There is a common problem when auditing staging enterprise sites inside corporate networks. If you work in-house, you first connect to the corporate network using a VPN client. Then, you need to run auditing tools to review the pages. The only tools that work are the ones that you can run directly from your computer. For example, the ScreamingFrog spider, which is a downloadable program. However, many enterprise sites have millions of pages which makes crawling from your computer impractical due to time constraints or machine resources. Enterprise cloud-based crawlers like DeepCrawl, Ryte, Oncrawl, etc. are better suited for this type of work. But, they are not able to audit sites inside private networks. In addition to this, this leaves out many other valuable tools like the URL Inspection tools from Google and Bing that are critical to audit JavaScript-driven content. If you work agency-side, you have the extra complication that security and privacy compliance is now a requirement to work with enterprises. It is common to have to complete extensive security questionnaires before you are even considered as a vendor. The content in the staging site inside the private network might not be ready to be opened to the public. Introducing network admin tools for SEOIn previous articles, I’ve mentioned the importance of being aware of tools and techniques used in the development and IT industries. In this article I’m going to continue to make the case for that. Let me introduce a couple of tools that are familiar to network and system administrators: ngrok and mitmproxy. We can use ngrok to turn private (VPN required) URLs into temporary and public ones. We can use mitmproxy to make changes to the pages and hide and/or obfuscate the content and preserve its privacy. This requires writing simple Python scripts. Proxies and HTTP TunnelsBefore I dive in and play with the tools, let me go over their underlying concepts. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Proxy_servers_and_tunneling “When navigating through different networks of the Internet, proxy servers and HTTP tunnels are facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web. A proxy can be on the user’s local computer, or anywhere between the user’s computer and a destination server on the Internet. This page outlines some basics about proxies and introduces a few configuration options.“ Proxies and HTTP tunnels are standard approaches to relay requests/pages and make them available from once source site to another. Please review the linked article to learn more about the topic. Ngrok creates HTTP tunnels and mitmproxy is a reverse proxy. These are two different use cases that are a good fit to solve the problems I mentioned at the start. Using NgrokNgrok creates HTTP tunnels and is super simple to setup and use. Let’s say your staging site is https://staging.internal-network.net:8080 and you are only able to open the page after you connect using the VPN client. You could expose this site temporarily so you could verify Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and run the URL inspection tools (or enterprise crawlers) on the exposed URLs. Here is how you do that:
Ngrok is a command line tool, so you need to run it in a shell and pass parameters to make it work. Now let’s create the HTTP tunnel and temporary URL.
Here I am asking ngrok to expose the web server that is only accessible from my computer at port 8080. I added some extra commands to log any errors to ngrok.log and finally want the process to run in the background and let me type more commands.
I check the log has nothing and that means it should be working fine. Next, I need to get the public URL generated. I need to make an API call to the service, which returns a JSON response that I need to parse. We are going to simplify this part by downloading another handy command line tool, jq. Assuming you also have curl, you can get the temporary URL with this command.
You should get a URL that you can open in your web browser like this: “https://f8139ca0f3b9.ngrok.io“ After you open it, you will see the internal site. Try using the Rich Testing Tool on it (the URL you get, not this example) and it should work. How cool is that? As you don’t own the ngrok.io domain, you need to take an extra step in order to register with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. You need to create an account and register a custom domain that you control. Before you create the tunnel, you need to authenticate.
Then, you add another parameter to specify the custom domain while you create the tunnel.
You will be able to register this subdomain and run the URL inspection tools (or your favorite enterprise crawler). Using MitmproxySo, we learned to expose staging sites inside the corporate network using temporary public URLs. But, what if we couldn’t risk making the content public and inadvertently reveal unannounced news that could hurt a publicly listed company? One option is to layer in a reverse proxy and use it to hide or obfuscate any private information in the HTML and/or images to preserve the company’s privacy. Mitmproxy is an awesome HTTPS proxy that, among many things, allows you modify the HTTP traffic going through it on the fly, even HTTPS, which is encrypted! You can make simple text replacements in the command line or any arbitrary modifications by writing simple Python scripts. Mitmproxy can operate in several modes, we are interested in its reverse proxy one. It is a Python package, so you can install it using.
Then call it using.
Let me illustrate this powerful technique with one example. I’m going to reverse-proxy StackOverflow and change the text in their H1 from “People” to “SEOs”
Let’s open the browser on http://localhost:8081 and see if it works. Kaboom! Now tell me this isn’t exciting stuff :) The idea is to replace any text or images that shouldn’t be exposed publicly. You would need to run ngrok afterwards instructing it to connect to this reverse proxy at port 8081 instead of directly to the source server.
MIT stands for (Man in the middle attack), which is an information security concept that means there is an intercepting device/element in a two way conversation. This device can sniff or tamper with the information transmitted. As you can imagine, this could be used for nefarious purposes. Fortunately, in our case, we want to use it for good. We want to hide/obfuscate sensitive information from internal pages before exposing them publicly with ngrok. The post How to audit sites inside corporate networks appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/3kSidNS
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Microsoft Advertising announced Monday that it has partnered with Integral Ad Science (IAS) to provide brand safety verification for the native ads that run on the Microsoft Audience Network. The Microsoft Audience Network encompasses ad inventory on Microsoft-owned and operated sites such as MSN, Outlook.com, and Microsoft Edge browser as well as partner properties. Advertisers can target ads using data from the Microsoft audience graph, which includes LinkedIn professional data. The IAS integration is built in, automatically applied across the network, and advertisers aren’t charged outright for it. How it works. It’s a pre-bid integration, meaning inventory is evaluated prior to the ad auction. In this case, IAS will scan, evaluate and rate pages across the Microsoft Audience Network for risk. Risk will be assigned across IAS’s standard set of content categories: Adult, Alcohol, Gambling, Hate Speech, Illegal Downloads, Illegal Drugs, Offensive Language and Controversial Content, and Violence. When page content is deemed moderate or high risk, it will be excluded from Microsoft Audience Network’s advertising inventory. The integration is rolling out in the U.S. to start. IAS works with more than 4,000 publishers, advertisers and ad tech vendors, including Google, Facebook, Nielsen, Taboola and TradeDesk. Why we care. With the growth of programmatic advertising, finding a balance between scale and brand safety has been a top concern for advertisers for several years — most notably, flaring up in 2017 when brand ads were found running alongside extremist videos on YouTube and most recently the Stop Hate For Profit boycott of Facebook Ads. Microsoft has emphasized brand safety on the Audience Network from day one. But, this move to partner with a third-party audience verification firm to pre-emptively block Audience Network ads on pages that are deemed moderate or high risk sends a strong signal to advertisers that brand safety is being prioritized. The tradeoffs will likely be some impact on scale and potentially higher CPMs on those pages deemed low risk. Related:
The post Microsoft Advertising adds brand safety with IAS partnership appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/349DDPG The post 20200928 SEL Brief appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/30gfRjV Do you get all the traffic you’d like for your site? Do visitors just keep pouring in, letting you meet... The post A ‘Big Blog’ Strategy Anyone Can Use for More (and Better) Traffic appeared first on Copyblogger. via Copyblogger https://ift.tt/30f6AIX I had a subscriber email me the other day… “What if you ran an impossible special for the super needy? Folks like me…. Alas, I’m broke. 4 kids… but… a shit load of conviction.” My reply was much nicer than what El Mateo here would tell someone I was personally coaching. In fact, if it were one of my leaders using that kind of language referring to themselves, my reply would have had some expletives, for sure. Understanding the Concept of PovertyDo not ever, under any circumstances, refer to yourself as needy. Do not ever, under any circumstances, refer to yourself as broke. Poverty is a state of mind.
How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?My life never started to change until I understood this concept. It took me hitting rock bottom for it to finally sink in… Thank God, it happened at an early age. At 21, I was homeless and living out of my little, red, beat-up, Honda Civic and bathing in nasty gas station bathrooms. It wasn’t until then that I realized that my thinking was wrong and I was allowing my words to sabotage myself. How did I know for sure my thinking was wrong?The same way you’ll know for sure if your thinking is wrong… Results. Lemme serve you up a big heaping spoonful of reality…
Results are results, my friend. Continue to deny your wrong thinking and you will continue to deny yourself from the results you desire. I don’t know much, but I know two things well… Money and network marketing. I don’t do relationship training… I don’t do parenting training… and I sure as hell can’t help you find your inner-child (whatever that is)… But when it comes to money and network marketing – THAT I can help you crush it and become one of the best in the world. If you’re willing to give up the thinking that has caused you to stay stuck and you’re willing to open up your mind to the thinking that will lead you to riches, go here – https://www.7strategiesbook.com/ Lots of love, Matt Morris You may also READ our previous blog post about “This Broken But Common Philosophy Leads to Poverty” Want Some Advanced Training on Leadership?Feel free to hop over to LeadwithMatt.com. I’ve got some strategies there on becoming a powerful leader and recruiting powerful leaders. Learn How To Overcome Every Major Objection in Network Marketing:Go to https://www.overcometheobjection.com/register-now for the FREE overcoming objections training. Go Make Life An AdventureBe sure to check out my Facebook and Instagram account for daily motivational and inspirational content. The post Understanding the Poverty and How to Break Out of It appeared first on Matt Morris. via Matt Morris https://ift.tt/3jjlTYN It’s likely you’ve heard the biblical verse often quoted (or misquoted) by motivational speakers… “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain.” “Yeeeeah, right.” I can remember thinking the first time I heard it. “Obviously no one is going to move a damn mountain with the power of their faith.” But as I continued reading books on the mind, seeing movies like The Secret and studying metaphysics, this “power of manifestation” began to grow on me.
I became a big believer in affirmations and self-talk and implemented them into my journey towards success. Over the past 25 years through my journey as an entrepreneur, I’ve been so broke I had to eat a loaf of bread for two days when I was living out of my car. I’ve also earned many millions traveling first class and staying in Penthouse Suites all over the world. In this time, I’ve discovered what I believe to be the single biggest key to moving mountains through the power of faith… To have you really “get it”, it’s going to require me to modify the quote a bit to add some clarity. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, and a shovel, you can move a mountain.” When I’ve had “faith” and a shovel, I’ve been able to move mountains. But when I had “faith” without the shovel, the mountain just sat there. No doubt about it, if you want to move a mountain, you better get to shoveling! As I’ve grown as an entrepreneur and leader in network marketing, I’ve developed many strategies and skills that have allowed me to turn the little shovel I started out with into a giant earth-moving digger. I still have to dig, of course, (as I do daily) but I’m able to move a lot more of the mountain each day than most. If this message today resonates with you, if you’re willing to dig, and you’d like to learn how to move the mountain much faster, go here https://www.7strategiesbook.com/ Lots of love, Matt Morris #1 Best Selling Author of The Unemployed Millionaire You may also READ our previous blog post about “Why You Should be Bigger than Your Challenges?” Want Some Advanced Training on Leadership?Feel free to hop over to LeadwithMatt.com. I’ve got some strategies there on becoming a powerful leader and recruiting powerful leaders. Learn How To Overcome Every Major Objection in Network Marketing:Go to https://www.overcometheobjection.com/register-now for the FREE overcoming objections training. Go Make Life An AdventureBe sure to check out my Facebook and Instagram account for daily motivational and inspirational content. The post Mustard Seeds & Magic Mountains appeared first on Matt Morris. via Matt Morris https://ift.tt/3j7D3YX The post 20200925 SEL Brief appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/2G9Qj0Q The post 20200924 SEL Brief appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/3j3TZQn Google’s U.S. ad revenues will fall this year for the first time since 2008, according to an eMarketer report. The estimated 5.3% decline will shave more than $2 billion off Google’s earnings and leave the search giant with less than 30% of the U.S. digital ad market. That’s a remarkable turnaround at a time when Amazon — a relative newcomer to the space — is expected to post 23.5% growth and capture almost a tenth of total online ad spending. So what’s going on? Well, the COVID-19 pandemic has been kind to Amazon, of course: the company saw revenues leap 26% in the three months through March as locked-down customers ordered more and more products online. It’s estimated that Amazon’s ad revenue will grow 23% year-over-year, and as much as 470% by 2023. Google’s ad business isn’t as closely aligned with day-to-day domestic spending, so it’s natural to see Amazon grabbing more market share during these chaotic times. For marketers, what’s important both over the short- and long-term are Amazon’s continued moves into areas Google once dominated — particularly display ads. Amazon’s DSP product has continued to grow in scope, and the company is more actively pushing advertisers to use the functionality as a driver for the top-of-funnel. Additionally, Amazon’s targeting data is growing richer and set to become more valuable as Google actively sunsets third-party cookies in Chrome. Amazon DSP: Data is kingAt first glance, Amazon DSP might not seem like anything Google should lose sleep over. Frankly, as a software tool, it’s fairly no-frills: there are other ad management platforms that are easier to use and come with more bells and whistles. But Amazon DSP comes with one killer feature: access to first-party data about the way consumers browse and spend on Amazon. Amazon ranks number one in the US e-commerce space by a wide margin, and that absurdly vast sample-size means that Amazon’s data is a true reflection of the digital commerce marketplace. Essentially, access to Amazon’s data means that you can target ads based on individual consumers’ actual spending habits, purchasing histories, and product-focused browsing habits — an incredibly rich and potent source of intelligence that allows extremely precise profiling and audience segmentation. Cookies are crumblingAmazon’s data-driven DSP solution would be a formidable adversary for Google and other advertising platforms at the best of times. But the latest push by Amazon comes at a time when performance marketers are grappling with the death of the tracking cookie and major retargeting players are having to rethink their business models. That creates a scenario in which the industry players who had previously held a firm grip on performance dollars are now struggling to deliver the personalization and targeting they’ve hitherto promised. Brands are well aware of that problem, and they’re being forced to consider new ways of operating. With iOS 14 releasing this fall, Apple will require users to opt in to data collection, hampering how companies like Facebook target advertising on other apps. All this creates a real opening for Amazon: both a demand for better performance and a recognition that one way or another the industry is going to have to pivot into a post-cookie future. Whether this winds up being a death-knell or merely a shockwave for existing performance players, the disruption is real, and Amazon, with its reliance on its own data rather than cookie-based or device-based targeting, could emerge as a much-needed safe harbor as brands wait to see what comes next. Coping with chaosThat’s especially powerful given that the current disruption also extends to consumer habits. Consider the grocery sector, for instance – online orders have tripled since the pandemic began, without even counting curbside-pickup orders, and it’s hard for any historical market data or conventional ad-targeting program to keep pace with that kind of overnight transformation. Amazon, on the other hand, has real-time access to data about which kinds of consumers are making grocery purchases, what kinds of orders they’re making, and how advertising is shaping their decisions. That lets grocery sellers join the dots between ads and sales in realtime, and adjust their strategies to maximize ROI, even in a rapidly changing retail environment. In short, Amazon is currently the best game in town when it comes to leveraging e-commerce data at scale to target ads, and delivering a clear connection to sales impact. That’s going to drive adoption, for grocery brands and everyone else, and will only boost Amazon’s ability to steal market share from the other demand-side providers. What comes next?Amazon isn’t necessarily making things easy for itself: the UI doesn’t hold your hand through the process, which can deter some users, and the $35,000 minimum buy-in makes it expensive for brands to take Amazon DSP for a spin. But with an ecosystem of third-party ad tech providers now emerging to help brands manage their DSP campaigns in cost-effective ways, (my employer Teikametrics is one such company) even the high sticker price won’t prove much of a deterrent for brands. Of course, we shouldn’t be too quick to read Google the last rites. The company still controls 30% of the U.S. online ad industry, and it remains the gorilla in the room. But Google’s hold on the U.S. ad market looks a lot less secure than it did a few short months ago, and that’s good news for brands. With the emergence of Amazon DSP, there are now real alternatives to Google for brands that want the benefits of performance advertising without the uncertainty of cookies. The post Is Amazon about to eat Google’s lunch? appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/331kGzg The Covid-19 effect that has altered our day-to-day habits in 2020 may have its greatest impact on the upcoming holiday shopping season. The question that is top of mind with most businesses: What’s in store for the holiday retail season in 2020? To help you navigate this uncertain environment here’s five insights we’ve generated at Microsoft Advertising to help your holiday planning: Holiday retail sales often stay strong even when consumers say they’re cutting backWhat people say and what they do sometimes are not in agreement. This is something we find true in a variety of behavioral economic research. One thing to note are the many surveys suggesting people will cut back their spending that aren’t reflective in real life actions. People still shop and celebrate during economic downturns, usually more than they expect to. So, while retail spending may drop this holiday season, it likely won’t drop as drastically as consumers expect or forecast. Is there historical data backing this? Yes. From past analysis, we saw this behavior during the 2008 financial crisis. Consumers reported they would spend 29% less during the holidays in 2008, though retail sales dipped by only 4.7% in comparison to 2007, the year prior. Consumer preference for online shopping will boost e-commerce sales dramaticallyThe shift to online shopping during the pandemic will help provide e-commerce growth well above what was predicted at the end of 2019. While overall retail sales in the U.S. will decrease, online sales will increase significantly across categories. Categories hit hard by COVID-19, such as apparel, are still expected to see e-commerce growth in 2020. Consumers want contactless shoppingThe demand for contactless shopping has been supercharged as consumers prioritize their safety over the in-store shopping experience. There are a few different categories where the physical senses have always been important in the shopping journey. Yet it’s the convenience of touch-free shopping that analysts believe will cause permanent shifts in consumer behavior this holiday season. According to eMarketer, 52% of the U.S. population will use “Buy Online, Pick Up In Store” or what is referred to as BOPIS options in 2020, driving a 60% YoY growth in BOPIS sales. Consumers are also changing their holiday shipping expectations, with 81% expecting expedited shipping options. It’s expected that 44% of U.S. consumers will delay holiday shopping due to expedited shipping options and the expectation that purchases will arrive before the holidays. Plan your campaign around holiday shopping trendsRemember: Search is where consumers start their purchase journey. In fact, 57% of consumers turn to search when they don’t have a brand in mind, and 91% of searches on the Microsoft Search Network were non-branded in the 2019 holiday season. Make sure your messaging aligns with key holiday shopping phases and customer journey touch points. The weeks leading up to Cyber Week see Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and promotions, with retailers often teasing products well before Thanksgiving week. And with good reason: Cyber Week draws the most sales and consumer spend of the holiday season. There is still opportunity in search marketplaces. As all industries come back online and supply/chain inventory is refreshed, product demand is outpacing supply in a number of industries. If a business’ competitors do not have inventory to sell, they won’t be bidding because they won’t be able to fulfill orders and don’t want to waste spend on advertising until inventory improves. This presents a great opportunity for lower cost per clicks in many search marketplaces as a whole and specifically in niche marketplaces inside of specific verticals. People want to purchase from brands they trustConsumers want brands they can trust. This means being transparent, using your platform to speak out on important issues, and acting in line with your customers’ values. Brands that make a value-based, emotional connection with consumers stand to build customer trust and loyalty. Reaching them via search in an authentic way that highlights your values is key to capturing and maintaining their attention. While focusing on the first four areas, don’t leave out this important fifth pillar which is asking and answering: “What does our brand stand for?” For additional business recovery tips and insights on how to answer question number five for your business, watch Episode 1 of The Download now. Enjoying these insights and want more? Check out this link. The post Insights to reimagine your holiday 2020 planning appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/3i424TN |
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