LinkedIn’s Newest App, Elevate, Helps Employees Share Content & Helps Employers View Results

A new social sharing & scheduling app from LinkedIn has a unique wrinkle: It allows employers to track effectiveness and results that employees bring the company through social media.

The corporate world is now very much a social world, and LinkedIn is looking to capitalize on this with their new app Elevate. This tool is geared towards those employees that haven’t really owned social media and need help, and a system to get them there.

• To help users curate content

• Allow users to easily share content on LinkedIn and Twitter

• To measure the impact of user efforts

Employees can see how many times content they’ve shared has been liked, commented on, and reshared, and how many people it reached. Soon they’ll get even more insights, like who viewed their profile and requested to connect as a result of the content they shared. LinkedIn Elevate provides companies with the same data, as well as numerous micro-conversions – like job views and Company Page followers – and results that impact the bottom-line – like hires, leads, and sales.

Elevate was built by LinkedIn as a desktop app with three goals:

Of course, Elevate is entering a very crowded space in marketing technology. With tried and true solutions like Buffer and Hootsuite LinkedIn will be facing some stiff competition. One game changer of Elevate is the corporate appeal. According to LinkedIn, Elevate will allow:

This is unique as a company can invest in a tool and be given exact data on how effective it has been for the company itself, not the individuals’ accounts.  It’s always been problematic to invest in employees that work to build their own personal account, just to see that value head out the door with them when they leave for their next gig. Elevate could help change this mentality and is the first tool if its kind that is so clearly geared towards employers.

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Microsoft Acquires Mobile Business Intelligence Service Datazen

Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Datazen, a mobile business intelligence and data visualization service.

Datazen, which launched about three years ago, allows businesses to create mobile dashboards from data in Microsoft Excel, but also from other cloud and enterprise database sources. To run Datazen, enterprises need to run Windows Server, IIS and .NET behind their firewalls, as well as Datazen’s server software.

The company offers apps for Windows, Windows Phone, iOS, Android and the web. According to today’s announcement, all of its products will remain available for the time being and the team will continue to work on Datazen’s server and client products.

Starting today, Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition customers (version 2008 and up) can already download Datazen’s server software at no cost.

“Datazen is positioned as a mobile BI solution for customers who need a solution that is implemented on-premises,” the Datazen team writes today. “As such, it will complement Power BI, Microsoft’s cloud-based business analytics service.”

Microsoft will likely integrate Datazen’s technologies and expertise into its Power BI product, but it’s unclear what the roadmap for this integration looks like. If Microsoft’s latest acquisitions are any indication, there is a chance that the company will take some of Datazen’s mobile applications and rebrand them as Power BI for iOS or Android.

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Real Marketing In SEO: Building Links For Your Audience

Columnist Andrew Dennis reminds us that when you focus on your audience, the links you get will be valuable, regardless of SEO.

You should build links with an audience-first mindset.

In other words, every single link you build should be intended for your audience. If you ever find yourself obtaining links you wouldn’t want your audience to find, you’re likely being manipulative — or, at the very, least building worthless links.

Sometimes, link builders focus too much on how Google values links. I’m not suggesting you forget Google when you build links — everyone is well aware of the power links have in Google’s algorithm — but rather that you pursue links with an audience-centric focus.

There are several tangible benefits to approaching link acquisition with an audience-first mindset:

1. Focusing on your audience creates additional marketing value.
2. An audience-first mentality guides link prospecting.
3. Centering your link strategy around your audience leads to better links.

When you focus on acquiring links for your audience, you’re doing real link building, and real marketing.

Focusing On Your Audience Creates Additional Marketing Value

Implementing an audience-focused mentality into your link strategy will create additional marketing value outside of SEO.

When you build links just for the sake of links, you often only want to get the link and be done. All you care about is link equity, and this often leads to pursuing less relevant and authoritative sites where your audience isn’t truly active. You’re just acquiring another link to help boost your Google rankings and then moving on to the next link.

Conversely, when you focus on your audience and create links they’ll actually encounter, it’s much more akin to real marketing. If other marketing opportunities present themselves, you’ll actually want to follow up, because it represents a real chance to engage with your audience.

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5 Ways to Use Your Competitors to Gain SEO Momentum

SEO seems like a solitary endeavor to many people. After all, most companies have one person or one small team dedicated to producing content, making onsite tweaks, and building external links, but the reality is that SEO actually relies on a vast network of relationships for success. Think about it; you rely on high-authority external publications to link to your website in order to pass authority. You rely on your social media followers to engage with your brand online and make your presence seem more valuable. You rely on your site visitors to stay on your pages for longer than a few seconds, and not click "back," resulting in a bounce.

There’s a fundamental piece of this network that most businesses often neglect: your competitors.

SEO is a competitive world. Your competitors are the reason you have to work so hard to build search engine visibility — if they rank even one position higher than you, they’ll likely get a greater share of traffic (assuming you’re both on the first page). It seems crazy to think that you can use your competitors, and sometimes actively work with them to lead your SEO campaign to success, but this is the reality.

Following are just a few of the strategies you can use to gain SEO momentum from your biggest competitors:

1. Link Profile Mirroring

One of the easiest ways to take advantage of your competitors is to learn how they’re building inbound links. These days, link-building is a tricky business — Google is sharper than ever, and its search algorithm is constantly scouting for businesses trying to use deceptive or unnatural links to manipulate their rankings. Finding high-quality sources in your niche can be a daunting task — which is why seeing what your high-ranking competitors are doing that has resulted in their high rankings.

There are plenty of free tools you can use to research the link profile of your competitors. With these you’ll be able to see where your competitors are building links and what type of links they’re building. It’s not a good idea to copy your competitors’ link-building strategies directly, but you can use them as inspiration and borrow some of the same sources for your own efforts. For example, if they are guest blogging for a particular publisher, try reaching out to that publisher to establish a relationship of your own.

2. Content Insights

Similarly, you can look at your competitors’ content strategies and gain new insights about your audience and new avenues for your own content. On a weekly or monthly basis, review the types of posts you see on your competitors’ websites. What topics are they choosing? How well are people reacting to them? Are they attracting lots of comments and shares?

Use these questions to guide you in your own content marketing strategy. For example, if you see a post on summer project ideas on your competitor’s site getting hundreds of shares, considering writing an alternative – and better — version of your own. The key here is not to duplicate what’s working well, but to gain broad insights about your audience and customize your strategy to appeal to that audience. With better topics and more direct writing, you’ll be able to rank higher for more relevant keywords.

3. Local Industry Articles

One of the best ways to gain rankings quickly for long-tail keywords is to write about your industry in your geographic location. With this strategy, you’ll have two major limiting factors — your niche and your region — which will give you a perfect competitive opportunity to rank high in Google. The key is to write objective, truly useful articles about the competitive landscape. For example, you could write a piece titled "The Most Trustworthy Law Firms in Dallas," writing briefly about your own law firm and some of your closest competitors. You might fear giving your competitors the additional exposure, but if your article is well-written, your site and your brand are what are going to come up in the search results.

4. Social Following Mirroring

Much in the same way that you can mirror a backlink profile, you can mirror a social following. Take a look at the demographics that follow your competitors’ Facebook and Twitter profiles, and reach out to them on an individual level. On Twitter this is quite simple; head to your competitor’s follower list and start following some of their followers. Since they’re already predisposed to following companies like yours, they’ll be likely to follow you back, giving you greater visibility and a greater audience on your social platforms. Alternatively, you can take a look at the types of people who follow your competitors and gain insights about your key audiences.

5. Regular Engagement

Finally, don’t be afraid to engage with your competitors directly, especially in a social context. Comment on their blog posts. Share and retweet some of their posts. Make jokes with them. They’ll appreciate the extra visibility, and they’ll likely respond in kind. This is only going to lead to greater exposure for both your brands and greater relevance in search engines’ eyes.

In the context of SEO, your competitors are critically important. They hold new information about your target audience. They allow you to build your authority in your geographic region. They give you a platform for more backlinks, more interactions, and more engagements. The end result is that you’ll have far more domain authority and greater ranks, with a better understanding of who your customers are and how to reach them. You might give your competitors a bit more exposure in the process, but the long-term benefits of these strategies far outweigh that negligible setback.

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How Search Engines Process Links

Ever wondered how search engines crawl, analyze, index, and rank pages? Columnist Jenny Halasz has created a helpful primer on the link graph to answer these questions.

Have you ever wondered why 404s, rel=canonicals, noindex, nofollow, and robots.txt work the way they do? Or have you never been clear on quite how they do all work? To help you understand, here is a very basic interpretation of how search engines crawl pages and add links to the link graph.

The Simple Crawl

The search engine crawler (let’s make it a spider for fun) visits a site. The first thing it collects is the robots.txt file.

Let’s assume that file either doesn't exist or says it’s okay to crawl the whole site. The crawler collects information about all of those pages and feeds it back into a database. Strictly, it’s a crawl scheduling system that de-duplicates and shuffles pages by priority to index later.

While it’s there, it collects a list of all the pages each page links to. If they’re internal links, the crawler will probably follow them to other pages. If they’re external, they get put into a database for later.

Processing Links

Later on, when the link graph gets processed, the search engine pulls all those links out of the database and connects them, assigning relative values to them. The values may be positive, or they may be negative. Let’s imagine, for example, that one of the pages is spamming. If that page is linking to other pages, it may be passing some bad link value on to those pages. Let’s say S=Spammer, and G=Good:

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Google Japan Ordered To Remove Negative Reviews Based On Thin Evidence

Ruling appears to be based largely on affidavit signed by the doctor in question.

Late last week a Japanese court ordered Google to remove two reviews from Google Maps that were critical of a local medical clinic. An unnamed doctor who operated or worked at the clinic and allegedly treated the reviewer-patients signed an affidavit swearing that the reviews were false (and allegedly defamatory).

According to TechCrunch, which first reported the decision, the clinic sued the individuals for defamation. The Japanese District Court is now requiring Google to not only remove the reviews from Google Japan but also from its global results. (As with the Right to Be Forgotten in Europe, this is another example of a local jurisdiction trying to exercise control over Google’s global index.)

The company faces a modest potential fine of roughly ($2,500) if it fails to do so. The fine is obviously not the issue. The larger question and concern is the potential precedent this might set both in Japan and potentially other countries without strong free speech laws. In many countries privacy, religious orthodoxy, “sedition” and other types of values often trump speech.

According to the TechCrunch article, “neither review violates the policies that Google has in place for user generated content within the Maps service.” Google has said it may appeal. 

Little has been reported about the underlying facts or evidence presented in the case. If the case involved the clear presentation of evidence that the reviews were fabricated and defamatory then the removals are not anything to necessarily worry about.

It appears, however, that the doctor-plaintiff simply issued a formal denial and that was enough to support the court’s decision. If that is indeed the case then this decision has potentially broad and very negative implications. Any disgruntled professional or business owner in Japan, confronted with critical reviews, could potentially invoke the decision and follow a similar procedure to get the reviews removed.

Business-friendly courts and the threat of litigation could then be used to broadly intimidate those who might be inclined to write critical reviews of services they receive.

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Bing Revamps Mobile Home Page Adding Swipe Up For Popular Topics & Settings

Bing deploys a "significant redesign" to their mobile homepage.

Bing announced that they’ve completely redesigned their home page for mobile users on iPhone and Android devices. Bing calls this a “significant redesign” of their mobile home page.

Besides for quick searching capability, the interface is now swipable up and down, as you swipe, you unlock the ability to see the home page image details, the “popular now” topics and access to your Bing accounts, rewards summary and much more.

Here is an animated GIF of the new home page:

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Amazon to begin testing new delivery drones in the US

Last month it emerged that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had granted Amazon permission to begin testing a delivery drone prototype for its Prime Air service, a venture that aims to transport packages to Amazon customers in under 30 minutes. But there was a hitch, with the company since revealing the vehicle cleared for use had already become obsolete. Things are now back on track with the FAA giving Amazon the green light to put its current models to the test.

Amazon first took steps to win the blessing of the authorities in July last year, when it petitioned the FAA for permission to begin testing its drones. But the agency's response was hardly swift, finally granting an "experimental airworthiness certificate" to Amazon in March 2015. The slow progress partnered with the now-evident worthlessness of the permit prompted Amazon to carry out testing of its more sophisticated models abroad, namely at a secret Canadian site only 2,000 ft (610 m) from the US border.

By way of a letter to Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of Global Public Policy, on Wednesday April 8, the FAA has granted the company's request for exemption. This will clear the way for Amazon to begin testing its drones outdoors in the United States.

The exemption dictates that Amazon's drones fly no higher than 400 ft (122 m), no faster than 100 mph (161 km/h) and remain within the pilot's line of sight, among a raft of other conditions relating to safety and maintenance. These rules are consistent with a set of proposed guidelines around commercial drone flight that the FAA floated earlier in the year.

While it marks another step toward the realization of Amazon's ambitious drone delivery plan, there's still a long way to go before quadcopters are dropping parcels in your front yard.

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Microsoft Lumia Denim latest rollout news: Available on more smartphones in Europe, US and India

Microsoft's latest software update, Lumia Denim, is now available for more smartphones across major countries of the world.

So to you track whether Denim is available on you phone in you country, we have compiled this tracker showing the status of Lumia Denim in European countries, along with the US and India.

In Europe

• United Kingdom: Lumia 520 (country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 530 (country variant, O2, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 535 (country variant, O2), Lumia 620 (country variant, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 625 (country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 630 (country variant, EE,O2, Vodafone, Tesco Mobile), Lumia 635 (country variant, 3UK, EE, O2, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 720 (country variant, O2), Lumia 735 (country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 820 (country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone) Lumia 830 (country variant, EE, Vodafone), Lumia 920 ( country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 925 (country variant, EE,O2, Vodafone), Lumia 930 (country variant, Vodafone, EE, O2), Lumia 1020 (country variant, EE, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (country variant, O2, Vodafone).

• Netherlands: Lumia 520 (country variant, Vodafone, T-Mobile), Lumia 530 (T-Mobile), Lumia 535 single-SIM (T-Mobile), Lumia 620 (country variant), Lumia 625 (country variant, T-Mobile), Lumia 630 (T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 635 (country variant), Lumia 720 (country variant) ,Lumia 735 (country variant), Lumia 820 (country variant, KPN, T-Mobile, Vodafone) Lumia 830 (country variant, Vodafone, T-Mobile), Lumia 920 (country variant, KPN, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 925 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 930 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 1020 (T-Mobile), Lumia 1320 (country variant).

• Germany: Lumia 520 (country variant, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 530 (T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 535 (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 625 (country variant, O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 630 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 630 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 635 (country variant, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 720 (country variant, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 735 (Vodafone), Lumia 820 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone) Lumia 830 (country variant, O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 920 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 925 (country variant, Vodafone, O2), Lumia 930 (country variant, T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 1020 (country variant, O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 1520 (country variant, Vodafone).

• Greece: Lumia 520 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 530 (Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 535 (country variant), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 625 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 630 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 635 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 720 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 735 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 820 (Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 830 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 920 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 925 (Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 930 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 1020 (country variant, Cosmote, Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant, T-Mobile), Lumia 1520 (country variant).

• Hungary: Lumia 520 (country variant, Telenor, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 530 (T-Mobile, Telenor, Vodafone), Lumia 530 dual SIM (T-Mobile), Lumia 535 (country variant, Telenor), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant, Telenor, T-Mobile), Lumia 625 (country variant, T-Mobile, Telenor, Vodafone), Lumia 630 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 635 (country variant, T-Mobile, Telenor), Lumia 720 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 735 (country variant, T-Mobile, Telenor, Vodafone), Lumia 820 (T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 830 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 920 (Telenor, T-Mobile), Lumia 925 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 930 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 1020 (country variant, T-Mobile, Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (country variant).

• Ireland: Lumia 520 (Meteor, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 530 (Vodafone), Lumia 620 (country variant, Meteor, O2, Vodafone), Lumia 625 (country variant, Meteor, Vodafone), Lumia 635 (Vodafone, Meteor, O2), Lumia 820 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 830 (Vodafone), Lumia 920 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 925 (Meteor,Vodafone) Lumia 930 (Vodafone, O2, Meteor), Lumia 1020 (Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (Vodafone, country variant).

• Poland: Lumia 520 (country variant, Orange, Play T-Mobile), Lumia 530 (Play, Orange), Lumia 530 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 535 (Play,Polkomtel), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant, Play), Lumia 625 (country variant, Orange, Play,T-Mobile), Lumia 630 (country variant, Play, Polkomtel),Lumia 630 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 635 (Orange, Play, Polkomtel, T-Mobile), Lumia 720 (country variant, Play, Orange), Lumia 730 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 735 (Orange, Play,Polkomtel, T-Mobile), Lumia 820 (country variant, Orange, Play, T-Mobile), Lumia 830 (country variant, T-Mobile), Lumia 920 (country variant, Orange), Lumia 925 (country variant, Orange, Play), Lumia 930 (country variant, Orange, Play, Polkomtel, T-Mobile), Lumia 1020 (country variant, T-Mobile), Lumia 1320 (country variant, Orange, Play, T-Mobile), Lumia 1520 (country variant).

• Russia: Lumia 520 (country variant, MTS), Lumia 535 (country variant), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 630 (country variant), Lumia 635 (country variant), Lumia 730 (country variant), Lumia 930 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (country variant).

• Spain: Lumia 520 (country variant, Jazztel, Movistar, Vodafone, Yoigo), Lumia 535 (country variant), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (Movistar, Vodafone), Lumia 625 (country variant, Movistar, Vodafone), Lumia 635 (country variant, Movistar, Orange, Vodafone), Lumia 720 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 735 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 830 (country variant, Vodafone), Lumia 920 (country variant, Vodafone, Lumia 925 (country variant, Movistar, Vodafone), Lumia 1020 (country variant, Movistar, Vodafone), Lumia 1320 (country variant, Jazztel, Orange, Vodafone).

• Switzerland: Lumia 520 (country variant, Orange, Sunrise, Swisscom), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant), Lumia 625 (Swisscom), Lumia 630 (Orange, Swisscom), Lumia 635 (country variant, Orange, Sunrise, Swisscom), Lumia 720 (Swisscom), Lumia 735 (Swisscom), Lumia 820 (country variant, Orange, Swisscom), Lumia 830 (country variant, Swisscom), Lumia 920 (country variant, Swisscom), Lumia 930 (country variant, Swisscom), Lumia 1020 (country variant, Swisscom), Lumia 1320 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (country variant, Swisscom) .

• In India: Lumia 435 Dual-SIM (country variant), Lumia 520 (country variant), Lumia 525 (country variant), Lumia 530 (country variant), Lumia 530 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 532 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 535 dual SIM (country variant), Lumia 620 (country variant), Lumia 625 (country variant), Lumia 630 (country variant), Lumia 630 dual-SIM (country variant), Lumia 720 (country variant), Lumia 730 dual-SIM (country variant), Lumia 820 (country variant), Lumia 830 (country variant), Lumia 920 (country variant), Lumia 925 (country variant), Lumia 930 (country variant), Lumia 1020 (country variant), Lumia 1320 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (country variant).

• In US: Lumia 635 (Sprint), Lumia 822 (Verizon), Lumia 925 (T-Mobile, Verizon), Lumia 928 (Verizon), Lumia Icon (Verizon), Lumia 1020 (country variant), Lumia 1520 (AT&T).

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Microsoft working on enhancing touch experience on Windows 10

According to a newly leaked version of Microsoft’s upcoming program, the company is improving the touch experience in Windows 10 .

According to the Verge, on enabling tablet mode, any apps on the taskbar are removed and the user is thrown into a user interface that only has access to the Start screen, virtual desktops, and the Cortana digital assistant.

Users can swipe in from the left to access recent apps, and the Start Screen has a fullscreen view of Live Tiles and apps.

There’s also a new animation to bring up the Start Screen which simply glides into view over desktop wallpaper.

Desktop apps can also be launched and they will automatically expand fullscreen without cluttering the taskbar.

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Google's Android Wear App Could Be Coming to iPhones

Google has been experimenting with Android Wear so that Android smartwatch owners could use them with their iPhones. Apple, of course, would have to allow it in the Apple Store.

Android smartwatches today can only be used in conjunction with an Android smartphone, but that could change in the future as Google continues to develop an Android Wear app for use on iPhones.

Google has been experimenting for several months on running Android Wear on the iPhone platform, according to reports, and now that work is nearing completion. In March, the French technology Website 01net.comreported that the project would likely be unveiled at the upcoming Google I/O developers conference in May.

The development is particularly interesting because Apple Watch preorders opened on April 10 and largely sold out in a few hours, while the first devices will be distributed to customers starting on April 24. Already, there are long waiting times of at least four to six weeks or more to get an Apple Watch, according to the company's Website.

The fledgling Android Wear app for the iPhone so far provides basic functions on the iPhone, such as notifications to the user about incoming messages, emails and more, according to an April 10 report byFoneArena. It also provides Google Now services and other features on iPhones, other reports have stated.
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Good news for Google: Android Lollipop adoption rose over last quarter over 5%

LONDON: Google has released the monthly update to the Android version adoption numbers on its Developer Dashboard, and the slow adoption of Lollipop continues. The good news is that the uptake has risen over the last quarter, and is expected to accelerate with the latest smartphone releases.

Google’s report in January gave Android 5.0 Lollipop a market share that was less than 0.1% market share for the month before. That rose to 1.6% during January, 3.3% during February, and now over 5% in March.

The adoption of Android Lollipop has been limited by the processes and certifications in place with each manufacturer and carrier, and has been a patchwork rollout process at best. This is the nature of Android, with no central point of distribution for bug fixes, updates, and tweaks. I personally think that this is an issue that needs addressed inside the Android world, but with so many stakeholders trying to maintain their personal advantages, I’m not holding my breath.

It’s also worth noting that KitKat has seen a very slight increase in adoption (41.4%, over 40.9% from the previous month), while other variants of the OS maintained or lost share of the market.

The market share numbers are determined by visitors to the Google Play Store, with the analysis taking place over a seven-day period.

I’d expect to see Android Lollipop’s numbers rise during Q2 2015. With a number of new flagship handsets from LG, HTC, and Samsung, all hitting the stores this month with Android 5.0 installed as default. That should boost the adoption numbers and I would expect that Lollipop as a whole will reach 10% before the summer months.

That’s important from a developers point of view. Once Lollipop hits double figures there are enough handsets running the latest version of Android that makes addressing Android 5.x exclusively a viable option, and Lollipop can be considered as its own platform.

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Microsoft Office Remote app now available for Android devices

Users of Office 2013 have been gifted an app which allows them to access Office 2013 from their Android smartphones. This means they no longer have to give presentations or do other such things from behind a laptop or PC. The Office Remote for Android has been released by Microsoft. This is a free app. The app was originally a Microsoft-only one, but this move marks the company's willingness to embrace other users as well.

As mentioned earlier, one of the main uses of the app will be its PowerPoint remote feature. By using this, one can have control over a presentation, view slide notes and 'laser point' at specific points using the screen of the phone.

There is also the option of navigating between Word and Excel documents using a swipe motion. One can also move around Word documents by just tapping.

The app is available for download from Google Play. It is compatible with Android 4.0.3 or later. Its availability for the iOS platform is not yet known.

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Nexus Android 5.1 Update: 10 Things to Know This Week

Google’s Nexus Android 5.1 release continues to make progress for select smartphones and tablets. This week, we've seen a number of new details emerge for owners of Nexus smartphones and tablets and we want to take a look at what we think you need to know now about Google’s Nexus Android 5.1 update for devices like the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and more.

In early March, Google unveiled its brand new Android 5.1 Lollipop update for Nexus smartphones and tablets. The Android 5.1 Lollipop is larger than your standard Android bug fix update. While it brings a number of big time fixes for Android 5.0 Lollipop problems, it also brings some nice tweaks to existing features. It’s an update that many Nexus users have had their eye on for the past month.

Unfortunately, Google’s Android 5.1 release has been unpredictable and sporadic and it’s been a very difficult release to follow, even for those that are in tune with Google’s Nexus Android release protocol.

With that in mind, we want to take a look at the most important things to know this week about Google’s Android 5.1 Lollipop release. This roundup covers all of the latest details and it takes a look at what might be coming next for devices like the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 6, and others.

Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Update Finally Moving

The Nexus 5 Android 5.1 Lollipop update was one of the first to start rolling out. Unfortunately, the update initially was moving at a snails pace with many Nexus 5 users complaining about missing updates.

This week though, the Nexus 5 Android 5.1 update finally started picking up steam and it appears that Google’s new Android 5.1 LMY47I build was indeed the catalyst that Nexus 5 users were looking for.

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Samsung announces Galaxy J5 and J7 with Android 5.1

Samsung's J Series lineup of smartphones will soon be expanding. Two new mid-range smartphones- the J5 and J7 have been announced by the company.  A recent launch in the series was the Galaxy J1 smartphone in February.

Samsung had also trademarked the names J5 and J7 way back in January. A report in SamMobile has revealed the specifications of the smartphone. 

The Galaxy J5 will sport a 5-inch HD TFT LCD display and will also be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor. It will also have 1.5GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, expandable via microSD as well as a 2,600mAh battery. 

Whereas, the Galaxy J7 will sport a 5.5-inch HD TFT LCD display, and will be powered by either a 1.5GHz or 1.2GHz octa-core Marvel processor. Other features will include 1.5GB RAM, 4 or 8GB internal storage, expandable via microSD card as well as a 3000mAh battery. Both devices will feature a 13MP rear camera, and a 5MP front camera.  Although there is a possibility that the rear cameras would be 8MP. Both devices will run on Android 5.1 out-of-the-box. While the J5 will have a thickness of 8.5mm, the J7 will have a thickness of 7.9mm.

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The Advanced SEO’s Guide To Mobilegeddon

If you're so far ahead that you've scoffed at other articles about preparing for Google's upcoming mobile algorithm update, columnist Bryson Meunier has tips on taking it to the next level.

As someone who has been warning business owners about the upcoming mobile update since at least 2009, I have to say that the advice latecomers are getting in many blogs today seems kind of basic to me. Get a mobile site? Really? True, it’s necessary — but do we really need experts to tell us that?

It’s clear that many people do, unfortunately. Portent recently crawled the top 25,000 sites and found that 40% of them are not mobile-friendly. Yikes.

As I wrote last month, this may be intentional. Many webmasters may have de-prioritized mobile because of the apparent lack of potential traffic lost, given that their audience accesses content primarily on desktops. Or, it could be because they’re not aware of what’s obvious to a lot of us who have been in the game for a while.

But what if we already have a mobile-friendly site and we’re looking to the future? What can we learn from Google’s actions here that will help us on April 21 and beyond? As I see it, there are basically three things:

1. Focus On Improving The Mobile Searcher Experience

I’m reminded of an old video Matt Cutts made where he suggested we change not the name of SEO, but what it stands for — from “Search Engine Optimization” to “Searcher Experience Optimization.”

Google needs to create a better experience for their users than competitors like Bing and Facebook; if they don’t, they become Hotbot or Lycos as users migrate to other services they enjoy using more.

People access content differently on their smartphones and don’t want to have to do extra work because they happen to be searching on a smartphone. Fixing this and improving the mobile searcher experience is at the heart of this update.

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Slidejoy Snags $1.2 Million To Put News And Ads On Android Lockscreens

While some among the handful of startups exploiting the revenue-generating opportunities that come from using an Android phone’s lock screen as an advertising medium have since refocused their efforts, one of the early movers in this space,Slidejoy, has just closed on its first round of funding. With $1.2 million in outside investment, Slidejoy will now continue to develop its app that rewards Android users for renting out their lock screens to become interactive newsfeeds that also feature various promotions.

The app, which is just over a year old and now has hundreds of thousands of downloads, displays a news story or some sort of ad or deal every time you check your Android phone. You can slide to the right to ignore the card and go to your home screen as you would normally, or you can slide to the left to get more information on the card shown. You can also slide up to see an additional card, if you choose.

Unlike competitors in the lock screen advertising space, Slidejoy has been pursuing a slightly different business model. Its users receive a flat rate in “rent” from the startup, so it doesn’t matter how many news stories or promotions they click.

“If we rewarded our users for every impression or click, then we’d just be inviting abuse and false leads for our advertising partners, a bad look for everyone,” explains Slidejoy CEO Robert Seo. “By giving a flat rate to users, Slidejoy is able to balance keeping users happy while providing quality leads to our advertisers,” he adds.

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Flipkart Hires Former Google Executive Peeyush Ranjan as Engineering Chief

Leading e-commerce player Flipkart hired Google India's former research head Peeyush Ranjan as engineering head to drive its technology initiatives.

"Ranjan is joining us as senior vice-president and head of engineering to spearhead our innovations," the city-based e-commerce firm said in a statement on Thursday.

After nine years at Google's headquarters in the US, where he led its Android One engineering group, Ranjan returned to India to be managing director of its research and development centre in this tech hub.

"Ranjan will work with our commerce platform head Mukesh Bansal and his team to build on our technology expertise," Flipkart said.

Ranjan's appointment comes close on the heels of Flipkart hiring Punit Soni, a former product executive in Google and global telecom major Motorola, as its chief product officer.

"Ranjan and Soni will soon relocating to our headquarters [in Bengaluru] from Google's Mountainview campus," the statement said.

"Ranjan's experience managing Google's engineering group in India and his expertise in mobile is a value addition to our technology team," Flipkart co-founder Bansal said.

Ranjan graduated in computer science from IIT Kharagpur in West Bengal and Purdue University and has an MBA from University of Washington in the US.

Flipkart offers over 20 million products across 70 categories, including books, media, consumer electronics and lifestyle through cash-on-delivery service with a 30-day replacement policy.

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10 SEO Practices You Need to Stop in 2015

Search engine optimization is confusing.

We understand that.

There are so many different facets and there are lots of different voices online telling you want to do and what not to do.

Unless you've worked in the SEO industry for many years, it might be difficult to tell which techniques are legitimate and which techniques are the online equivalent of buying a Rolex out of someone’s coat on the street.

For businesses that are entirely online, partially online, or only use their website to drive foot traffic to their brick and mortar store, good standing with Google is imperative.

If you are using any of the following ten techniques, you’re probably being penalized by Google and not seeing the online traffic you need to be successful.

1. Not enough content.

Every page of your website has a little bit of content on it, so you’re good, right?

Unfortunately, not having enough content is akin to having no content at all, and if you are one of those websites that has no content at all, you need to get some ASAP.

Content is the foundation of your search engine ranking, so if you don’t have any content, how are you going to get ranked?

Content Marketing can help!

2. Creating a page for each search term, and creating hundreds of pages.

While it’s not a bad idea to create a separate pages for relevant keywords, you don’t need a page for “Philadelphia dentist,” and “dentist Philadelphia,” just for an example.

If you give a keyword its own page, there should be a very real reason behind it—and that reason shouldn't just be expanding the size and content load of your website.

3. Copying your competitors’ SEO tactics.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing what your competitors are doing, except that they've been doing it longer, and probably to greater effect.

If you see that a competitor’s ranking is very high, “only” doing what they’re doing will not only always put you second to that competitor.

Simply put, you can never know every facet of their SEO campaign, telling your SEO expert to “just do what my competitors are doing,” is unlikely to even get you anywhere near their ranking (especially if they’re using bad practices).

It’s best to build your own links “and” copy what they are doing, as long as you are copying solid and clean SEO practices.

4. Building one-dimensional links.

Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with guest blogging.

But there is something wrong with it being your only avenue for link-building.Why?

Because it doesn't offer your SEO anything fresh, new, or diversified, and Google loves fresh, new, and diversified.

Over time, if the algorithm sees that guest blogging is the only way you are building links, it will begin to give those links less and less weight, even if they are completely legitimate and high-quality links.

Mix it up!

5. Spending time inserting keywords into every meta tag.

Newsflash: Google hasn't used meta-tags as a ranking factor in more than a decade.

Somehow, people are still obsessing about how many keywords are in their metadata and whether or not the keywords are in the right position, and if they are even using the right keywords in those areas.

The fact is that web crawler algorithms use visible text almost exclusively.

It’s not scanning your HTML to find keywords that you've hidden in your meta tags.

Of course, having a metatag is still important, since it’s what shows up under your link in search results, but it’s no longer that important for SEO.

6. Buying links.

This still happens because even though Google will flag your website if they find out you’ve done this, in the short term, the purchased links actually do improve rankings.

The problem?

Not only is it considered a black-hat tactic, it just reeks of a scam.

Search engines like Google are dedicated to tracking purchased links down and flagging the websites associated with them, so it’s really only a matter of time until that small bump in rankings becomes a huge red flag.

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