The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable buildings in the entire world, but what if we told you there are several buildings that look just like it? Architectural marvels that look like doppelgängers of Australia’s timeless symbols are scattered all around the world, and these three have to be seen to be […]

A new report finds 61 percent of organizations have suffered a security breach in the past year because their policies, governance, and controls failed or were not working effectively. This is costing US businesses $30bn and UK businesses £10bn per year. The study from security posture management firm Panaseer surveyed 400 security decision makers across the US and UK and found 72 percent have taken out indemnity insurance in response to growing personal liability, whilst 15 percent have considered leaving the industry. In addition, 85 percent of decision makers are facing greater scrutiny from the board. 57 percent say they… [Continue Reading]

Offering an array of choices might seem like an excellent way to cater to diverse user preferences, but more often than not, it can cause decision fatigue, negatively impacting the user experience and conversion rates. So, how do we strategically …

  Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword; it has become a crucial consideration as consumers grow increasingly eco-conscious. For businesses in the travel industry, embracing sustainability offers immense advantages, such as expanding the customer base, securing government incentives, and enhancing brand reputation. Incorporating eco-friendly practices is an excellent starting point, but to make a […]

The post Actionable Branding Tips For Sustainable Businesses appeared first on The Design Inspiration.

In today’s world, journaling has become an essential daily routine for many people. It’s a great way...

In today’s world, journaling has become an essential daily routine for many people. It’s a great way...

Are you looking for an online editor that offers free templates for commercial use? If so, you...

This week, Google sent an email to some Google Ads advertisers warning that they may lose access to use Customer Match with their ads cause harm to users or create a poor user experience. Google said they are updating their customer match policy effective January 13, 2025, to enforce this. Google also posted this over here.

Navah Hopkins posted about this notice on LinkedIn after she received an email from Google about this update. The email says:

On January 13, 2025, Google will update its Customer Match policy to state that customers may lose Customer Match access if their ads have the potential to cause harm to users or create a poor user experience. We may take the following considerations, among others, into account when making this determination.

What are those considerations? Google wrote:

• User feedback
• Prevalence or severity of abuse
• Repeated violations of the Customer Match policy

Google added that "violations of this policy will not lead to immediate account suspension without prior warning. A warning will be issued, at least seven days, prior to any suspension of your account."

Here is the email:

Navah Hopkins added, "Google customer match allows advertisers to take customer lists and apply them for targeting and seed purposes in Google Ads. This is a great way to ensure folks get exactly the right messaging as well as giving us an option to exclude our existing customers from prospecting campaigns."

She explained what harm might be:

The first and most important consideration is using someone's email without their consent. I would take this signal from Google that gambling with privacy rules is getting harder.

Second, ad creative needs to pass the "not a creep" check. This means:
1. You're not targeting kids.
2. You're not making it seem like the ad is for any one specific user.
3. You're not including people in a target list who outright told you they didn't want to see your ads.

Third, and most importantly, violating customer match rules will get your account suspended. Don't mess around with it.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google's John Mueller said that some SEOs over focus on URL structure and that if your context from your pages aren't clear, then no URL structure can fix that.

John wrote on LinkedIn:

Often SEOs over-focus on URL structure (imo) -- if the context of your pages isn't clear from the ... text on the page, then the URL structure isn't really going to fix that.

What advice did he give for URL structure for SEO?

• Avoid making unnecessary URL structure changes (because changes will affect SEO at least temporarily, it takes time for search engines to recrawl & reprocess all affected pages), pick something that can last for a long time
• Primarily think about users & about how you want to track performance (URL structures are great for grouping URLs for analytics, conversion rates, etc. -- not directly SEO, but for monitoring how well SEO is working for you).

John added, "Anyway, Google generally (*) wouldn't care. Make a useful structure. Make it easy for you to monitor. Make it helpful for users, if you want (do people even look at URLs? I assume most users don't nowadays.)"

When does structure of your URLs matter? When you have adult content on portions of your site (we covered this before). John said on LinkedIn, "(*) the "generally" ... an exception that I can think of is if an affected part of the site is treated significantly different than the rest of the site. For example, if that folder is where all of the safe-search filtered content is located, then moving it around can make it harder for the safe-search system to understand your new site structure. I don't think that's something most sites need to consider, but it's helpful if you're looking for an "it depends"."

Google has often recommended not to change URLs for SEO purposes, here is our past coverage:

• Google Really Wants You To Avoid Changing URLs Just For SEO Reasons
• Google: Avoid Change URLs Unless You Really Have To
• Google: Don't Change Your URLs For SEO Purposes
• Google: Don't Change URLs When Replacing Old Content With New Content

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Shutterstock, the $2 billion market cap digital content company, has just announced the launch of a free AI generative art service. The announcement wasn’t exactly unexpected, but even so it’s going to rock the foundations of the creative arts industry to its core. It’s one thing to watch small upstart companies like Stability AI and Midjourney unveil artificially generated imagery. It’s altogether another to see a publicly quoted giant like Shutterstock embrace the technology as a first mover advantage. The...

The post Shutterstock AI launches – And Just Like That, The Revolution Starts appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

Fruit harvesting is one of the trickiest parts of the agricultural spectrum. The fruit not only has to be selected when it’s at the ideal ripeness, but also has to be picked very carefully so it doesn’t bruise or suffer damage. Now Israeli made Tevel fruit harvesting bots promise to revolutionize the process of fruit harvesting in a big way. The technology, which integrates A.I. based computer vision with clever vacuum based drone technology, offers fruit farmers a perfect way...

The post Tevel Autonomous Fruit Harvesting Bots – produce pickers face a fruitless future appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered an ingenious new way to recycle Lithium Ion batteries, and it’s so simple that even your mum could do it. Maybe. The problem with battery recycling has always been that it’s rather cumbersome. Traditional methods involve breaking down batteries into their constituent parts, then extracting the valuable materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. The process works, but it’s not exactly what you’d call efficient, and it can be quite costly....

The post Quick-Release Binder – Recycling Lithium Ion Batteries Just Got Super Easy appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

Seventeen long years ago I wrote a piece here called The Gadget Manifesto. It was a rant borne out of frustration with the relentless increase in junk technology. The problem was basically too much Far Eastern manufacturing capacity chasing too few consumers. Result…price plummeting, quality plummeting, consumers suffering. I’m revisiting this subject only because it looks like we’re clearly not going to reverse course any time soon. Nearly 2 decades on, we’re still buying this junk, and throwing it away...

The post The Gadget Manifesto Revisited – plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose? appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

EMO: Sensational Deepfake Tech From China Shows Just How Insane Things Are Right Now in the world of deepfake and A.I.

The post EMO: Sensational Deepfake Tech From China Shows Just How Insane Things Are Right Now appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

AI model wrapper TypingMind has just introduced Artifacts for any AI model that supports plugins.

The post TypingMind adds Artifacts for any model, not just Claude appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

IndieCade's Night Games returns to downtown's Music Center, bringing a host of unique and experimental games focused on communal play. And being silly.

When dreaming up new business ideas, some of the most boring businesses are often overlooked. However, it’s the boring business ideas that can often be the most sustainable and profitable. The Best Boring Businesses to Start This Year All of…

The post 20 Boring Businesses That Can Make You Rich! appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared and guest host Brooks talk about what’s happening in the SEO, Google, and AI world, they share the projects they’re working on, and they discuss some…

The post AI Advances! A Look at August Core Update Data appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Jared and guest host Morgan Overholt are back together this week to cover the latest news in SEO and beyond, to talk about progress with their respective side hustles, and to share some weird niche sites and discuss their strategies.…

The post Semrush Buys Search Engine Land! Google Search Falls Apart? appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Mads Singers has a passion for management and for helping companies increase their revenue exponentially by tweaking and improving their business practices.  This Danish entrepreneur travels the world, speaking publicly and consulting privately with businesses and individuals to help them…

The post How Mads Singers Helps Companies 5x Their Business While Working Less appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Jared and guest host Thomas Smith are here this week to offer an overview of the main news affecting Google, small publishers, and SEOs. They also share some interesting side hustles and a few very weird niche sites. They kick…

The post Fixing Google Search? Site Reputation Abuse Crackdown! appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

This week Jared Bauman sits down with Jake Cain, a long-time blogger with a portfolio of sites, a former Niche Pursuits employee, and an attendee at Google’s recent Creator Summit. In this interview, Jake shares his experience at the event,…

The post Jake Cain Was Inside Google’s “Secret” Meeting with 20 HCU Crushed Bloggers. Here’s What Happened appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Spencer and Jared break down the latest news affecting SEOs and small publishers, they share their side hustle progress, and they talk about some weird niche sites…

The post This 8 Letter Tweet Just Changed Search Forever appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

Data-driven attribution is the default attribution model in Google Ads. Understand how and why to use it in your Google Ads campaign.

The post Using Google Ads’ Data-Driven Attribution Model appeared first on Portent.

Unlock the power of ChatGPT for advanced data analysis with our comprehensive guide. We've even included screenshots.

The post Guide: Using GPT for Digital Marketing Analytics (with examples) appeared first on Portent.

Learn more about GA4 engagement rate, industry benchmarks to compare your performance against, and our tips to optimize this metric.

The post Study: Average GA4 Engagement Rates by Industry appeared first on Portent.

There is a growing trend of businesses bringing their digital marketing in-house. Discover what not to do when transitioning to an in-house digital marketing team.

The post What Not to Do When Bringing Your Digital Marketing In-House appeared first on Portent.

HBO’s latest hit, the video game adaptation The Last of Us, has been making waves even beyond the streaming universe.

Gen Z is well known for being social media savvy. But not all platforms are created equal, and with new trends emerging it can be hard to keep track of where Gen Z is spending its time. In this blog, we’ll walk through the apps where you’re most likely to find this cohort scrolling, liking, and viewing, covering the following topics: 

• What social media app has the highest reach among Gen Z? 
• What social media app has grown the fastest among Gen Z?
• How does Gen Z’s social media usage compare to the general population? 
• How does Gen Z’s social media usage compare to other age groups? 

Wimbledon 2023 wrapped up with a men’s final tennis masterclass, and social media didn't miss out on the action.

Fr. Stephen looks at the proper Othodox understanding of the relation between soul and body and some of the distortions of our modern culture.

Fr. Stephen speaks about the difference between feast days as mere events of the calendar and the reality of the Kingdom of God that awaits us in the Feasts.

The desire for justice is infinite - because such a desire is one of the passions. Fr. Stephen looks at the problems created by wrong thinking on the topic of justice.

Fr. Stephen looks at the nature of envy and its deep connections with ideas of justice.

Fr. Stephen reflects on the hidden nature of God's work.

With this podcast, Fr. Stephen begins a series in which he looks at the reality of shame and its place in our emotional and spiritual lives. He introduces us to the teaching of the Elder Sophrony that we must learn to "bear a little shame."

Fr. Stephen Freeman discusses the right relationship between the mind and the body. You might be surprised.

Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at the story of Abraham and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah as a means of understanding our prayers for the world.

Fr. Stephen talks about one aspect of the Orthodox understanding of salvation by grace, and notes that a very large part of it consists in "just showing up," learning to be present to God and to accept faithfully the means of grace given to us.

Fr. Stephen looks at the quiet role played by grace-filled persons in our world. In many ways, God preserves us through the presence of such saints.

Fr. Stephen Freeman speaks on icons as doors that open onto other rooms. He also speaks about how we view evil in this understanding of God's world.

Ever wonder what the phrase, “the Divine Energies,” means? Fr. Stephen looks at its inner depths and its constant place in our lives. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His mercy endures forever!

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