Google Search is shortly to have “diverse” Snippet results. Currently, when you search on Google, a box may appear showing a small preview of one of the search result pages. In the future, there may be a number of these Snippet boxes.
The individual Snippets were first used on Google in 2014 in order to give the user the opportunity to find out the information they wanted as soon as they searched instead of clicking through to a site.
The Snippets show facts which have been extracted from a web page using algorithms which identify relevant data.
Upon the release of Snippets, Google stated that “Fact quality will vary across results based on page content”. However, the Snippet results have been compared to “Fake news” due to their obscure and inaccurate suggestions.
In a recent blog post, Google said the reason users may receive contradicting advice can be due to the wording of a search term. The example they used was the different Snippet results of “are reptiles good pets” and “are reptiles bad pets”.
The chief of Google Snippets, Matthew Gray said “There are often legitimate diverse perspectives offered by publishers, and we want to provide users visibility and access into those perspective from multiple sources,”
However, digital media analyst, Joseph Evans thinks “”Both Google and Facebook are trying to address claims that they played a part in disseminating misinformation,”
“Google is addressing one of its most controversial products in this context.
“But it still looks like a refusal of responsibility to say that, ‘Sometimes we’re wrong, but we can solve the problem by offering multiple viewpoints.’”
It was suggested that by presenting users with multiple Snippets, there would be more contradictory results.
A resulting issue of this change is the fact that an increased number of Snippets will place unsponsored pages further down on the list of results.
Another consequence is the complications which may arise with Google Assistant as it uses the Snippet results to respond to users. It is currently unknown whether Assistant will read out multiple Snippet replies.

700,000 People’s details accessed in Equifax Hacking

The American credit monitoring company said hackers had access to around 700,000 British customer’s personal information, whereas it was initially said to be 400,000.

Some data such as phone numbers, driving licence details and parts of credit card information was also lost.

A spokesperson from the Information Commissioner’s Office has said they are still looking into the company’s hack case: “We continue to investigate what happened at Equifax and how UK citizen’s information came to be compromised,”

“It is a complex and fast-moving case and we are working closely with other UK regulators and our counterparts in Canada and the US.

“We have been pressing Equifax to confirm the scale and any impact on UK citizens and, from the outset, we advised the firm to alert and support victims.”

Despite the fact Equifax found out about the hacking during July, they did not reveal this information to its customers until September. As a result of this, the ICO asked the company to tell its customers based in the UK whether their personal data had been accessed.

Around June 2017, the company faced another hack in which involved 143 million Americans’ social security numbers, among other information.

The file which was most recently hacked held over 15 million UK records from 2011 to 2016.

Equifax has said that they need to send a letter to 693,665 of their British customers, informing them on how to protect against possible hacking risks.

Equifax’s Europe chief, Patricio Remon, has apologised to the victims of the hacking.

“It has been regrettable that we have not been able to contact consumers who may have been impacted until now, but it would not have been appropriate for us to do so until the full facts of this complex attack were known, and the full forensics investigation was completed,”

Victims are advised to take any help offered to protect themselves in the future.

This is just one of the large companies which have been under attack from cyber hacks in recent years.

British companies which have been affected lately include HSBC and TalkTalk.

Leadfeeder is an online business application which allows you to identify who is visiting your company’s website so that you can target potential customers in order to close more sales.

With a mere 2% of site visitors leaving contact details, Leadfeeder reveals the companies visiting and provides you with their information too.

Not only can you see who is looking at your site, but you can also see what pages they visit, meaning you can effectively market to individual companies.

The app connects to your website’s Google Analytics data to “show real companies visiting your website” meaning no website installations are required. It works by identifying when your website has been visited via a business internet connection, therefore this app is only really beneficial to B2B companies. Furthermore the app automatically shares the marketing data which has been collected with your sales team using your CRM, allowing them to have access to the information and make use of it quickly.

Grab a free trial

Leadfeeder offers a range of monthly pricing options depending on the number of unique companies you want to look at. The price starts at $59 a month for 200 companies, up to $299 a month which provides you with 3000.

Features

• It can be connected to your LinkedIn account, making it easier to approach a potential client.
• Your most important sales leads automatically go to the top of your list so that you know who to prioritize.
• Leadfeeder can send you email notifications when a targeted company visits your site, allowing you to follow up as soon as possible.
• If connected to your CRM, it will automatically send new visits to your sales people.
• See a company’s full browser history to understand their interests.
• Filter your leads using multiple criteria including location and browsing behaviour.
• Create your own Custom Feeds for your leads.

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The advertising data company studied 25,000 pages, which 91% of were products from Google’s parent firm, Alphabet.

To find this they examined 1,000 pages for 25 different searches. Examples of the searches are laptop, speakers and watches.

Since the release of the study, a Google spokesperson has revealed the company has strict regulations regarding buying ad space.

He said the policies were “consciously and carefully designed” in order to avoid interference with ad pricing.

“All our bids are excluded from the auction when determining the price paid by other advertisers and we have strict rules and processes – set to tougher levels than our customers – to govern the use of our own ads products,”

It was announced by The Wall Street Journal that 100% of the top results for the search “laptop” were for Google’s Chromebook.

Furthermore, only 20 of the results for “watches” were not links selling, Alphabet owned, Android smartwatches.

It seems that the number of adverts for Alphabet products has decreased as a result of the publishing of the study, leading to other brands being the top results.

Last year in July, Google denied accusations, by the European Commission, of limiting competition in the market.

A senior analyst from IHS, Daniel Knapp, said “We think when we look at the screen that Google is placing its ads above others but advertising doesn’t work in that way,”

“It may be that Google is willing to pay more than others or that it has better targeting data for identifying users. The method of the experiment may also be flawed.”

He went on to talk about how the ads are controlled by algorithms.

“We live in an algorithmic world. How are these algorithms making decisions on our behalf and how is that distorting markets and society in general?” he said.

“This is an example of a much bigger underlying issue.”

UK broadband companies scrutinised for “Misleading” adverts regarding broadband speed.

Research from the Advertising Standards Authority has lead them to ask for new ruling as they have found out that the majority of customers won’t receive the speed advertised.

The ASA also discovered most consumers have little knowledge of broadband speeds; many only knowing that the higher the number, the faster the broadband speed.

Past research by independent groups revealed that 3 in 4 households didn’t receive the broadband speed they had paid for.

Currently, the broadband speeds proposed in the adverts have to apply to at least 10% of a company’s customers, meaning that the broadband providers are not breaking the guidelines.

A group of 50 MPs have called for these guidelines to be changed.

The British Infrastructure Group has said “Consumers must be given the power to hold their internet service provider to account when they let them down or outright mislead them into signing a contract that makes promises that bear no resemblance to the later reality.”

Chairman of the ISPA Council, James Blessing, acted as a spokesmen for broadband companies.

“The internet industry fully supports the ASA’s move to bring the guidance on broadband advertising up to date. Crucially, the ASA’s research has not identified an effective alternative for the current approach to ‘up to’ speed claims and ISPA, alongside the wider internet industry, looks forward to supporting the ASA in developing a revised and evidence-based guidance on this.”

The broadband industry was criticized by the BIG for not offering compensation to customers when not providing the quoted service whereas others “such as airlines and banks are forced to.”

A representative from Ofcom responded, “Ofcom is concerned about the gap between advertised broadband speeds and what people actually receive.

“We’re pleased that the ASA has confirmed it will bring about changes to advertising practices, so that broadband customers can shop with greater confidence.”

Ofcom recently asked broadband providers to voluntarily follow a code of practice, meaning the companies would have to supply customers with additional advice and information involving broadband speed.