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HOW WILL BREXIT AFFECT AUSTRALIAN’S?

The United Kingdom might be almost 17,000 kilometres away, but the effects of its departure from the European Union are having a global impact. So what does this mean for Australian businesses? And is Brexit really as bad as the press makes out?

For the majority, Brexit is a blip on the radar. Especially for those from outside of the European Union. But what exactly is it all about? And what is the future of the independent United Kingdom with Australia? Here’s a summary of the Brexit latest news.

 

What Exactly is Brexit?

Brexit is the joining of the two words ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’. In its most simple explanation, Brexit is a big old divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

On the 23rd June, 2016 the people of the U.K voted in a referendum consisting of two questions. Do you want to remain in the EU? or do you want to leave? Almost 44 million people took part (65.38% of the voting population), with 51.9% of those who voted in favour of withdrawing from the European Union.

In total, nearly 17 and a half million people voted leave while just over 16 million voted to remain. While a difference of over 1 million is significant, it has divided an already troubled nation even further.

On the 29th of March, 2019 the United Kingdom will officially break away from the European Union. The U.K and the EU are still trying to work out the deal for when the cut-off date arrives. If a deal is ratified, there will be a transition period of 2 years where everything remains the same while trade deals are put in place. If no deal is reached, the official cut-off date is the 29th March, 2019 and a potentially acrimonious situation may unfold.

It is important to note that Brexit does not mean the U.K is no longer a part of Europe. That is geographically impossible. What it does mean is that the U.K will no longer be a part of the European Union. Freedom of movement, U.K-Euro free trade and European law as it is today will come to an end in the U.K. So what changes will this have on Australians wanting to visit or do business in the U.K?

As Australians are classified as third-country nationals of low risk, a visa is typically not required for visits of less than 6 months. And this will remain the same after Brexit. Many third country nationals need a visa to enter the U.K, such as the majority of African, Asian, Russian and South American citizens.

For now, EU citizens have freedom of movement. This allows a citizen from an EU country to move to another EU country without a visa and set up their lives there. Once Brexit becomes official, all citizens of EU countries will also be classified as third-country nationals. While it is unlikely visas will be introduced for those visiting the U.K, it is a real possibility. EU citizens will no longer be able to emigrate to the U.K and live and work freely as they do today, and British citizens will no longer be able to set up life in Europe without restrictions.

 

Will Brexit Really Happen?

There are many people and politicians campaigning for a second referendum calling it the “People’s Vote.” Should a second vote be put into action, there is a very real risk that the United Kingdom will self-implode. Scotland could call for another vote for Scottish independence, and already sharp divisions between the people will widen.

Naturally, the EU is not going to make things easy as it fears a favourable outcome for the U.K would encourage other countries to make the break too. While a deal is on the table, many pro-leavers feel a no-deal outcome is what they voted for. However, for pro-EU voters, holding onto some form of relationship with the EU is prefered than a clean cut.

But will Brexit really happen? The government is running the deal-agreement timer down to the last minute, causing concern for many. If no deal is agreed upon, the government can claim it is in the country’s interest to stop Brexit. For now, it appears to be going ahead. But in the confusing world of politics, this could change overnight.

 

UK-Australian Business Post-Brexit

While it is easy to assume Brexit has no direct effect on Australian businesses, this is not true. And it’s not all doom and gloom. A post-EU Britain may prove to be extremely beneficial to Australia and New Zealand. As EU trade restrictions are lifted from the U.K on the 30th March 2019 if no deal is agreed upon and the World Trade Agreement comes into effect.

Trade talks between Australia and the U.K have made it clear that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a huge free-trade agreement could be implemented on the 30th of March, 2019. A separate trade deal between Australia and the EU is also currently being discussed.

If you are an Australian business who currently performs trade with the U.K and the EU, you should be looking at any potential supply chain interruptions. This is especially true if you import or export directly from the U.K to the EU or vice versa. If the U.K leaves the EU without a deal in place, current trade arrangements will cease to be valid. Therefore, it is a good idea to have a plan of action in place to deal with the U.K and Europe as two separate entities rather than a singular one.

For Australians who want to work in the U.K, you could benefit from the proposed relaxing of visa requirements for Australians once the U.K retakes control over its immigration and borders. Currently, the U.K has a system that only issues work visas to highly-skilled individuals from third countries, while visas for any skill level must be issued to EU nationals. This is due to be replaced with a single system for all countries, while the educational requirements are relaxed with a high-school certificate being sufficient.

If you have a website that sells services or products to the U.K, there will be no changes to your business. As a business operator outside of the European Union, the changes to U.K – EU trade will have little direct impact on you, if any. If a trade deal is not reached between the U.K and the EU, British citizens could face huge price increases when purchasing and importing products into the country from the EU. This could potentially see Australian and other world-wide products begin to soar in popularity as people look elsewhere.

 

Still Confused?

Don’t worry, we all are. Here’s a visual to help you see what it’s all about. Whether you feel Brexit is right or wrong, clearly many underlying causes contributed to it happening and there are lessons to be learned from both sides of the argument.

Article first published here: HOW WILL BREXIT AFFECT AUSTRALIAN’S?

The evolution of Google Search 20 years on

If Google were a person, it still wouldn’t be able to purchase alcohol in America. But at 20 years old, it has changed more than just the internet … it has changed the way we interact with the world and with each other.

Named after a mathematical term ‘Googol’ which is number one followed by 100 zeros, it was originally named ‘Backrub.’Along with Google.com, they also own common misspellings including Googlr.com, Goggle.com and Goooogle.com … specially for all of you sausage fingers.

It may also come as a surprise to some that the very first Google computer storage system was made out of Lego! For those living in China wanting to access Google, Google Mirror made it possible. Of course, everything was back to front, so you have to have some pretty spectacular deciphering skills to use it.

From search engines to smartphones and assistants to live camera translations, Google leads the way with innovative ideas that shape our world. Today we are going to look at the history of Google and unwrap its achievements, its historical landmarks and future in the ever-changing world of tech.

 

The Birth of Google

Google was conceived in 1995 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Page was studying at Stanford University for his Ph.D while Sergey was thinking about studying there. They put their brains together and in 1996 started working on Backrub. For some, back rub is a bizarre choice of name. But for Sergey and Page, it was all about algorithm rankings for the number of backlinks a page had.

As touched upon above, Google plays on the word Googol. The one followed by 100 zeros is rumored to reflect Page’s and Sergey’s desire to put the infinite amount of info available on the web in order. 1998 saw the ‘Google Friends’ newsletter launch.

The same year saw Andy Bechtolsheim; a co-founder of Sun write a $100,000 check to the currently non-existent Google Inc Company. The only problem was that Google Inc wasn’t a legal entity at that time, so the $100,000 gathered dust in the drawer of a desk for a fortnight before the corporation was registered on September 4th 1998.

1999 saw Google move to 165 University Avenue from the garage it was started in. By now, they also had eight employees, which included one of the most important employees, a dog named Yoshka. Yep, Google hired a dog! From here on in, Google was almost sold on for $750,000 before growing into the giant that it is today.

 

The Growth of Google And The Fall of Yahoo

In 1999, Larry and Sergey were thinking about selling Google so that they could focus on studying. They approached George Bell, who was the CEO of Excite and offered him Google for just 1 million dollars. Bell rejected the offer and followed up with an offer of $750,000. The offer was declined and Excite missed out on owning what would become the biggest business in the world.

Fast forward 5 months Sequoia Capital, Byers and Kleiner Perkins Caufield made an agreement to invest 25 million dollars and joined the board of directors. And that board? A ping pong table! Google was well on its way to the top. However, Yahoo was standing in its way.

Throughout the 1990’s, Yahoo dominated the internet and was the number one search engine. Every internet user of the 90s will remember Yahoo answers and Yahoo chat. But it could have been a very different story if Yahoo had purchased Google when it was offered to them instead of turning it down.

The structure of Yahoo was designed to view emails, answer questions and chat. It was what worked best at the time and Yahoo had the mentality of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They also feared that users would leave their platform and Google was yet again turned away.

Google then went on to develop at words, which lies at the heart of their success to date. Fast forward to 2002 and Google was knocking at Yahoo’s door once again. Looking to raise funds off 3 billion dollars, Yahoo decided to turn them down again. This was down to Yahoo trying to build its own version of Google which involved acquiring inktomi, a search engine and Overture, an Ad Revenue generator.

Unfortunately, Yahoo failed to make any impact and was subsequently absorbed into AOL. It was bye bye Yahoo and hello Google.

 

Google Search Started To Evolve

Today, Google uses predictive search text whenever a user performs a Google search. The origins of predictive search lie in the year 2000 with the deployment of mentalplex. Other turn of the century advancements included multilingualism, Google Doodle, Google Toolbar and Google AdWords.

Google made their first public acquisition in 2001, the Usenet discussion service; Deja.com. 2001 also saw the launch of their office in Tokyo, international domination was well on track. Google Images also made an appearance, along with Klingon language. 2002 was the year that Google really started to develop the search function.

AdWords cost per click pricing was added, along with opening their first Australian office. The following year, Google purchased pyra labs and Google AdSense was born. By 2004, there were 800 employees working for Google and the office moved to the Googleplex in Mountain View. Gmail was launched on April Fool’s Day by invite only. Today, Gmail has more than 420 million Global users. They snapped up Picasa, and Google entered the stock market. There were just under 20 million shares, priced at $85 per share.

 

Google Maps The World… And Beyond

In 2005, Google Maps made its way into the world and became a major selling point for many smartphones and mobile apps. Just a few months later, Google Earth was launched, along with Google Analytics. 2006 was the year that Google was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. 2006 also saw the release of Google Trends, Google Finance and Google Calendar. They also purchased YouTube in the same year.

Things really started to pick up pace in 2008 with the birth of Google Chrome. Chrome rapidly became one of the largest web browsers of all time. The following year saw the release of Google Voice. Google + made its way into the world in 2011, quickly followed by Google Drive in 2012. Google + was launched to take on another internet giant, Facebook. Unfortunately, in October 2018 Google announced that they would be discontinuing access to the platform.

2013 what’s the year that Google decided to integrate online services with Google apps. This provided 30 GB of storage shared between Google Plus, Gmail and drive. Not only had Google conquered the world, it was now heading for the clouds. Search algorithms were updated and in-built machine learning became a reality.

 

A Summary Of Google And Its Search History

• 1995 The idea of Google is born
• 1996 Backrub begins development
• 1997 The name is changed and the Google.com domain is registered
• 1998 Google is founded officially. First Google Doodle appears
• 1999 Google moves from its garage to its first office
• 2000 Google Adwords is launched
• 2001 Google Image Search enters the world
• 2002 AdWords launch cost per click pricing
• 2003 Purchases blogger (Pyra) 13 search languages added.
• 2004 Announces Gmail and makes first public offerings
• 2005 Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Analytics are born
• 2006 Google purchases YouTube. Google trends enters the world.
• 2008 Android iOS and Google Chrome are released. Most Popular searches of 2008
• 2009 Google voice is released
• 2010 Google instant search suggestions released
• 2011 Google + and Google Panda launched. First site to have 1 billion unique visitors
• 2012 Knowledge graphs and Google Drive are released
• 2013 Integrates online services with Google Apps. Google Hummingbird launched
• 2014 Google redesigns SERP format. Algorithm for local searches changed
• 2015 Restructures as Alphabet. INC. Google is an umbrella company.
• 2016 Paid ads changed to green. Non-mobile friendly sites issued warnings
• 2017 Intrusive Interstitial Penalties for intrusive pop-ups on mobile sites take effect
• 2018 Google Home Hub is announced

 

See how Google shaped the world in 2017 to see just how integral it is to our lives today. No one can deny that Google search has evolved to become one of the biggest and best known in the world. Working for both businesses and individuals, Google search seamlessly connects the two together. From its early days of limited information, it has grown into a font of knowledge that we all rely on. Without Google search, we couldn’t have Googled the information in this post and it just wouldn’t exist.

The coming years of 2019 and 2020 are going to be exciting in terms of technological advancements. Google, will of course, update its algorithms and confuse everyone about the best SEO options to use. The internet search giant shows no signs of slowing down and in our opinion, that is a great thing. The world without Google search is like fish without chips or bread without butter. It in enriches our lives for the better and makes once impossible tasks achievable.

Article first published here: The evolution of Google Search 20 years on

HOW TO BUILD A CONTENT SILO FOR YOUR WEBSITE

There are many different ways to improve your SERP rankings and SEO efforts. And one of the very best ways is to use a content silo on your website.

When most people hear the word silo, they automatically think about structures used for storing grain and feed.

Of course, you’re not using this type of silo on your website. A content silo helps search engines understand your website, link everything together and improve overall visibility.

To help you understand how to use a content silo; we have put together this guy to walk you through the process.

 

What is a silo structure?

There is no denying that a beautifully presented, content-filled website is always a great thing to have.

But what is more important is that both search engines and readers find the content easy to navigate. This is where structured content comes into play. Also known as a content silo. Making use of clear hierarchical content not only improves your visitors user experience. It also allows search engines to gain insights into the type of content that you have.

Here’s something to help you visualise how a silo helps.

Imagine that you have a jar filled with M&M’s. You only want the yellow M&M’s but they are mixed in with red, green, blue and brown ones. It is going to take you forever to separate them.

Now imagine that you have five jars. Each jar only contains one colour. All of those yellow M&Ms are yours in an instant. No mucking around trying to separate the yellows from the blues. You can see exactly what you want without any confusion.

This is basically how a content silo structure works. The more of an understanding that the search engines have about your website content. The better its visibility will be in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

 

The importance of an SEO silo structure

The very first stage of creating your website should be putting together a basic silo structure.

If you have never done this before it may feel overwhelming. But it is actually much easier than you first think.

If you follow the guidelines set out by Google for better rankings, the foundations of your content silo will be put into place.

Depending on your website and goals, the number of different categories that you have will vary.

Use the same methodology as a library does for categorizing books with indexing. By placing similar content into one category, you are able to build keyword-related topics.

Name each category with a broad keyword while using long tail keywords, narrower keywords or LSI keywords for the content titles.

As an example the broad keyword could be ladies fashion. Narrower keywords could be women’s winter jackets, cocktail dresses and casual day wear.

By connecting your keywords come up the search engines are able to interpret your content and its relevance for readers.

Using links to connect the content inside one category or between categories can help you achieve even higher SEO ranking. The better search engines are able to understand your site, the higher it will rank. It’s as simple as that.

 

How to build an SEO silo structure

As we already touched upon earlier. To build a basic silo structure for your website, you first need to group together similar content into appropriate categories.

The more content that you have in any given category, the more relevant that topic will be for the search engines… and for your site visitors.

There are four steps to building a great silo structure. These include:

• Choosing a theme
• Creating a silo strategy
• Writing and linking content
• Linking to other related categories

Once you have all of your categories and keywords in order. A useful piece of software is Xmind Zen. This will make it easy to create a visual silo structure that you can use as the foundations of your website.

In the next section, we will run through the four steps to help you put together the perfect content silo structure.

 

1. Choosing a theme

To choose a theme, you want to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Think about what it is that you would like to read or discover. What is it that would attract you to the website?

It is always a good idea to take a look at the bigger picture to begin with. Creating a wide structure allows you to fill in all of the smaller details for maximum impact.

Your homepage is where the main theme should begin. From here, it is then divided into sub-themes or categories. This is the basics of your silo.

As an example. If you run a business, your main theme will be what you do. Your categories and subtopics movie the pages named as products or services, about us, contact, blog, etc.

Your categories and subtopics can then be divided into smaller pages that represent more specific content.

Another great way to look at this type of structuring is to picture a tree in your mind.

• Trunk. The trunk is your website’s main theme
• Branches. Represents the different categories or products
• Leaves. Smaller groups off refined products and articles

Regardless of how you put together your content silo structure, you need to first create a blog. Your blog should be in line with your main theme. Start by creating one broad topic which use is a broad keyword and its name.

This will be your first category. Try to choose a topic that you can write at least five articles for. Each article should include more specific and targeted keywords that are relevant to the category keyword. Rinse and repeat for all further categories.

 

2. Creating a silo strategy

Now you have the theme out the way. The next step is to perform some research on where you have the best chance for ranking highly.

Decide whether your silo strategy is going to be physical, virtual or both.

A physical silo is the directory structure off your website

A virtual silo is created through linking your content together.

For a directory silo to be effective, you will need to have at least five pages for each theme. As we mentioned earlier, the aim is to create a library of content and index it from broad to narrow.

As soon as you have your silo strategy in order, things begin to get much easier.

 

3. Writing and linking your content

Now it is time to start writing and linking your content in each category. You will link your content using keywords in the anchor text (hyperlinks to other content).

It is important that each of your following articles is related to those that come before.

This not only makes it much easier for you to be able to link them together. But also to create lots of topic related content.

Think of your first article as being chapter 1. Each subsequent article should follow on as chapter 2, 3, 4, etc.

This will seamlessly connect all of your content while encouraging the user to continue clicking through. The final article should summarize everything you have written about in your previous posts and link to them.

 

4. Linking to other related categories

The final step in creating your content silo structure is to connect content from one category to content in your other categories.

By doing this, you make it easier for the search engines to identify the relevance of your content whilst reinforcing your overall theme.

Cross-linking is one of the best ways to increase your content visibility. As an example. If you have an article that is highly ranked and has valuable internal and external links, but you want to rank a page where you explain what you are doing. All you need to do is link that article to the page using anchor text.

In essence, a content silo structure is basically a map of your website’s content and how each piece connects with the next.

This type of data-driven marketing wasn’t really possible a decade ago. But as the internet has powered forwards and algorithms have been uncovered, all of the date are you need is at hand and can be used for improving your overall SEO efforts.

Article first published here: HOW TO BUILD A CONTENT SILO FOR YOUR WEBSITE

Google Duplex – A New Era Begins

Artificial intelligence is turning one almighty corner, and it’s ready to change the face of technology as we know it.

Google Duplex has been making headlines around the world and has just been released on selected Google Pixel phones during its BETA phase.

Unlike Google assistant, Google Duplex is able to make reservations and appointments on your behalf. And all with a scarily life like voice.

But Google Duplex is actually a latecomer to the game.

Microsoft Xiaoice was launched in China in August 2017 and now has half a billion users. And Alibaba has A.I customer service agents for Cainiao, its logistics company.

Of course, Google is one of the biggest businesses in the world. So the release of Duplex has garnered mass attention on a global scale.

 

What Is Google Duplex?

Google Duplex is a life-like chatbot that takes advantage of artificial intelligence. It is able to make reservations and appointments on your behalf, or check the opening hours of businesses.

All you have to do to use the feature is launch the assistant and then say “Book a hair appointment at Maria’s salon for 4 p.m. on Wednesday.”

Google will contact the salon and make the appointment for you using a natural and human sounding voice.

Once the reservation has been made. You will receive a confirmation notification on your mobile phone.

Duplex sounds exactly like a real person. It uses speech disfluencies and natural pauses for a truly authentic human sound. Its ability to be able to understand conversation context could soon replace real life personal assistants.

In fact, the assistant sounds so life-like that it will mention that it is Google calling on behalf of the user. It will also ask if it is okay to record the call?

 

Who Will Duplex Benefit?

Of course, the technology is still relatively new and it may run into problems.

If duplex experiences any issues, it will use its self monitoring capabilities and ask you to help it out.

But who will benefit from Google Duplex? For a start, those who are short on time will be able to get the assistant to take care of their appointments on their behalf.

People who are phone shy (yes, it’s a real thing) will undoubtedly love the ability to use the phone without actually using it.

It will also be a useful tool for those who are hard of hearing or who are using a non-native language.

One important thing to note is that businesses have the option to opt out of receiving calls from Google Duplex.

As the technology grows, more and more businesses will either embrace it or reject it. This will make using duplex either much easier or much harder, depending on how well it is received.

 

Google Duplex Release Date

Google Duplex has already being released on a micro-scale. Rather than being a fully functional app, it is currently only able to perform basic functions.

The actual release date for Google duplex will largely depend on its current live trials. For now, Duplex only uses English and only works for restaurant bookings.

All of the phone calls that duplex makes are being recorded. Which will then be analyzed by Google to collect performance data. Once sufficient data has been gathered, a solid release date is likely to be announced.

 

Can I Download the Google Duplex App?

Unfortunately, Google duplex is not available to download. The software is currently going through selective testing in only a few cities and only on Pixel phones.

You will have to wait for the app to arrive. It is believed that Google Duplex will be rolled out on a larger scale somewhere toward the middle of 2019.

Ultimately, this will all depend on how the trial goes and whether it is seen as something people will happily adopt into their life.

 

Google Duplex Privacy Issues

One of the biggest concerns that many people have about Google Duplex is privacy. You only have to look on the internet to see the giant can of worms that AI is opening.

Google Duplex will make it clear that it intends to record the conversation. This makes it easier for the call receiver to opt out and cut the call.

However. If your privacy is a concern, then the Google ‘my activity’ page in your Google account might just terrify you.

Created to satisfy the GDPR (general data protection regulations) put in place in the EU, you can now see exactly what information Google has been collecting.

just to give you a rough idea of what information is collected by Google:

• Web and app activity
• Location history
• YouTube search history
• YouTube watch activity
• YouTube comments, likes and dislikes
• Call and message information
• Order history
• Voice and audio activity
• Device information
• Chrome history

And here is a screenshot of the things Google picks up on. This really is scary!

Before the GDPR came into effect, it was almost impossible to find out what information Google was collecting about you.

Luckily, you are able to deactivate the majority of the ways that Google collects your data.

Of course, this all serves to highlight how AI can be used to collect your personal information. And why many people are against such life like chatbots making their way into the world.

And with different countries having different regulations concerning data collection, who knows what information AI gather without your knowledge.

If you want to learn more about GDPR and how it works. Why not check out our post explaining the basics.

Article first published here: Google Duplex – A New Era Begins