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I like to write about the webmaster, SEO, and gaming niches. I also dabble in the social media niche, but my main focus is on gaming and SEO. I’ve been a webmaster for over 14 years, allowing me to share extensive experiences, and I’ve been doing SEO for just as long.

Hey Alex, welcome to Agora! It’s great to see you here.

I’m feeling good today. It’s been a nice and productive day so far. How’s everyone Friday treating them?

Google is rolling out its August 2024 core update, a process that’s expected to take about a month to complete. Unlike previous updates this one is designed with significant changes reflecting feedback received since the September 2023 helpful content update, which adversely affected many small and independent publishers. According to John Mueller, Google's Search Advocate, the focus of this update is to enhance the quality of search results by prioritizing content that is genuinely useful over content created primarily to rank well in search results. Mueller stated, "Today, we launched our August 2024 core update to Google Search. This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search." Google also emphasized that this update aims to support small and independent publishers by promoting their useful and original content. Mueller added, "This latest update takes into account the feedback we’ve heard from some creators and others over the past few months. As always, we aim to connect people with a range of high-quality sites, including ‘small’ or ‘independent’ sites that are creating useful, original content on relevant searches. This is an area we’ll continue to address in future updates.” Mueller also noted that the August 2024 core update is designed to better recognize and reward improvements made by sites, ensuring that the best content on the web is surfaced. Source: https://searchengineland.com/google-august-2024-core-update-rolling-out-now-445221

What rules? Meta hasn’t changed anything in years. Their rules are tight compared to other social media sites and they do like to give you warnings or bans for literally dumb things. X isn’t gaining any traction on Facebook. If anything Reddit, Tumblr and Tiktok are though.

No, we don't. This practice isn't really common anymore, but you still see hand sanitizer stations in a few places. However, a lot of people don’t wear masks anymore. Masks aren’t common at all.

Hey [mention=264]Aisling[/mention] welcome to Agora! It’s great to see you here.😃

Hey [mention=262]Shubh[/mention] welcome to Agora!

TikTok is now integrating Amazon shopping directly into its platform, enabling users to make purchases without leaving the app. Why it matters: This integration could be a game changer for advertisers, granting them access to TikTok’s vast and highly engaged user base. The seamless transition from product discovery to purchase may lead to higher conversion rates. How it works: - Amazon product recommendations will be featured in users’ “For You” feeds. - Users who link their TikTok and Amazon accounts can complete purchases directly within TikTok. - The integration will display real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details. The big picture: Amazon is expanding its presence across social media, having previously signed similar agreements with Pinterest, and maintaining partnerships with Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Between the lines:This collaboration comes as TikTok Shop, which launched about a year ago, strives to establish itself in the e-commerce sector. TikTok users have shown mixed reactions to ads and TikTok Shop videos appearing in their feeds, raising concerns about how this new feature will be received. TikTok stated, “This shopping experience is powered by Amazon through ads placed on TikTok and allows users to complete product purchases with Amazon in TikTok’s native environment.” What to watch:Pay attention to how this integration impacts user experience and engagement on TikTok, and whether it significantly drives Amazon’s sales through social media channels. Source: https://searchengineland.com/tiktok-partners-with-amazon-for-in-app-shopping-445115

Rap gets me pumped! The beats and lyrics are absolutely my favorite. I've been a fan of rap music since I was a kid. Heavy rock is good too!

Reddit's Post-IPO Revenue Strategy: What to Expect Reddit might charge to access some subreddits in the near future. Reddit has remained relatively unchanged and free from excessive monetization, unlike many other social platforms. However, with its recent IPO, the company may be shifting gears to appease shareholders. CEO Steve Huffman hinted at potential paywalls for some subreddits during the company's second earnings call on Tuesday. "We plan to maintain the core, free version of Reddit, allowing it to flourish as it always has," Huffman stated, according to Engadget. "But we're also exploring new opportunities, such as exclusive content or private areas within subreddits." Leading up to and following its IPO, Reddit has actively sought new revenue streams. One of the most contentious moves was the significant increase in API fees, which forced many third-party apps out of the market. More recently, Reddit partnered with Google, enabling the tech giant to use Reddit posts to train its models. Additionally, Reddit now requires other search engines to pay for access to its content and has entered into a licensing agreement with OpenAI, allowing user posts and comments to train ChatGPT. Beyond monetizing user data and considering paywalls, Reddit is also exploring AI-driven search capabilities. "Later this year, we will begin testing AI-powered search result pages designed to summarize and recommend content, helping users explore products, shows, games, and discover new communities on Reddit," Huffman explained. He noted that AI-generated search could eventually become a new source of ad revenue. Reddit's Q2 earnings report revealed a 54% increase in sales from the previous year and a reduction in net losses from $41 million to $10 million. While this is promising news for investors, it remains to be seen how these changes will impact the Reddit community. Source: https://mashable.com/article/reddit-ceo-hints-subreddit-paywalls-on-the-way-earnings-call

Elon Musk's platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is once again testing a controversial design change. The latest update under consideration involves removing like, comment, and repost buttons, as well as their counts, from replies to posts. Additionally, view counts would be removed from reply posts. This potential change was discovered in the code of the most recent X iOS app, version 10.53, by user @aaronp613. While not all discovered features make it to the live platform, this finding indicates serious consideration and testing by the company. If implemented, the removal of these features would only affect the appearance of replies when viewing the original post. Clicking on a reply would still reveal the like, comment, and repost buttons, as well as view counts, on the reply's individual page. Potential Impact on X Culture Removing interaction counts from replies could significantly alter the platform's culture, particularly impacting the "ratio" phenomenon. This occurs when a controversial or unpopular post receives replies with more likes and reposts than the original post. Musk has a history of making substantial cultural changes to X, such as rebranding Twitter to X and eliminating the term "tweet." Recently, X made all users' likes private to protect those who engage with controversial content. However, X has also reversed some unpopular changes in the past. For instance, last year, the platform initially removed link headlines from posts but reinstated them after user feedback. A similar test was found in the X iOS app code last month, where like, comment, and repost buttons were removed from the main post view, requiring users to swipe to interact. As of now, this feature has not been implemented. Source: https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-x-remove-ratio-post-replies-interaction

Hey [mention=247]Pousinha[/mention] welcome to Agora! It’s great to see you here.

A federal judge ruled Monday that Google violated US antitrust law with its search business, marking a significant court defeat that could reshape how millions of Americans access information online and disrupt decades of dominance. “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his opinion. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” The decision by the US District Court for the District of Columbia challenges Google's oldest and most significant business. The company has invested tens of billions of dollars in exclusive contracts to secure its position as the default search provider on smartphones and web browsers. These contracts have allowed Google to stifle potential competitors like Microsoft's Bing and DuckDuckGo, according to the US government in an antitrust lawsuit initiated during the Trump administration. Judge Mehta emphasized that Google’s powerful position led to anticompetitive behavior that needs to be curbed. Specifically, he pointed out that Google’s exclusive deals with Apple and other key players in the mobile ecosystem were anticompetitive and that the company charged high prices in search advertising due to its monopoly power. Although the court did not find Google to have a monopoly in search ads, the broader implications of the opinion signal the first major decision in a series of US government-led competition lawsuits against Big Tech. This case has been described as the most significant tech antitrust case since the US government’s showdown with Microsoft at the turn of the millennium. Source: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/business/google-loses-antitrust-lawsuit-doj/index.html

Hey [mention=240]arunima[/mention] welcome to Agora! How are you doing today?

Hey [mention=233]Daniel-Monetize.info[/mention] welcome to Agora!😁

Hey [mention=229]Erum[/mention] welcome to Agora!

Hey [mention=36]BRANSOL[/mention] welcome to Agora! It’s nice to see you here. 😁

Of course, SEO is still worth it in 2024. People are still searching for answers to their questions on search engines. SEO isn’t based on pay-per-click like PPC, so the highest bidder isn’t placed at the top of the results. If you buy ads via Google AdWords, you’ll show up for certain keywords if you purchase ad slots for those keywords. SEO provides results and free traffic. Why not give your clients something extra?

I have various methods that I use to build backlinks. Some of my favorite ones are posting my content on Tumblr and including my site’s link there. I have over 2,000 backlinks from Tumblr. Tumblr is a great resource for building backlinks because every time someone reposts a post that contains your link, you get another backlink. I also use forum signatures and get links from other related sites. Directories aren’t my favorite method to build backlinks, but I still use them to my advantage. Building backlinks on Reddit is one of my favorite methods. It drives traffic and helps boost my search engine rankings. Reddit is a gold mine these days. If you can find the right subreddits that allow you to share links, you can build backlinks all day long on Reddit. It’s a great resource to get more traffic and more backlinks.

Lmao. One of my buddies refuses to watch horror movies. He’s not a fan and is scared to watch them.🤣🤣 What’s your favorite horror movie?

I’ve watched Breaking bad a few times. Have you ever watched The Wire?

I’m doing well. Thank you for asking. I’m also a member of Digitalpoint, it’s a nice forum. We’re glad that you’re here! Were you ever a member of Sitepoint?

Reddit will allow Microsoft and other search engines to crawl their data if they pay like Google did though. [HEADING=2]Reddit CEO says Microsoft needs to pay to search the site[/HEADING] [HEADING=2]In an interview, Steve Huffman calls out Microsoft’s Bing, Anthropic, and Perplexity for scraping Reddit’s data without permission. ‘It has been a real pain in the ass to block these companies.’[/HEADING] After striking deals with Google and OpenAI, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is calling on Microsoft and others to pay if they want to continue scraping the site’s data. “Without these agreements, we don’t have any say or knowledge of how our data is displayed and what it’s used for, which has put us in a position now of blocking folks who haven’t been willing to come to terms with how we’d like our data to be used or not used,” Huffman said in an interview this week. He specifically named Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity for refusing to negotiate, saying it has been “a real pain in the ass to block these companies.” Reddit has been escalating its fight against crawlers in recent months. At the beginning of July, its robots.txt file was updated to block web crawlers it doesn’t have agreements with. Then people began noticingthat Reddit results were only visible in Google results — where Reddit is paid for its data to be shown — and not other search engines like Bing. Huffman said that Microsoft has been using Reddit’s data to train its AI and summarizing its content in Bing results “without telling us” and that Reddit’s data has also been sold through the Bing API to other search engines. In the interview, he referenced Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s recent comment at a conference that public data on the internet is “freeware.” “We’ve had Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity act as though all of the content on the internet is free for them to use,” Huffman said. “That’s their real position.” In response to Reddit results recently disappearing from Bing, Microsoft’s head of search, Jordi Ribas, said on X that “Reddit has blocked Bing from crawling their site for search, favoring another search engine and impacting competition from Bing and Bing-powered engines.” Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston separately told The Verge last week that “we honor the directions provided by websites that do not want content on their pages to be used with our generative AI models.” https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/31/24210565/reddit-microsoft-anthropic-perplexity-pay-ai-search It’s a bold move on Reddit’s part, but I see Google being on the upside of things for a while.

I prefer to use .com and .net. I’d rather not use any other domain extensions, as .com and .net are my preferred ones. The other domain extensions are fine and dandy, but they’re just not my cup of tea.