use the 301 redirect to point one version of their site to the other (or vice versa). This tells search engines that a particular URL has moved permanently to another destination. Alternatively (for instance, when you can’t do a redirect), you can specify your preferred version in Google Search Console in Configuration > Settings > Preferred Domain. However, this has certain drawbacks:- This takes care of Google only.
- This option is restricted to root domains only. If you have an example.wordpress.com site, this method is not for you.
6. Make Correct Use of Canonical Tags
So, canonical tags. These are a very helpful piece of code when you have multiple versions of what is essentially the same page. By adding a canonical tag, you can tell Google which one is your preferred version. Note: The canonical tag should be applied only with the purpose of helping search engines decide on your canonical URL. For redirection of site pages, use redirects. And, for paginated content, it makes sense to employ rel=”next” and rel=”prev” tags in most cases. Canonical tags are useful for just about any website, but they are particularly powerful for online retailers. For example, on Macy’s website, I can go to the Quilts & Bedspreads page directly by using the URL (https://www.macys.com/shop/bed-bath/quilts-bedspreads), or I can take different routes from the homepage:- I can go to Homepage >> Bed& Bath >> Quilts & Bedspreads. The following URL with my path recorded is generated:
- Or I can go to Homepage >> For the Home >> Bed & Bath >> Bedding >> Quilts & Bedspreads. The following URL is generated:
As you see, for each of these URLs, a canonical URL is specified, which is the cleanest version of all the URLs in the group:
https://www.macys.com/shop/bed-bath/quilts-bedspreads?id=22748
What this does is, it funnels down the SEO value each of these three URLs might have to one single URL that should be displayed in the search results (the canonical URL). Normally search engines do a pretty good job identifying canonical URLs themselves, but, as Susan Moskwa once wrote at Google Webmaster Central:
“If we aren’t able to detect all the duplicates of a particular page, we won’t be able to consolidate all of their properties. This may dilute the strength of that content’s ranking signals by splitting them across multiple URLs.”
7. Incorporate Topical Authority
In Google’s own Search Quality Evaluators Guidelines (a must-read document for all SEOs!), there are clear references to both main content and supplementary content. Main content will be your lead page in each section that really sets out what your category is all about. It will set out your stall as a relevant source for a topic. Supplementary content provides, as the name suggests, additional information that helps users navigate the topic and reach informed decisions. URL structure is an essential component of getting this right. So, let’s go back to our whiskey example to see how we might tackle this. Our site is e-commerce focused and we want to sell the product, of course. However, going for the jugular and only pushing out product pages is tantamount to SEO tunnel vision. Our initial research from Moz Keyword Explorer is a great resource as we make these plans. Below, I have exported the keyword list and reduced it to the highest-volume topics. From here, we can start to decide what might qualify as a topic for a main content or supplementary content page.
This is a simplified example and just a first step, of course.
However, it is worth noting that this approach goes further than just category > sub-category > product. By thinking in terms of main content and supplementary content, a product is just as likely to qualify as main content as a category is. The question is more about which topics consumers want us to elaborate on to help them make choices.
From here, we can dig into some of these topics and start to flesh out what each hub might look like.
Some clear opportunities already stand out to create content and rank via rich snippets. People want to know how whiskey is made, what different varieties exist, and of course, whether it’s spelled ‘whiskey’ or ‘whisky’. This could be the beginning of a business case to create a whiskey tasting guide or a ‘history of whiskey’ content hub on the site.
Combined with ranking difficulty metrics, business priorities, and content production capabilities, this approach will soon take shape as a site hierarchy and opportunity analysis.
For our whiskey example, it might start to comprise the following structure:
https://domain.com/whiskey/whiskey-tasting-guide
https://domain.com/whiskey/whiskey-tasting-guide/how-to-taste-whiskey
https://domain.com/whiskey/whiskey-tasting-guide/how-is-whiskey-made
https://domain.com/whiskey/whiskey-tasting-guide/barley-whiskey
Again, there are decisions to make.
In the last URL, one could argue that the tasting guide page for barley whiskey should sit under the barley whiskey sub-category page in the site hierarchy. Barley whiskey has been earmarked as ‘main content’ in my spreadsheet, after all. The choice here comes down to where we want to consolidate value; dispersing that value would reduce our chances of ranking for any ‘tasting guide’ terms.
These are exactly the kinds of decisions that can lead to a confused structure if a consistent logic is not followed.
All of this will contribute to your topical authority and increase site visibility.
This type of content often already exists on site, too. I am not claiming anything revolutionary by saying a website should have lots of useful information, after all. However, the structure of this content and how entities are semantically linked to each other makes the difference between success and failure.
This can be used as a ‘quick win’ tactic and it tends to be received well by all parties. Updating and moving existing content will always be an easier sell than asking for an all-new content hub.
8. Create an XML Sitemap
Once you’ve ticked off all of the above, you’ll want to make sure search engines know what’s going on with your website. That’s where sitemaps come in handy — particularly XML sitemaps. An XML Sitemap is not to be confused with the HTML sitemap. The former is for the search engines, while the latter is mostly designed for human users (although it has other uses t00). So what is an XML Sitemap? In plain words, it’s a list of your site’s URLs that you submit to the search engines. This serves two purposes:- This helps search engines find your site’s pages more easily.
- Search engines can use the sitemap as a reference when choosing canonical URLs on your site.
Summary
An SEO-friendly URL structure is the following things:- Easy to read: Users and search engines should be able to understand what is on each page just by looking at the URL.
- Keyword-rich: Keywords still matter and your target queries should be within URLs. Just be wary of overkill; extending URLs just to include more keywords is a bad idea.
- Consistent: There are multiple ways to create an SEO-friendly URL structure on any site. It’s essential that, whatever logic you choose to follow, it is applied consistently across the site.
- Static: Dynamic parameters are rarely an SEO’s best friend, but they are quite common. Where possible, find a solution that allows your site to render static URLs instead.
- Future-proof: Think ahead when planning your site structure. You should minimize the number of redirects on your domain, and it’s easier to do this if you don’t require wholesale changes to URLs.
- Comprehensive: Use the concepts of main content and supplementary content to ensure you have adequate coverage for all relevant topics. This will maximize your site’s visibility.
- Supported by data: It normally requires buy-in from a lot of stakeholders to launch or update a particular site structure. Numbers talk, so make use of search and analytics data to support your case.
- Submitted to search engines: Finally, create an XML sitemap containing all of the URLs that you want to rank via SEO and submit it to search engines. That will ensure all your hard work gets the reward it deserves.
Image Credits Featured Image: Paulo Bobita All screenshots taken by author
SEO-Friendly Hosting: 5 Things to Look for in a Hosting Company via @amelioratethis
1. High Uptime Guarantee
Your host’s uptime guarantee is arguably the most important factor in whether they’re SEO-friendly. Uptime refers to the percentage of the time your site is online and accessible. The higher your uptime, the less likely visitors will visit your site only to discover it’s down, sending them back to the search engines and potentially risking your rankings in the process. Better, more reliable hosts offer higher uptime guarantees. For best results, choose a host with at least 99.9 percent uptime guarantee (or higher, if you can get it). That translates to roughly 1.44 minutes of downtime a day and 8.8 hours per year. Not bad. However, be wary of any host that claims 100 percent uptime. There’s always going to be some downtime. The key is to keep it as short as possible. That way, it won’t affect your SEO performance.2. Server Location
While uptime refers to your site content being accessible to users, your server location may dictate how quickly it’s accessible to them. If you’re on a shared, VPS, or dedicated server hosting plan, your site lives on a physical server in a data center somewhere (as opposed to cloud hosting, where your data is housed in the cloud). Ideally, you want that data center located as close as possible to the majority of your site visitors. The farther away your server is, the longer it can take for your site to load. Server location can also look fishy to search engines, which may affect your SEO. If you operate in one country but use a host located halfway around the world, there may be something nefarious going on It goes without saying that servers themselves should also be fast, and that the host should further boost performance through a Content Delivery Network (CDN).3. Multiple Options
We all like options. You should enjoy them with your web hosting, too. Beyond hosting itself, many hosting companies offer optional value-adds that can upgrade your site. Here are some of the SEO-friendly ones you’ll want to see:- Automatic backups: If something ever goes wrong, you want a site backup you can quickly restore from. See if your host offers automatic backups for free or for an added cost.
- SSL: HTTPS has been a ranking factor for years now. If you haven’t already transitioned to a secure site, you need to get your act together. Make sure your host supports SSL. Some even include them for free with your hosting package.
- Multiple hosting plans: As your site grows, your hosting needs are likely to change (this is a good thing!). Eventually, your traffic numbers may be big enough to warrant switching to your own dedicated server. This transition will be easier (and cheaper) if you don’t have to switch hosting providers at the same time.
4. Good Reviews
Alright, let’s say you’re actually using this list to compare hosts. By this point, you’ve read through their hosting features, and it appears they’re checking off all the right things. Now it’s time to validate that the marketing claims are true. Before you sign up with a host, take a few minutes to read their online reviews. A caveat: The hosting space tends to attract more unhappy reviews than most. If a barista messes up your coffee, you’re unlikely to be bothered enough to write a scathing review for the cafe on Yelp. But if your site goes down, even for a moment, or even if you were at fault (as can happen if you choose an inappropriate hosting plan for your traffic needs), you are going to be extremely angry with your host and tweet, post, and blog about it loudly and vociferously. Unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the business. Having said that, you can still gather a lot of valuable information from reviews. Look for hosts that appear again and again on Top Web Hosts lists, and read the reviews to verify that the hosting plan you’re considering is likely to give you what you need. You won’t have trouble finding these lists. A quick Google search for delivered a slew of results from PCMag, CNET, and more:
5. Responsive Support Team
While you’re reading through the reviews, pay special attention to how people talk about their support. In the unlikely event that your site does go down, you want to be able to fix it immediately. Most often, that will involve speaking to a support person. A good host will offer 24/7 support for free. Verify the operating hours of your potential host’s support team, and see how exactly you’ll be able to get in touch with them. Is there a phone number, live chat, or email? Check out their social profiles, too. Web hosts who care about helping their customers tend to make customer support widely available on social media, perhaps even via dedicated support Twitter accounts. Here’s an example from Squarespace:
Bonus: Easy-to-Use CMS
This one’s not exactly related to hosting, but it’s important nonetheless. Being able to easily create outstanding content is key for your SEO success. You know that. So, you want a host that integrates with a CMS you’re either already familiar with or you can easily learn. Otherwise, you’re just making things hard on yourself! Fortunately, most hosts today offer their own drag-and-drop content creation tools. Many also integrate with WordPress and other popular content management systems.What Defines an SEO-Friendly Web Host?
Good, reliable web hosting is one of those things that runs in the background without you ever having to think about it. That, in essence, is an SEO-friendly web host.Image Credits Featured Image: Paulo Bobita All screenshots taken by author
Sunday, December 22, 2019
How Will Google BERT Impact Your Content Strategy? via @Manish_Analyst
As you can see, the “AFTER” results are much closer tied to the user intent of the query.
But what does this mean for your SEO and content strategy?
Major algorithm updates like this generally send SEO professionals into an uproar about how to optimize – chock full of tall tales and misinformation.
Google’s mysterious algorithms are on a never-ending quest to better understand what exactly searchers are looking for.
Following most big updates, we hear the Google insiders telling us the same piece of advice, along the lines of:
“This is a major update. You don’t need to do/change anything. Just keep creating high-quality content and keep the user in mind.”
Now, it’s important to note that BERT won’t have a monumental impact on your SEO strategy or content marketing metrics.
Google’s BERT update is simply a big step forward in Google’s quest to think more like/better understand humans.
However, there are a few key tidbits and observations from the BERT update that you should take into consideration.
Let’s go over some of the big ones.
1. Informational Queries Take the Spotlight with BERT
A lot of what we are seeing so far is that BERT is primarily impacting search queries that fall near the top-of-the-funnel – or informational queries/questions. Why is this? Informational queries tend to have much more ambiguity attached to them – in comparison to navigational or transactional queries. We believe a big part of the BERT update is deciphering this ambiguity to provide more direct answers. For example, let’s take it to Google:
Even though I didn’t specify that I was talking about transcribing podcast episodes, Google interpreted this informational query as such. This is done through a tactic called masking.
Because BERT is a bidirectional model, it examines the words before and after the missing word to help decipher the context. It probably looked at the words “transcripts” and “episodes” to figure out I was talking about podcasts.
From here, it served me a bunch of content related to transcribing podcasts. More importantly, the content is all about why it’s so important.
So, what does this mean?
2. Fortune Favors Laser-Focused Answers
The shift to focusing on long-tail keywords and questions is nothing new. The BERT update appears to be another step in this direction. However, it’s not so much about optimizing content for keyword density; it’s more about providing direct answers to questions and informational queries. If we look back at the question, “should I add transcripts to my episodes?” the featured snippet tells me yes because it helps search engines index the audio content – and subsequently rank it. So how can you abide by this in your SEO and content plan? The name of the game here is:- Building content around specific questions/queries.
- Providing laser-focused answers (nothing new).
- How much do kitchen cabinets cost? – 140 searches/month.
- What kitchen cabinets are best? – 70 searches/month.
3. Longer Content Might Not Always Be Better
It can be easy to get caught up in general statistics. The notion that longer content is generally better is becoming more of a myth with every update. Let’s Google the question, “How does the sharing economy work?”
The article that made the 1 position (below the featured snippet) is only 411 words.
Now, we can’t say that creating shorter, more concise content is an absolute fact in SEO that applies across the board – it’s all going to depend on how specific the query is.
For broad queries like “how does SEO work” or “how to create a content marketing strategy” – longer, more thorough content is going to be the way to go.
On the other hand, queries like: “what are keywords” or “what is a do-follow link” won’t require a novel to explain.
A good takeaway from this is that ranking highly for super focused informational queries comes down to how well you answer the question – whether it be in a few hundred words or a few thousand.
The trick is providing the content that gives the searcher an efficient, yet solid answer – a task that’s easier said than done!
Wrapping Up: Stick to Google’s Classic Words of Wisdom
Google’s age-old advice, “create high quality content with the user in mind,” remains the focus of SEO. If you are searching for ways to fine-tune your strategy around the BERT update, abiding by these classic words of wisdom should remain your primary game plan. There’s a reason why SEO pros across the board were warning people to be cautious of “BERT optimization” content – both before and after the update happened. To continue beating the dead horse – if creating awesome content that answers your target users’ pressing questions is a priority of yours, you don’t need to do anything to “optimize” for BERT. More Resources:Image Credits Featured Image: Created by author, November 2019 In-Post Image #1: Google All screenshots taken by author, November 2019
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Not Again! Facebook Data Breach Hits 276 Million Users
Facebook is yet again accused of failing to protect the personal information of its users, leaving 267 million people potentially vulnerable to scams and phishing schemes.
A database containing the names, phone numbers, unique Facebook IDs, and other personal information of more than 267 million Facebook users was active on the “dark web” for at least two weeks, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Comparitech. Cybersecurity researcher Brian Diachenko said in the report that this data could be used to conduct texting (SMS) fraud and phishing scams. Comparitech said it believes the breach could have originated with a Vietnam-based criminal organization, and that the information was likely accessed via illegal data scraping or Facebook API misuse.
Facebook has faced data breaches and other issues related to user privacy in the past. The most famous is the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal affecting 87 million Facebook users.
Data Security Issues Abound
As we become ever more entangled with the internet, tech companies like Facebook command a significant amount of access to our personal information. With the wrong people having access, it can lead to situations in which people’s lives are upended. That level of access should be considered a privilege to these companies, but that’s not often the case. Instead what we’ve seen is a plethora of major data breaches and hacks, from businesses ranging from a local hospital system to the corporate tech titans of Facebook and Yahoo. According to a report by data security firm Risk Based Security, data breaches increased by 54% in 2019, with more than 3,800 incidents. Frighteningly, three of the 10 largest data breaches ever recorded happened in 2019. That’s nearly a third of all of the largest breaches.What Can You Do If You Think Your Data Was Leaked?
Our data breach class action attorneys fight for Americans who lack the ability to pursue justice. We take on the irresponsible companies and organizations who’ve failed to protect the sensitive data of their users; our track record of success includes a $117.5 million data breach settlement with Yahoo, among many other smaller but still significant data breach cases. If you are a Facebook user who was affected by this breach, contact us today for your free case review to potentially join a class action to hold Facebook accountable.https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/not-again-facebook-data-breach-hits-276-million-users/
Lawyer who successfully sued Roundup is accused of trying to extort $200M from unnamed company
Criminal Justice
Image from Shutterstock.com.
A lawyer who helped a groundskeeper obtain a $289 million verdict against the maker of Roundup has been charged with trying to extort $200 million from an unnamed company.
The lawyer, 37-year-old Timothy Litzenburg of Charlottesville, Virginia, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, according to a press release and stories by Law360 and CBS News.
Litzenberg was on the legal team representing a groundskeeper who blamed Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer for his cancer. The $289 million verdict was reduced by about $211 million in October 2018.
Federal prosecutors allege that Litzenburg approached a company in fall 2019 and showed it a draft lawsuit that alleged that the company was liable for making harmful chemical compounds used to create Roundup.
The company then hired outside counsel who spoke with Litzenburg.
Litzenburg allegedly made a proposal that involved a $200 million “consulting agreement.”
According to allegations in the complaint, Litzenburg said the company or its corporate parent company could pay him and an associate $200 million for the consulting work. The agreement would create a conflict that prevented him from suing the company, Litzenburg allegedly said.
The outside lawyer contacted federal prosecutors and consented to recordings of an upcoming phone call and meeting with Litzenburg.
In the phone conversation, Litzenburg allegedly said he was not obligated to recommend that his clients sue the maker of the chemical, and he would steer his clients away from such suits if there was a consulting agreement.
As a first step, Litzenburg said, he would settle the draft lawsuit for one of his clients for $5 million, the complaint alleges.
If the consulting fee was paid, Litzenburg allegedly said, he would “almost sort of take a dive” and “ask the wrong questions” during a deposition with the defendant’s toxicologist before settlement of the lawsuit. The company could then keep the deposition “in a vault somewhere” to be used at a later date to undermine any future litigation, he allegedly said.
If the company faces lawsuits, there is no way the company “gets out of it for less” than a billion, Litzenburg allegedly said.
Litzenburg is charged with transmitting interstate communications with intent to extort, attempted extortion and conspiracy.
Litzenburg is a lawyer with the mass torts firm Kincheloe Litzenburg & Pendleton. The firm’s website was not accessible Friday. A message on the firm’s website homepage read: “Site is being updated Please return soon.” Litzenburg did not immediately respond to a message left on his voicemail at a number listed by the state bar.
Roundup was made by Monsanto, which has denied any links between Roundup and cancer. The company told Law360 that it is not the company approached by Litzenburg. Litzenburg worked for a different law firm during the groundskeeper’s trial.
December 20, 2019, 2:14 pm CST
Image from Shutterstock.com.
Supreme Court to decide scope of exemption from bias laws for religious schools
U.S. Supreme Court
Image from Shutterstock.com.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide two cases involving the “ministerial exception” that bars courts from hearing some employment suits against religious employers.
The high court agreed to combine and hear two cases involving teachers who sued for alleged job bias after their Catholic school employers failed to renew their contracts, report SCOTUSblog, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Law360.
One teacher alleged age discrimination. The other, who has since died, alleged that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to renew her contract after she revealed that she had breast cancer.
In both cases, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco allowed the lawsuits to proceed after ruling that the teachers were secular rather than religious employees.
The cert petitions say the 9th Circuit split with the consensus of other circuits in its interpretation of a 2012 Supreme Court decision, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC.
That decision held that the ministerial exception protected a Lutheran school in Michigan from a lawsuit by a teacher who was not rehired after disability leave. The teacher, Cheryl Perich, had a title of “minister of religion,” was tasked with doing her job “according to the word of God,” and had received special religious training. As a result, she was a “minister” within the meaning of the exception, and she was not entitled to sue, the Supreme Court said.
The schools in the new cases before the court are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The cases are Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel. The SCOTUSblog case pages are here and here.
December 20, 2019, 3:14 pm CST
Image from Shutterstock.com.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Litigation Update: Allergan Breast Implant MDL Sent to New Jersey
The JPML has created an MDL for Allergan Biocell® Textured Breast Implant products and sent the cases to U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti of the District of New Jersey for consolidated or coordinated pretrial proceedings. The New Jersey District selection by the Panel was strongly supported by Allergan, whose U.S. headquarters are in Madison, NJ, where significant common evidence, including witnesses, is expected to be located.
The implants were recalled by Allergan earlier this year, after an FDA determination that nearly all cases of breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) were related to textured implants. According to the lawsuits, Allergan allegedly hid important product safety information that evidenced the cancer risk of their textured breast implants by omitting to report information on the FDA’s Manufacturer and End User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database. Instead, the company submitted alternative summary reports, which were not easily searchable or available to the public. In 2017, when the FDA revised their safety reporting requirements, the number of reports of breast implant associated injuries like BIA-ALCL rose from approximately 200 to over 4,500 in 2017 and over 8,000 in the first half of 2018.
The Panel order includes four actions pending in four federal districts and the Panel notes they have been informed of an additional 25 related federal actions pending in another 14 districts.
Click on this link for information on Verus’ Mass Tort Services. To contact us, fill out this form or email us at info@verusllc.com and we will reply immediately.
|CONTACT US| |REQUEST PROPOSAL|
Director of Marketing
vblum@verusllc.com
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In her role as Director of Marketing for Verus, Veronica is responsible for promoting the company’s services through branding, communication and business development tactics. As a member of the Leadership Team, Veronica is involved in working in the planning and execution of the company’s strategic plan. More.
https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/litigation-update-allergan-breast-implant-mdl-sent-to-new-jersey/
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