Showing posts with label anymore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anymore. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2017
Vodacom4me doesn’t ‘exist’ anymore but people are still searching for it…
Vodacom4me doesn’t ‘exist’ anymore but people are still searching for it…
I find it curious that in spite of the fact that vodacom4me.co.za has been offline for more than a year and a half that people are still searching for it.
Google’s keyword tool shows that the ‘Vodacom4me’ search term is still typed in to Google more than 90 000 times a month and I count this as pretty significant traffic potential. Vodacom ranks in the first position as one might expect, but this search term on Google remains the highest source of traffic for my free SMS website. Free082SMS used to rank really well in the ‘Vodacom4me’ search results, but then Vodacom introduced CAPTCHA images on their free SMS functionality, Google rolled out the Penguin algorithm update and my ranking crashed to the bottom of page 1.
It’s annoying that my competitor is still ranked at number 2 for the ‘Vodacom4me’ search term. I remember chasing this website as my primary competitor in the old days and eventually I got my site to rank for 3 separate pages, all above this competitor. But it’s like I have been time warped back to 3 years ago and suddenly I’m at the bottom of the pile again. I know I am biased towards my own website but I cannot understand this. My competitor’s website is largely neglected and should frankly be taken offline as it does not offer any value to visitors – it’s broken and has not been updated since Vodacom started blocking free SMS robot sites (though I’m not sure about the working condition of the CellC and MTN SMS functionality).
It is ironic that I actually made content changes to my website to reflect the change in the availability of SMS from Vodacom, though I think this was not the major reason for my plummeting search position as I have since reworked a lot of the old content back with very little effect on my rankings. I have to unfortunately suspect that the primary reason for my drop is the Google Penguin update, though frustratingly I don’t really understand exactly why it is affecting me (I did not receive any warnings or recommendations in Google Webmaster tools).
I have never paid for any links and I have close to 4000 followers on Twitter (hundreds of whom are genuinely engaged); 200 Likes on one Facebook page and another 82 likes on another Facebook page; I have more than 60 genuine +1s on Google. My competitor has zero social presence and is on the same domain as a blog that was last updated in 2009 – This makes it hard for me to believe that social media is a really important factor in SEO. Never mind the fact that my site actually works, but also looks much cooler than my competitor’s, loads faster and provides a much better user experience (I have received compliments saying as much from several users over the years).
I have gone off at a tangent though. I think that people are still searching for Vodacom4me because Vodacom never really replaced the Vodacom4me brand with anything else and people are hoping to find free Vodacom SMS. Search volume for ‘Vodacom free SMS’ has increased since vodacom4me.co.za went offline and I used to actually rank number 1 for this search term on Google, but annoyingly I am now playing 2nd fiddle on this one to my competitor too! It doesn’t seem to make sense?
No matter, I will figure this out (or Google will realise that Penguin has been unfair on me), I hope…
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Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Windows 10 Automatic Upgrade Drives A Man Crazy And He Can’t Handle It Anymore
Windows 10 Automatic Upgrade Drives A Man Crazy And He Can’t Handle It Anymore
Remember that irritating Windows 10 upgrade popup that keeps testing your patience while you are busy in some important work? Well, a person has found it too much to handle and expressed his anger in the form of a rant full of swearing. Ever since it appeared on the horizon, Windows 10 has created a fair amount of controversy due to its upgrade policies. The forced Windows 10 upgrade has interrupted a live weather forecast, ruined a pro-gamer’s live stream, and irritated thousands of Windows 7 and 8.1 users.As another chapter from the same book, an old clip from last October is making rounds on the internet. This video shared on Voat shows how a techie loses his cool when Windows Upgrade cuts him off with a notice that his upgrade is going to start soon.
Microsoft has been repeatedly accused of using dirty tricks to push Windows 10 upgrade before the free offer expires on July 29, 2016 (Here’s how to grab the upgrade even after the expiry date).
Coming back to the video, you can watch it below:
The Windows user fails to keep his calm and starts yelling an explosive rant about this flawed upgrade policy.
“It doesn’t even give you a choice to say no, it just comes up whenever it wants, automatically, and says f*** you, we’re turning off your computer in 10 minutes and 47 seconds,” he says. He calls it like putting a gun to head and forcing you to upgrade with giving any choice.
While this video is seven months old, nothing much has changed. Windows users who are willing to stick to their old operating systems are still frustrated due to Microsoft’s aggressive push.
In an official statement Microsoft has denied these accusations and said that customers have a choice. “As we shared in October, Windows 10 will be offered as a ‘recommended’ update for Windows 7 and 8.1 customers whose Windows Update settings are configured to accept ‘recommended’ updates,” said Microsoft.
Microsoft has been repeatedly accused of using dirty tricks to push Windows 10 upgrade before the free offer expires on July 29, 2016 (Here’s how to grab the upgrade even after the expiry date).
Coming back to the video, you can watch it below:
The Windows user fails to keep his calm and starts yelling an explosive rant about this flawed upgrade policy.
“It doesn’t even give you a choice to say no, it just comes up whenever it wants, automatically, and says f*** you, we’re turning off your computer in 10 minutes and 47 seconds,” he says. He calls it like putting a gun to head and forcing you to upgrade with giving any choice.
While this video is seven months old, nothing much has changed. Windows users who are willing to stick to their old operating systems are still frustrated due to Microsoft’s aggressive push.
In an official statement Microsoft has denied these accusations and said that customers have a choice. “As we shared in October, Windows 10 will be offered as a ‘recommended’ update for Windows 7 and 8.1 customers whose Windows Update settings are configured to accept ‘recommended’ updates,” said Microsoft.
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