Hackers are reportedly trying to use stolen Target cards

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="hacker hand" class="largeImage imgId100155589 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/12/hacker_hand-100155589-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">The techniques used by hackers to</span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/video/30041/hackers-steal-target-credit-card-data.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">access credit and debit card data from Target</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">shoppers suggests that the cyber crooks have found a troubling new way to stay ahead of the latest fraud detection processes.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Security blogger <a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/non-us-cards-used-at-target-fetch-premium/#more-24132" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Brian Krebs</a>, who first reported the Target data breach news earlier this month, said that compromised cards are being marketed online with information on the state, city, and ZIP code of the Target store where they were used.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Fraud experts say the location information will likely allow buyers of the stolen data to use spoofed versions of cards issued to people in their immediate vicinity, Krebs wrote. "This lets crooks who want to use the cards for in-store fraud avoid any knee-jerk fraud defenses in which a financial institution might block transactions that occur outside the legitimate cardholder's immediate geographic region," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This is believed to be the first time that security experts have observed hyper-localized selling of stolen credit and debit card information following a retail breach.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Target last week disclosed that hackers <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244891/Target_says_hackers_likely_accessed_40_million_cards" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">had accessed</a> data stored on some 40 million credit and debit cards belonging to shoppers who bought merchandise in its stores between November 27 and December 15.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2082208/customers-sue-target-over-data-breach-but-the-problem-is-with-american-credit-cards.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">information exposed</a> in the incident includes the cardholder's name, the credit or debit card number, the card's expiration date, and the CVV security code used to activate the card in a store, Target said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The breach is believed to have exposed data from cards distributed by most major U.S. credit card issuing banks and credit unions. JP Morgan Chase announced that it had put restrictions on the amount that customers affected by the Target breach could spend or withdraw daily.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Detection may be difficult</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">James Huguelet, an independent consultant who specializes in retail security, said Krebs' report concurs sporadic reports after the breach that that stolen Target cards were used fraudulently in areas close to where the owners of the cards lived.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Local use of a card makes it more likely that the crooks can use it for a relatively long period of time before a block is put on it, he said. "That makes such cards much more valuable to a criminal. This is a very clever tactic to increase the monetary value of each stolen card. It's one I've not seen used before," Huguelet said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Card thieves typically sell stolen data to buyers around he world, making it likely that fraud detection tools used by banks will detect the crimes.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Fraud detection tools used by banks and other card issuers look closely at the location where a card is used and the frequency of its use to determine potential criminal use. Banks often decline transactions or require additional authentication for card transactions that originate from new or unexpected locations.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Such detection is harder when a stolen card is used within the area where the card is typically used.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Whoever is behind this breach appears to have a tremendous amount of not only technical, but also retail operations and payment industry knowledge. This could indicate someone who has previously worked in the retail payments industry." Huguelet said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said that card issuers and others have to significantly ramp up fraud detection capabilities to deal with the new threat.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "It's very significant because it shows how sophisticated the criminals are," Litan said. "They are trying to avoid being spotted by fraud detection systems that check the location of a transaction against the individual's home zip code and the location of that individual's most recent transactions."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This level of sophistication, combined with the sheer large volume of active cards that were compromised, makes fraud detection far more difficult, Litan said. "Companies will need to beef up their fraud detection capabilities and strategies to overcome the criminals' tactics, which is not a simple task and which does not happen overnight," she said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Major data breaches often have provided a window into the systemic weaknesses exploited by cyber criminals to infiltrate networks and to profit from data theft.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> The 2007 breach at TJX Companies, in which hackers accessed data on 45 million credit and debit cards, showed how easily a poorly protected <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9038839/Canadian_probe_finds_TJX_breach_followed_wireless_hack" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">wireless network</a> can be exploited to gain access to a payment network. Massive data compromises at Heartland Payment Systems and Hannaford Brothers in 2009 hammered home the dangers of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136805/SQL_injection_attacks_led_to_Heartland_Hannaford_breaches_" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">SQL injection flaws</a> in Web application software.</p> </span>

Hackers are reportedly trying to use stolen Target cards

The techniques used by hackers to access credit and debit card data from Target   shoppers suggests that the cyber crooks have found a tro...

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Hackers are reportedly trying to use stolen Target cards

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="width:320px;height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="hacker hand" class="largeImage imgId100155589 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/12/hacker_hand-100155589-large.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px; max-width: 100%;"></div> <div class="department" style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a class="topCatLink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/security" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">The techniques used by hackers to</span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/video/30041/hackers-steal-target-credit-card-data.html?tk=rel_news" style="line-height:1.7em;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px;color:rgb(37,167,215)">access credit and debit card data from Target</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px"> </span><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">shoppers suggests that the cyber crooks have found a troubling new way to stay ahead of the latest fraud detection processes.</span><br> </a></div><span itemprop="articleBody description text" style><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Security blogger <a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/12/non-us-cards-used-at-target-fetch-premium/#more-24132" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">Brian Krebs</a>, who first reported the Target data breach news earlier this month, said that compromised cards are being marketed online with information on the state, city, and ZIP code of the Target store where they were used.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Fraud experts say the location information will likely allow buyers of the stolen data to use spoofed versions of cards issued to people in their immediate vicinity, Krebs wrote. "This lets crooks who want to use the cards for in-store fraud avoid any knee-jerk fraud defenses in which a financial institution might block transactions that occur outside the legitimate cardholder's immediate geographic region," he said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This is believed to be the first time that security experts have observed hyper-localized selling of stolen credit and debit card information following a retail breach.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Target last week disclosed that hackers <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244891/Target_says_hackers_likely_accessed_40_million_cards" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">had accessed</a> data stored on some 40 million credit and debit cards belonging to shoppers who bought merchandise in its stores between November 27 and December 15.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2082208/customers-sue-target-over-data-breach-but-the-problem-is-with-american-credit-cards.html?tk=rel_news" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">information exposed</a> in the incident includes the cardholder's name, the credit or debit card number, the card's expiration date, and the CVV security code used to activate the card in a store, Target said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The breach is believed to have exposed data from cards distributed by most major U.S. credit card issuing banks and credit unions. JP Morgan Chase announced that it had put restrictions on the amount that customers affected by the Target breach could spend or withdraw daily.</p> <h2 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Detection may be difficult</h2><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">James Huguelet, an independent consultant who specializes in retail security, said Krebs' report concurs sporadic reports after the breach that that stolen Target cards were used fraudulently in areas close to where the owners of the cards lived.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Local use of a card makes it more likely that the crooks can use it for a relatively long period of time before a block is put on it, he said. "That makes such cards much more valuable to a criminal. This is a very clever tactic to increase the monetary value of each stolen card. It's one I've not seen used before," Huguelet said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Card thieves typically sell stolen data to buyers around he world, making it likely that fraud detection tools used by banks will detect the crimes.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Fraud detection tools used by banks and other card issuers look closely at the location where a card is used and the frequency of its use to determine potential criminal use. Banks often decline transactions or require additional authentication for card transactions that originate from new or unexpected locations.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Such detection is harder when a stolen card is used within the area where the card is typically used.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">"Whoever is behind this breach appears to have a tremendous amount of not only technical, but also retail operations and payment industry knowledge. This could indicate someone who has previously worked in the retail payments industry." Huguelet said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Gartner analyst Avivah Litan said that card issuers and others have to significantly ramp up fraud detection capabilities to deal with the new threat.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> "It's very significant because it shows how sophisticated the criminals are," Litan said. "They are trying to avoid being spotted by fraud detection systems that check the location of a transaction against the individual's home zip code and the location of that individual's most recent transactions."</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">This level of sophistication, combined with the sheer large volume of active cards that were compromised, makes fraud detection far more difficult, Litan said. "Companies will need to beef up their fraud detection capabilities and strategies to overcome the criminals' tactics, which is not a simple task and which does not happen overnight," she said.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Major data breaches often have provided a window into the systemic weaknesses exploited by cyber criminals to infiltrate networks and to profit from data theft.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> The 2007 breach at TJX Companies, in which hackers accessed data on 45 million credit and debit cards, showed how easily a poorly protected <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9038839/Canadian_probe_finds_TJX_breach_followed_wireless_hack" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">wireless network</a> can be exploited to gain access to a payment network. Massive data compromises at Heartland Payment Systems and Hannaford Brothers in 2009 hammered home the dangers of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136805/SQL_injection_attacks_led_to_Heartland_Hannaford_breaches_" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)">SQL injection flaws</a> in Web application software.</p> </span>

Hackers are reportedly trying to use stolen Target cards

The techniques used by hackers to access credit and debit card data from Target   shoppers suggests that the cyber crooks have found a tro...

Read more »

The Bluetooth Wireless Network Standard

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth isn't a network standard for full-scale wireless Ethernet networking. Instead, Bluetooth was developed as a specialized wireless technology for short distances.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can use Bluetooth with cell phones, PDAs, laptops, palmtops, printers, and other external devices. Here are some Bluetooth facts:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> The maximum distance for a Bluetooth network is about 30 feet.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth requires very little power to use (befitting its design, which concentrates on battery-operated devices).</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">It's painfully slow compared with the 802.11b network standard.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> No base station is required for Bluetooth communications between devices. For example, after your laptop gets within 30 feet of your cell phone, they can update each other's telephone number directories. Eerie.</p></li><li> <p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz broadcasting spectrum, so it conflicts with existing 802.11b and 802.11g networks (not to mention cell phones, cordless phones, and other electronic devices). The airwaves are getting so overpopulated that tin cans and string start to look attractive again.</p> </li></ul>

The Bluetooth Wireless Network Standard

Bluetooth isn't a network standard for full-scale wireless Ethernet networking. Instead, Bluetooth was developed as a specialized wirele...

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The Bluetooth Wireless Network Standard

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth isn't a network standard for full-scale wireless Ethernet networking. Instead, Bluetooth was developed as a specialized wireless technology for short distances.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"> You can use Bluetooth with cell phones, PDAs, laptops, palmtops, printers, and other external devices. Here are some Bluetooth facts:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> The maximum distance for a Bluetooth network is about 30 feet.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth requires very little power to use (befitting its design, which concentrates on battery-operated devices).</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">It's painfully slow compared with the 802.11b network standard.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> No base station is required for Bluetooth communications between devices. For example, after your laptop gets within 30 feet of your cell phone, they can update each other's telephone number directories. Eerie.</p></li><li> <p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Bluetooth uses the 2.4 GHz broadcasting spectrum, so it conflicts with existing 802.11b and 802.11g networks (not to mention cell phones, cordless phones, and other electronic devices). The airwaves are getting so overpopulated that tin cans and string start to look attractive again.</p> </li></ul>

The Bluetooth Wireless Network Standard

Bluetooth isn't a network standard for full-scale wireless Ethernet networking. Instead, Bluetooth was developed as a specialized wirele...

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Wireless versus Wired Computer Networking

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Other than the transmission method (obviously, one network involves wires and the other is wireless), here are the three major differences between a wired network and a wireless network:</span><br> </h1><ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless connections are slower. </b>This difference is the big reason why most larger networks still depend on wired Ethernet for the bulk of their connections.</p><p class="child-para Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> Wired networks can use fiber optic cabling rather than plain copper wire cabling to hit even faster speeds.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless hardware is more expensive. </b>Depending on the standard supported by your wireless hardware, you pay significantly more for wireless hardware than you do for wired hardware.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless networks require no hubs or switches. </b>Most wireless base stations and WAPs (wireless access points), like the one shown in this figure, can provide connections for up to 253 simultaneous users, so a larger wireless network (with 50 PCs or more) requires far less hardware and upkeep than a wired network that can handle the same number of computers.</p> <div class="imageBlock" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;width:495px"><img alt="Use a WAP to connect your wireless network." height="400" src="http://media.wiley.com/Lux/27/80727.image0.jpg" style="vertical-align: bottom; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto !important;" width="495"><div class="imageCaption" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px"> Use a WAP to connect your wireless network.</div></div></li></ul>

Wireless versus Wired Computer Networking

Other than the transmission method (obviously, one network involves wires and the other is wireless), here are the three major differences b...

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Wireless versus Wired Computer Networking

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Other than the transmission method (obviously, one network involves wires and the other is wireless), here are the three major differences between a wired network and a wireless network:</span><br> </h1><ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless connections are slower. </b>This difference is the big reason why most larger networks still depend on wired Ethernet for the bulk of their connections.</p><p class="child-para Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> Wired networks can use fiber optic cabling rather than plain copper wire cabling to hit even faster speeds.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless hardware is more expensive. </b>Depending on the standard supported by your wireless hardware, you pay significantly more for wireless hardware than you do for wired hardware.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Wireless networks require no hubs or switches. </b>Most wireless base stations and WAPs (wireless access points), like the one shown in this figure, can provide connections for up to 253 simultaneous users, so a larger wireless network (with 50 PCs or more) requires far less hardware and upkeep than a wired network that can handle the same number of computers.</p> <div class="imageBlock" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;width:495px"><img alt="Use a WAP to connect your wireless network." height="400" src="http://media.wiley.com/Lux/27/80727.image0.jpg" style="vertical-align: bottom; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto !important;" width="495"><div class="imageCaption" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px"> Use a WAP to connect your wireless network.</div></div></li></ul>

Wireless versus Wired Computer Networking

Other than the transmission method (obviously, one network involves wires and the other is wireless), here are the three major differences b...

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10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page

<p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So what does a perfectly optimized page look like in 2012? Let's look at 10 elements.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:20px"><img alt="Bearnaise Sauce Optimized Page" border="0" src="http://cms.searchenginewatch.com/IMG/687/207687/bearnaise-sauce-optimized-page.jpg?1326815348" style="margin:0px auto 15px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;float:none;display:block" title="Bearnaise Sauce Optimized Page"></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">1. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Title tags</strong> are still important, but it's not a good idea to over-optimize them. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">2. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Descriptions</strong> still don't appear to add much ranking value, but can help encourage clicks. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">3. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Header tags</strong> still need to be relevant. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">4. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">URL</strong> still ideally mentions the keywords. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">5. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Content</strong> is now about semantically relevant supporting keywords, not multiple mentions of the keywords. The example chosen is a recipe, because in order to make béarnaise sauce there are specific ingredients that are 100 percent relevant to the eventual outcome. One way of checking what keywords Google might consider as relevant is to do a '~keyword' (or tilde) search. Other ways, let's be honest, involve nothing more than common sense and knowing your subject. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">6. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Video and other 'rich' content</strong> can be useful on a page to increase engagement levels, reduce bounce rates and also to appear alongside results as illustrated.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:20px"><img alt="apple-ipad-review-serp" border="0" src="http://cms.searchenginewatch.com/IMG/684/207684/apple-ipad-review-serp.png?1326814395" style="margin:0px auto 15px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;float:none;display:block" title="apple-ipad-review-serp"></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">7. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Internal links</strong> need to follow the "reasonable surfer" patent. It makes sense in the "perfectly optimized page" example above to link to peppercorn sauce as an alternative to béarnaise. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">8. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Facebook/Twitter/other login comments</strong> are a way of sharing the content on other platforms. The direct <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/seo" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(97,0,171);outline:0px" target="_blank">SEO</a>benefit may be debatable, but it never hurts to get your content in front of a large amount of people. With <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2136615/Google-Launches-Search-Plus-Your-World" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(97,0,171);outline:0px" target="_blank">Google Search Plus Your World</a>, it could be that adding a Google+ login is more important than anything else.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">9. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">User reviews</strong> add regular content to the page, which can also be coded to include microformatting instructions and add extra elements to your listings in search engine result pages (SERPs).</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">10. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Newsfeeds</strong> only share content that already exists elsewhere, but they contribute to an overall impression of the page changing on a regular basis.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">It's worth noting that the "perfectly optimized page" above won't be perfect for all verticals, or for all brands – not everyone has the ability to add customer reviews to their product pages (e.g., insurance comparison sites).</p>

10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page

One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So...

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10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page

<p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So what does a perfectly optimized page look like in 2012? Let's look at 10 elements.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:20px"><img alt="Bearnaise Sauce Optimized Page" border="0" src="http://cms.searchenginewatch.com/IMG/687/207687/bearnaise-sauce-optimized-page.jpg?1326815348" style="margin:0px auto 15px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;float:none;display:block" title="Bearnaise Sauce Optimized Page"></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">1. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Title tags</strong> are still important, but it's not a good idea to over-optimize them. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">2. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Descriptions</strong> still don't appear to add much ranking value, but can help encourage clicks. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">3. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Header tags</strong> still need to be relevant. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">4. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">URL</strong> still ideally mentions the keywords. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">5. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Content</strong> is now about semantically relevant supporting keywords, not multiple mentions of the keywords. The example chosen is a recipe, because in order to make béarnaise sauce there are specific ingredients that are 100 percent relevant to the eventual outcome. One way of checking what keywords Google might consider as relevant is to do a '~keyword' (or tilde) search. Other ways, let's be honest, involve nothing more than common sense and knowing your subject. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">6. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Video and other 'rich' content</strong> can be useful on a page to increase engagement levels, reduce bounce rates and also to appear alongside results as illustrated.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:20px"><img alt="apple-ipad-review-serp" border="0" src="http://cms.searchenginewatch.com/IMG/684/207684/apple-ipad-review-serp.png?1326814395" style="margin:0px auto 15px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;float:none;display:block" title="apple-ipad-review-serp"></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">7. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Internal links</strong> need to follow the "reasonable surfer" patent. It makes sense in the "perfectly optimized page" example above to link to peppercorn sauce as an alternative to béarnaise. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">8. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Facebook/Twitter/other login comments</strong> are a way of sharing the content on other platforms. The direct <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/seo" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(97,0,171);outline:0px" target="_blank">SEO</a>benefit may be debatable, but it never hurts to get your content in front of a large amount of people. With <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2136615/Google-Launches-Search-Plus-Your-World" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(97,0,171);outline:0px" target="_blank">Google Search Plus Your World</a>, it could be that adding a Google+ login is more important than anything else.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">9. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">User reviews</strong> add regular content to the page, which can also be coded to include microformatting instructions and add extra elements to your listings in search engine result pages (SERPs).</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px 0px 0px 30px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">10. <strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent">Newsfeeds</strong> only share content that already exists elsewhere, but they contribute to an overall impression of the page changing on a regular basis.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:31px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(68,68,68);font-family:sans-serif">It's worth noting that the "perfectly optimized page" above won't be perfect for all verticals, or for all brands – not everyone has the ability to add customer reviews to their product pages (e.g., insurance comparison sites).</p>

10 Elements of a Perfectly Optimized Page

One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So...

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How To Use HTML Meta Tags

<div><span style="font-size:15px">Want top search engine rankings? Just add meta tags and your website will magically rise to the top, right? Wrong. Meta tags are one piece in a large algorithmic puzzle that major search engines look at when deciding which results are relevant to show users who have typed in a search query.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">While there is still some debate about which meta tags remain useful and important to search engines, meta tags definitely aren't a magic solution to gaining rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo, or elsewhere – so let's kill that myth right at the outset. However, meta tags help tell search engines and users what your site is about, and when meta tags are implemented incorrectly, the negative impact can be substantial and heartbreaking.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Let's look at what meta tags are, what meta tags matter, and how to avoid mistakes when implementing meta tags on your website.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">What Are Meta Tags?</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">HTML meta tags are officially page data tags that lie between the open and closing head tags in the HTML code of a document.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The text in these tags is not displayed, but parsable and tells the browsers (or other web services) specific information about the page. Simply, it "explains" the page so a browser can understand it.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Here's a code example of meta tags:</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><head> <title>Not a Meta Tag, but required anyway </title> <meta name="description" content="Awesome Description Here"> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8"> </head></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">For more on the history of meta tags, see our post "Death of a Meta Tag".</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The Title Tag</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">Although the title tag appears in the head block of the page, it isn't actually a meta tag. What's the difference? The title tag is a required page "element" according to the W3C. Meta tags are optional page descriptors.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">To learn more about best practices for title tag element, our post "How to Write Title Tags For Search Engine Optimization" tells you everything you need to know.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The Description Meta Tag</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This is what the description tag looks like:</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br> </span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><meta name="description" content="Awesome Description Here"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Ideally, your description should be no longer than 155 characters (including spaces). However, check the search engine results page (SERP) of choice to confirm this. Some are longer and some are shorter. This is only a rule of thumb, not a definite "best practice" anymore.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The "description" meta tag helps websites in three important ways:</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">"Description" tells the search engine what your page or site is about: For the search engine to understand what your page is about, you need to write a good description. When Google's algorithm decides a description is badly written or inaccurate, it will replace that description with its own version of what is on the page. Wouldn't you prefer to describe your site to potential customers or visitors using your own words rather than leaving it in Google's artificial hands? Look at this example and judge for yourself:</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">"Description" helps with click through rates to your site: Writing a good description not only helps keep Google from rewriting it, but also helps you get good more people clicking through to your site. A well-written description not only tells users what is on your page, but also entices them to visit your site. A description is what shows up here in the search engine results. It is like good window dressing. Sites with poor descriptions will get less click throughs and the search engines will demote your site in favor of other sites.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">"Description" helps with site rankings: The common belief (based on what Google said in 2009) is that nothing in the description will help you get rankings. However, I have seen evidence to the contrary. Is it heavily weighted? No, but if you want some value on a secondary keyword (say an –ing –ed or –s), use it here.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">Two other quick notes on meta description tags:</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Empty Descriptions: Can a description be empty? Yes. When it is empty Google and Bing will fill it in for you. In fact, sometimes (e.g., for blogs) you may prefer Google's or Bing's version. (Personally though, I always fill it in whenever possible, preferring my version to theirs, but if you have a small staff, this isn't always practical.)</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">Quotes: Don't use full quotation marks ("") in your description. It will likely cut off your description. Use single quotes to avoid this issue.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The Keywords Meta Tag</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the "keywords" meta tag was a critical element for early search engines. Much like the dinosaurs, this tag is a fossil from ancient search engine times.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The only search engine that looks at the keywords anymore is Microsoft's Bing – and they use it to help detect spam. To avoid hurting your site, your best option is to never add this tag.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Or, if that's too radical for you to stomach, at least make sure you haven't stuffed 300 keywords in the hopes of higher search rankings. It won't work. Sorry.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">If you already have keyword meta tags on your website, but they aren't spammy, there's no reason to spend the next week hurriedly taking them out. It's OK to leave them for now – just take them out as you're able, to reduce page weight and load times.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Other Meta Tags</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">There are many other meta tags, but none are really considered useful nowadays. Many of the tags that we used did things like:</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Told the spider when to come back</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><meta name="revisit-after" content="30 days"></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">Told the browser the distribution</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">< meta name="distribution" content="web"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Told the page to refresh</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Told the page to redirect/refresh</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="x_seconds; url=<a href="http://www.yourhost.com/pagetosendto.html">http://www.yourhost.com/pagetosendto.html</a>"></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">We don't use these anymore, either because there are better ways (such as schema tagging or server side methods) or because the engines they used to work on are no longer in existence or Google has explicitly told us they are not great ideas (such as redirects at the page level).</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">NOTE: Schema tagging and rich data snippets are single-handedly the most important (and somewhat quietly announced) change to how your site interacts with the search engines and the search spiders. Learn it. Know it. Implement it.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Robots Meta Tag</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The robots tag is still one of the most important tags. Not so much for the proper implementation, but the improper.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The robots meta tag lets you specify that a particular page should not be indexed by a search engine or if you do or do not want links on the page followed.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Believe it or not, it is still common for a site to be deindexed because someone accidentally added a noindex tag to the entire site. Understanding this tag is vitally important.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Here are the four implementations of the Robots Meta Tag and what they mean.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This means: "Do not Index this page. Do not follow the links on the page." Your page will drop OUT of the search index AND your links to other pages will not be followed. This will break the link path on your site from this page to other pages.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This tag is most often used when a site is in development. A developer will noindex/nofollow the pages of the site to keep them from being picked up by the search engines, then forget to remove the tag. When launching your new website, do not trust it has been removed. DOUBLE CHECK!</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX, NOFOLLOW"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This means: "Do Index this page. Do not follow the links on the page." Your page WILL be in the index AND your links to other pages will not be followed. This will break the link path on your site from this page to other pages.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, FOLLOW"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This means: "Do not Index this page. Do follow the links on the page." Your page will drop OUT of the index BUT your links to other pages will be followed. This will NOT break the link path on your site from this page to other pages.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX, FOLLOW"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">This means: "Do Index this page. Do follow the links on the page." This means your page WILL be in the index AND your links to other pages will be followed. This will NOT break the link path on your site from this page to other pages.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">NOTE: The robots tag may be ignored by less scrupulous spiders.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">The Charset Tag</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">Finally, all sites must validate charset. In the U.S., that is the UTF-8 tag. Just make sure this is on your page if you're delivering HTML using English characters.</span></div><div> <span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Conclusion</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px">While meta tags aren't the magical solution that you may have heard, they still play an important role in helping your site get found in search engines. Enjoy your metas!</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:15px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:15px">Below are some additional resources to help you on your path to search engine optimization.</span></div>

How To Use HTML Meta Tags

Want top search engine rankings? Just add meta tags and your website will magically rise to the top, right? Wrong. Meta tags are one piece i...

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