Google Keep

Google is bent on not stopping at giving its users more reasons to stick with it. Around third week of March, 2013, Google shook up the cyber world when it relaunched its old Notebook service as the new “Keep”. The note-taking service is currently dominated by Microsoft’s OneNote and Evernote which save text, web links, audio recordings, and photos in an organized manner. This application is equivalent to a life organizer, managing day-to-day errands and tasks at work and can be used regardless of the device being used that has access to the Web and Android.

Google’s Keep is now available for devices running on Android 4.0.3 and up. Alternatively, it can be accessed through the Google Drive web site, which will automatically sync the Web and the Android app.

Google Keep Features

It just takes installing the Android app to select the Google account you want to use with Keep and you can begin keeping your notes. Google’s Keep has four ways to use and enter a note:

  • Directly from the text box on the initial screen

  • By tapping on the check mark icon, you can add a checklist

  • By tapping on the microphone, you can create voice memos which are instantly transcribed. Both the audio and text can be stored in the note

  • By tapping on the camera, you can add a photo as a note

If you want to add a checklist to an existing note, you can tap on the menu button and select “Show Checkboxes”.  Also, colors can be assigned to notes by tapping on the color palette at the top of the screen. Color coding will come in handy when trying to organize notes. However, this can only be done manually. When creating categories, it will be best to assign a color for each category.

Adding a photo to any existing note can be done by tapping on the camera icon along the top of the screen. However, this function is limited to the photos taken at the time it is added. The function does not allow adding previously snapped photos from the gallery.

To archive notes, you can swipe in either direction across the note while tapping and holding on a note and dragging it anywhere you want is how you can re-arrange your notes. Similarly, the layout between multicolumn and single-column view can be done through the menu.

Two widgets are included with the app. The first widget is for creating notes with using a shortcut bar as you scroll through your existing notes from the home screen. On the other hand, the second widget is only a shortcut bar.

Keep has a powerful bookmarking tool. With its uncluttered interface, you can easily focus on a quick task, dictate a memo or a message, or even snap a photo. If you want to save a site, you can click “share” link where a preview image can also be saved. Unfortunately, this bookmarking feature is only available on the mobile app, and not on the web app, as of yet.

Apparently, for some Google users, Keep is the best way to keep organized despite some limitations. The fact that Google Keep has emphasized simple functions, auto-saves and can provide reliability, Google Keep users are bound to enjoy its reliability as a note-taking application.

Image Credits: Google Images


Shodan: Breaching Security Systems Through the Internet

worker

Where the name was derived, SHODAN means Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network – the villain and fictional artificial intelligence in the cyberpunk role-playing games (RPG) namely System Shock and System Shock 2.

The name Shodan was used by John Matherly when he created what is now considered the scariest search engine on the Internet. According to Matherly, it is simply not true that if Google can’t find stuff on the Web, no one can. In fact, Shodan navigates the Internet’s back channels which, is very much unlike Google which crawls the Web as they search for websites. Shodan is said to be a ‘dark’ kind of Google which looks for webcams, routers, servers, printers and all the peripherals and stuff connected to and that make up the Internet.

web-connectivity

Shodan: Collecting Information from Everything Connected to the Net

Shodan, running 24/7 has the ability to collect information on about 500 million connected devices and services every month. And they’re all interesting stuff – traffic lights, home automation devices, heating systems, and security cameras, if connected to the Internet will be easy to spot.

So far, using Shodan, searchers and cybersecurity researchers were able to:

  • Find control systems for a water park, a hotel wine cooler, gas station, and a crematorium

  • Locate command and control systems for nuclear power plants and a particle-accelerating cyclotron

Judging from these great “finds”, what would really be noteworthy about Shodan’s “locator” ability is that very few of those devices have any kind of security built into or around them, which indicates a massive security failure, as attested by HD Moore, chief security officer of Rapid 7 who uses a Shodan-like database privately for his own research.

If you make a quick search for “default password”, you will be shown search results of countless servers, printers, and system control devices that use default passwords as “admin” or “1234”. Some connected systems don’t even require password. With just a web browser, you are able to connect to them without difficulty.

Some other results obtained by Dan Tentler, an independent security penetration tester when he used Shodan include:

  • Finding a car wash that could be turned on and off

  • Finding a Denmark hockey rink that can be remotely defrosted

  • Finding a city’s entire traffic control system that can be put to a “test mode” with one command entry

  • Finding a control system for hydroelectric plant in France with two turbines generating 3 megawatts each.

vulnerable-device

Scary Picture of Shodan’s Power

Do you get the picture? It’s very scary and seriously alarming. What if Shodan is used for other purposes? And why are those devices connected with almost no security? If any consolation, there are some things that are designed to be connected to the internet like door locks that can be controlled using iPhone are believed hard to find.

What’s probably more alarming is how people are being careless and negligent when it comes to security consciousness. Most of the devices make use of systems that allow remote control or manipulation from a remote place. If done right, the device should run on its own server and not plugged directly into a web server which practically shared the device and the system with the rest of the world. If done this way, where the rest of the world can gain access to the device and the system, you can’t really talk about security. They don’t have business to be on the Internet in the first place.

Having seen such vulnerability, Shodan creator Matherly made sure that Shodan is almost exclusively used for good purposes. After completing his pet project three years ago, Matherly limited the searches to just 10 results without an account and 50 with an account. Matherly places his personal involvement if someone wants to see what Shodan has to offer. He requires more information about the intents and purposes of such search with corresponding payment.

In the event that cyber criminals have turned their fancy in blowing up a building or shutting down a city’s traffic light system, Shodan is expected to be used to avoid such scenario by spotting the unsecured, connected devices and alerting those operating them on their vulnerability. Hopefully, the detection will be quicker than the cyber criminal’s identification of potential target unsecured devices and systems. In the meantime, attention should be directed to those devices connected to the Internet that are bare and open to security attacks.

Meta description:  Shodan, said to be a ‘dark’ kind of Google, has the ability to collect information on about 500 million connected devices and services every month. This poses security problems for unsuspecting operators who had their system wired to the internet.

Image Credits: Google Images


Keyword Planner Google Adwords New Tool

keyword-planner

In the tradition of Google’s continued efforts in enhancing the functionalities of existing algorithms, tools, matrices, etc., the search engine giant rolled out the AdWords Keyword Planner to chosen PPC/AdWords accounts in April. But unlike the Google updates tradition, this one went almost unnoticed. It is one of the biggest overhauls Google Keyword Tool ever had and yet it was also the most quiet.

The new Keyword tool – Keyword Planner, was born out of the combination of two existing keyword tools, i.e., Google Keyword Tool and the AdWords Traffic Estimator. The new keyword tool hopes to have a more structured and integrated workflow and many other new features.

The new Keyword Planner will eventually replace both the Google Keyword Tool and AdWords Traffic Estimator in the very near future, and expectedly it will have an impact on the workflow.

Keyword Planner

This is a more focused or directed version of the two keyword tools, which is to make it easier for advertisers to get through the process of creating new ad campaigns and ad groups which is important in kick starting the PPC accounts off to a good start.

Differences from Google Keyword Tool and AdWords Traffic Estimator

Google Keyword Tool was meant to be general-purpose and unstructured. The tool can be used for almost anything including Keyword Research for SEO.

The new Keyword Planner, on the other hand is similar to an ultimate AdWords campaign building workshop. It has a wizard-type interface. The first step is determining the mechanics of creating ad campaigns and ad groups. Out of the three possible paths, you need to pick one:

research-tool

Search for Keyword and Ad Group Ideas

Google Keyword Tool and the AdWords Traffic Estimator.

When a new campaign in AdWords is created, you rely on Google to provide you with keyword suggestions.  The next stage of the Keyword Planner is researching and picking the keywords to be added to your account.

  • Filtering keywords from the Keyword Plan. The new Google Keyword Tool has filtering capabilities that can allow you to be really picky with your keywords to be added to the PPC account.
  • Setting Targeting Parameters. It’s important to have keywords that make sense for your business. Google allows you to customize the keyword stats and performance such as search network, country, and language.
  • List View vs. Grouped View. Keywords may be viewed either in list view or in grouped view.
  • Keyword Plan. You can add the promising keywords to “Your Plan” – a temporary storage area for saving interesting keywords and keyword-groupings. The Keyword Planner allows keywords added to Your Plan to be saved while still in the process of looking for keywords. In the two old keyword tools, this saving feature involved separate processes of saving to Google Keyword Tool and copy/paste it as input to AdWords Traffic Estimator. In the new Keyword Planner, the separate processes were integrated into a single process.
  • Getting Estimates & Reviewing Your Plan. This involves setting a keyword bid and daily budget for your portfolio of keywords and keyword groupings. To customize your estimates, you need to provide Google with information on budget, bid, location and other competitive factors. Doing so, would maximize the tool’s reach to one’s targeted market.

Enter or Upload Keywords to get Estimates

You can start using your own keyword list – maybe from several years of Web analytics data. If you have this data, it’s better to use this list instead of the generic keyword suggestions generated by the Keyword Planner. When you press the Get Estimates button, the Keyword Planner will generate daily estimates for Clicks, Impressions, Average as position and costs.

Multiply keyword lists to get Estimates

This involves mashing up and multiplying keyword lists. An example would be multiplying a bunch of names of products with colors and word modifiers to arrive at unique keyword permutations. You can mash up a total of three lists and get estimates for the keywords born out of multiplied lists.

Conclusion

Keyword Planner tool supports various workflows for building ad groups and ad campaigns– from generic keywords generated by the tool or based on existing keyword lists and the determination of negative keywords for effective PPC campaign. It provides more solid and consistent user experience by integrating keyword selection, grouping, analysis and filtering aspects of the workflow entailed by keyword selection.


The Satisfaction Algorithm

user satisfaction

All webmasters will agree that all the algorithm updates, all the ranking signals used by Google are intended to serve just one purpose – to satisfy the user. Google has never stopped and is continuously finding ways to give the best search results for the users. And most of these efforts are geared towards achieving that goal. This makes ‘Satisfaction’  an actual ranking factor.

But not like the other ranking factors, satisfaction as a ranking factor is difficult to measure as it is based almost entirely on Google’s own internal data. And that is something Google is not willing to share. With that unknown, one can only surmise what metrics Google use to evaluate the performance of its own search results. And it looks like Google and other search engines place so much importance in satisfaction when ranking a website.

measuring satisfactionMeasuring and Predicting Satisfaction

  • Understanding User Behavior in Search Results. A description on how Google engineers discovered how to improve search results is contained in the excellent book “In the Plex” by Stephen Levy. That portion on the book explains the “pogosticking” practice or behavior manifested by the users. This means that users click on a search result, then “pogostick” back and forth between the search results pages and the different websites, searching for the page that will make them stay long because they found the information they were looking for. If users go to the next page of results, it could signal that they are not happy.

  • Search Quality Raters. Google’s Search Quality Raters evaluate search results using the abbreviated copy of Search Quality Rating Guidelines which was released in 2012. Quality raters assign the highest score to a page as “useful”. This means that the pages are of high quality and relevant to the search query. In addition, the pages should be authoritative, entertaining, recent or current and highly satisfying. If the webpages are well organized, they might end up with a “useful” tag.

  • Panda. Google is given by Panda the ability to predict satisfaction instead of evaluating results. Google patterns it after actual human surveys and apply it to every site in its index. Every few weeks, Google updates the index with new data based on Panda’s predictive tool.

Every Marketer’s Goal

While it’s obvious what Google is looking for after all these years, that is, to satisfy users  with the search results, search marketers and webmasters should target the same goal by:

improving satisfaction

Improving User Satisfaction

A few ways to improve visitor satisfaction and earn praises from Google include:

  • Using Google’s free website satisfaction surveys. The recently released free customer satisfaction surveys can be embedded in the websites. This will help get feedback about visitor satisfaction.

  • Removing barriers to make the site more accessible for both the search engine robots and the users.

  • Speeding up loading of the page can definitely make a user satisfied with the site experience compared to pages which take years to load up.

  • Empathy. By putting yourself in the shoes of the users or visitors, you are a step towards satisfying your users or visitors. If you are the user, you would want a comprehensive reference material with answers to their questions, relevant links and resources to click for verification or cross referencing, and with surprises and extras here and there.

  • Linking out can increase user satisfaction and this is according to AJ Kohn in his SEO article “Time to Long Click”.  By linking out to other valuable resources, you are fully satisfying the user’s hunger for information. Having those links or long clicks will keep your visitors wanting for more so they’d come back repeatedly on the site in search for those links.

In summary, it’s all about satisfying robots and the users or visitors.

Images via Google Images


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