Images of TCL’s slide-out display smartphone surface in wake of MWC cancellation

This morning brought a look at some of what we’re missing at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The show may have been called off on account of coronavirus concerns, but the news goes on.

We knew that TCL was planning to show off a number of “alternative” smartphone form factors, and one just showed up on CNET. The device presents a promising take on the world of expandable screens, with a kind of slide out display that expands the standard smartphone into something more akin to a tablet.

GSMA cancels Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus concerns

TCL, of course, showed off its own foldable at MWC last year, but the device was encased in a block of glass. By all accounts, the company’s decision to not rush to market was a good one, as foldables have not gotten off to the most auspicious of starts.

TCL teases a 5G device, headset and its first foldable at CES

The sources behind the images say that the device would have debuted at MWC, though it’s hard to judge how far along the technology is, given the fact that these are, indeed, renders. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that best case scenario, it would have been another under glass, hands off debut. These days, it seems that manufacturers are increasingly following the automative model of showing off early concepts that may or may not ever actual come to market. The word “prototype” certainly seems apt in this case. 

In either case, a TCL rep declined to offer TechCrunch a comment on the images or whether we’ll get a better look in spite of the show’s cancellation.

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Facebook pushes EU for dilute and fuzzy Internet content rules

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is in Europe this week — attending a security conference in Germany over the weekend where he spoke about the kind of regulation he’d like applied to his platform ahead of a slate of planned meetings with digital heavyweights at the European Commission.

“I do think that there should be regulation on harmful content,” said Zuckerberg during a Q&A session at the Munich Security Conference, per Reuters, making a pitch for bespoke regulation.

He went on to suggest “there’s a question about which framework you use”, telling delegates: “Right now there are two frameworks that I think people have for existing industries — there’s like newspapers and existing media, and then there’s the telco-type model, which is ‘the data just flows through you’, but you’re not going to hold a telco responsible if someone says something harmful on a phone line.”

“I actually think where we should be is somewhere in between,” he added, making his plea for Internet platforms to be a special case.

At the conference he also said Facebook now employs 35,000 people to review content on its platform and implement security measures — including suspending around 1 million fake accounts per day, a stat he professed himself “proud” of.

The Facebook chief is due to meet with key commissioners covering the digital sphere this week, including competition chief and digital EVP Margrethe Vestager, internal market commissioner Thierry Breton and Věra Jourová, who is leading policymaking around online disinformation.

The timing of his trip is clearly linked to digital policymaking in Brussels — with the Commission due to set out its thinking around the regulation of artificial intelligence this week. (A leaked draft last month suggested policymaker are eyeing risk-based rules to wrap around AI.)

More widely, the Commission is wrestling with how to respond to a range of problematic online content — from terrorism to disinformation and election interference — which also puts Facebook’s 2BN+ social media empire squarely in regulators’ sights.

Another policymaking plan — a forthcoming Digital Service Act (DSA) — is slated to upgrade liability rules around Internet platforms.

The detail of the DSA has yet to be publicly laid out but any move to rethink platform liabilities could present a disruptive risk for a content distributing giant such as Facebook.

Going into meetings with key commissioners Zuckerberg made his preference for being considered a ‘special’ case clear — saying he wants his platform to be regulated not like the media businesses which his empire has financially disrupted; nor like a dumbpipe telco.

On the latter it’s clear — even to Facebook — that the days of Zuckerberg being able to trot out his erstwhile mantra that ‘we’re just a technology platform’, and wash his hands of tricky content stuff, are long gone.

Russia’s 2016 foray into digital campaigning in the US elections and sundry content horrors/scandals before and since have put paid to that — from nation-state backed fake news campaigns to livestreamed suicides and mass murder.

Facebook has been forced to increase its investment in content moderation. Meanwhile it announced a News section launch last year — saying it would hand pick publishers content to show in a dedicated tab.

The ‘we’re just a platform’ line hasn’t been working for years. And EU policymakers are preparing to do something about that.

With regulation looming Facebook is now directing its lobbying energies onto trying to shape a policymaking debate — calling for what it dubs “the ‘right’ regulation”.

Here the Facebook chief looks to be applying a similar playbook as the Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai — who recently tripped to Brussels to push for AI rules so dilute they’d act as a tech enabler.

In a blog post published today Facebook pulls its latest policy lever: Putting out a white paper which poses a series of questions intended to frame the debate at a key moment of public discussion around digital policymaking.

Top of this list is a push to foreground focus on free speech, with Facebook questioning “how can content regulation best achieve the goal of reducing harmful speech while preserving free expression?” — before suggesting more of the same: (Free, to its business) user-generated policing of its platform.

Another suggestion it sets out which aligns with existing Facebook moves to steer regulation in a direction it’s comfortable with is for an appeals channel to be created for users to appeal content removal or non-removal. Which of course entirely aligns with a content decision review body Facebook is in the process of setting up — but which is not in fact independent of Facebook.

Facebook is also lobbying in the white paper to be able to throw platform levers to meet a threshold of ‘acceptable vileness’ — i.e. it wants a proportion of law-violating content to be sanctioned by regulators — with the tech giant suggesting: “Companies could be incentivized to meet specific targets such as keeping the prevalence of violating content below some agreed threshold.”

It’s also pushing for the fuzziest and most dilute definition of “harmful content” possible. On this Facebook argues that existing (national) speech laws — such as, presumably, Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (aka the NetzDG law) which already covers online hate speech in that market — should not apply to Internet content platforms, as it claims moderating this type of content is “fundamentally different”.

“Governments should create rules to address this complexity — that recognize user preferences and the variation among internet services, can be enforced at scale, and allow for flexibility across language, trends and context,” it writes — lobbying for maximum possible leeway to be baked into the coming rules.

“The development of regulatory solutions should involve not just lawmakers, private companies and civil society, but also those who use online platforms,” Facebook’s VP of content policy, Monika Bickert, also writes in the blog.

“If designed well, new frameworks for regulating harmful content can contribute to the internet’s continued success by articulating clear ways for government, companies, and civil society to share responsibilities and work together. Designed poorly, these efforts risk unintended consequences that might make people less safe online, stifle expression and slow innovation,” she adds, ticking off more of the tech giant’s usual talking points at the point policymakers start discussing putting hard limits on its ad business.

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Facebook pushes EU for dilute and fuzzy Internet content rules

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is in Europe this week — attending a security conference in Germany over the weekend where he spoke about the kind of regulation he’d like applied to his platform ahead of a slate of planned meetings with digital heavyweights at the European Commission.

“I do think that there should be regulation on harmful content,” said Zuckerberg during a Q&A session at the Munich Security Conference, per Reuters, making a pitch for bespoke regulation.

He went on to suggest “there’s a question about which framework you use”, telling delegates: “Right now there are two frameworks that I think people have for existing industries — there’s like newspapers and existing media, and then there’s the telco-type model, which is ‘the data just flows through you’, but you’re not going to hold a telco responsible if someone says something harmful on a phone line.”

“I actually think where we should be is somewhere in between,” he added, making his plea for Internet platforms to be a special case.

At the conference he also said Facebook now employs 35,000 people to review content on its platform and implement security measures — including suspending around 1 million fake accounts per day, a stat he professed himself “proud” of.

The Facebook chief is due to meet with key commissioners covering the digital sphere this week, including competition chief and digital EVP Margrethe Vestager, internal market commissioner Thierry Breton and Věra Jourová, who is leading policymaking around online disinformation.

The timing of his trip is clearly linked to digital policymaking in Brussels — with the Commission due to set out its thinking around the regulation of artificial intelligence this week. (A leaked draft last month suggested policymaker are eyeing risk-based rules to wrap around AI.)

More widely, the Commission is wrestling with how to respond to a range of problematic online content — from terrorism to disinformation and election interference — which also puts Facebook’s 2BN+ social media empire squarely in regulators’ sights.

Another policymaking plan — a forthcoming Digital Service Act (DSA) — is slated to upgrade liability rules around Internet platforms.

The detail of the DSA has yet to be publicly laid out but any move to rethink platform liabilities could present a disruptive risk for a content distributing giant such as Facebook.

Going into meetings with key commissioners Zuckerberg made his preference for being considered a ‘special’ case clear — saying he wants his platform to be regulated not like the media businesses which his empire has financially disrupted; nor like a dumbpipe telco.

On the latter it’s clear — even to Facebook — that the days of Zuckerberg being able to trot out his erstwhile mantra that ‘we’re just a technology platform’, and wash his hands of tricky content stuff, are long gone.

Russia’s 2016 foray into digital campaigning in the US elections and sundry content horrors/scandals before and since have put paid to that — from nation-state backed fake news campaigns to livestreamed suicides and mass murder.

Facebook has been forced to increase its investment in content moderation. Meanwhile it announced a News section launch last year — saying it would hand pick publishers content to show in a dedicated tab.

The ‘we’re just a platform’ line hasn’t been working for years. And EU policymakers are preparing to do something about that.

With regulation looming Facebook is now directing its lobbying energies onto trying to shape a policymaking debate — calling for what it dubs “the ‘right’ regulation”.

Here the Facebook chief looks to be applying a similar playbook as the Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai — who recently tripped to Brussels to push for AI rules so dilute they’d act as a tech enabler.

In a blog post published today Facebook pulls its latest policy lever: Putting out a white paper which poses a series of questions intended to frame the debate at a key moment of public discussion around digital policymaking.

Top of this list is a push to foreground focus on free speech, with Facebook questioning “how can content regulation best achieve the goal of reducing harmful speech while preserving free expression?” — before suggesting more of the same: (Free, to its business) user-generated policing of its platform.

Another suggestion it sets out which aligns with existing Facebook moves to steer regulation in a direction it’s comfortable with is for an appeals channel to be created for users to appeal content removal or non-removal. Which of course entirely aligns with a content decision review body Facebook is in the process of setting up — but which is not in fact independent of Facebook.

Facebook is also lobbying in the white paper to be able to throw platform levers to meet a threshold of ‘acceptable vileness’ — i.e. it wants a proportion of law-violating content to be sanctioned by regulators — with the tech giant suggesting: “Companies could be incentivized to meet specific targets such as keeping the prevalence of violating content below some agreed threshold.”

It’s also pushing for the fuzziest and most dilute definition of “harmful content” possible. On this Facebook argues that existing (national) speech laws — such as, presumably, Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (aka the NetzDG law) which already covers online hate speech in that market — should not apply to Internet content platforms, as it claims moderating this type of content is “fundamentally different”.

“Governments should create rules to address this complexity — that recognize user preferences and the variation among internet services, can be enforced at scale, and allow for flexibility across language, trends and context,” it writes — lobbying for maximum possible leeway to be baked into the coming rules.

“The development of regulatory solutions should involve not just lawmakers, private companies and civil society, but also those who use online platforms,” Facebook’s VP of content policy, Monika Bickert, also writes in the blog.

“If designed well, new frameworks for regulating harmful content can contribute to the internet’s continued success by articulating clear ways for government, companies, and civil society to share responsibilities and work together. Designed poorly, these efforts risk unintended consequences that might make people less safe online, stifle expression and slow innovation,” she adds, ticking off more of the tech giant’s usual talking points at the point policymakers start discussing putting hard limits on its ad business.

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Smart speaker sales reached new record of 146.9M in 2019, up 70% from 2018

Global smart speaker sales hit a record high last year with shipments of 146.9 million units, up 70% over 2018, according to a recent report on the state of the smart speaker market from Strategy Analytics. Though Amazon still leads in the U.S. by a wide margin, its portion of the worldwide market is now declining as Chinese vendors gain traction.

However, Amazon’s Echo brand continues to lead smart speaker sales worldwide with a 26.2% share in 2019. But that’s a drop from Amazon’s 33.7% share in 2018. Amazon’s decline wasn’t Google’s gain, either, in terms of market share. Instead, second-place Google dropped from 25.9% in 2018 to 20.3% last year.

That said, Amazon and Google in 2019 retained their leadership in both North America and Europe, where they accounted for more than three-quarters of all smart speaker sales.

Meanwhile, Chinese vendors Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi all increased their respective shares in 2019. And Apple remained in sixth place with only a 4.7% share.

The figures were somewhat better when looking at Q4 2019 alone, thanks to the holiday shopping season where vendors slashed prices on entry-level smart speakers to encourage purchases and ran other holiday sales. In the quarter, Amazon led with 15.8 million units shipped, followed by Google with 13.9 million, then Chinese brand Baidu with 5.9 million in third.

Sales of smart speakers in Q4 totaled 55.7 million units, the highest ever to date. This was driven by the strong holiday sales in both the U.S. and Europe in the quarter. In addition, Google’s smart speaker business improved followed a combination of new product introductions, improved component supply, and strong promotional activity, the analyst firm said.

“Consumer appetite for smart speakers remained undimmed during the all-important Q4 period as newly launched devices with improved feature sets and audio performance helped drive record quarterly shipments,” said David Watkins, Director at Strategy Analytics, in a statement. “Consumers across the world were once again enticed by scarcely believable deals from leading brands such as Google, Amazon, Baidu, and Alibaba, while Google, in particular, stepped up its giveaway promotional activity in partnership with brands such as YouTube and Spotify.”

Despite the impacts to supply and demand currently being caused by coronavirus (Covid-19), Strategy Analytics believes 2020 will be another record year for smart speakers.

The full report is available here.

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Google ends its free Wi-Fi program Station

Google said on Monday that it is winding down Google Station, a program as part of which it worked with a number of partners to roll out free Wi-Fi in more than 400 railway stations in India and “thousands” of other public places in several additional pockets of the world.

Caesar Sengupta, VP of Payments and Next Billion Users at Google, said the program, launched in 2015, helped millions of users surf the internet — first time for many — and not worry about the amount of data they consumed. But as mobile data prices got cheaper in many markets including India, Google Station was no longer as necessary, he said. The company plans to discontinue the program this year.

Additionally, it had become difficult for Google to find a sustainable business model to scale the program, the company said, which in recent years expanded Station to Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Philippines, Brazil, and Vietnam. The company launched the program in South Africa just three months ago.

Over the years, Google also explored ways to monetize Google Station program. The company, for instance, began showing an ad when a user signed in to connect to its internet service.

In an interview early last year, Gulzar Azad, who spearheads connectivity efforts for Google in India, told me that the company was thinking about ways to scale Station to more markets, but noted that as far as deployment at Indian railway stations was concerned, Google had reached its goal (to serve 400 railway stations).

A year after Google announced its efforts to offer free Wi-Fi in India, the country’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, launched his telecom network Reliance Jio. Jio offered customers bulk of 4G data at no charge for an extended period of time, forcing other telecom operators to slash their tariffs.

The move ushered millions of Indians to the internet, access to which was too expensive for many, for the first time. In a separate interview, I asked Azad if Google Station’s relevance had somewhat diminished because of Reliance Jio’s entrance. At the time, he said plenty of people were still signing up for the company’s program and that they were continuing to show a great appetite to consume voluminous data.

Google works with a number of companies to enable free Wi-Fi to users in public places. In India, for instance, Google has built the software stack while RailTel, a state-owned telecom infrastructure provider, delivers the free internet line.

RailTel delivers Wi-Fi in more than 5,600 railway stations and over the years has developed the capability to offer its own software stack. “We are working with our partners to transition existing sites so they can remain useful resources for the community,” said Sengupta.

TechCrunch has reached out to a RailTel spokesperson to check whether the company plans to keep offering Wi-Fi in the 400 odd railway stations where it worked with Google. Update: RailTel will continue to service free Wi-Fi in all those railway stations. “We sincerely value the support we received from Google in this journey,” the spokesperson added.

“The challenge of varying technical requirements and infrastructure among our partners across countries has also made it difficult for Station to scale and be sustainable, especially for our partners. And when we evaluate where we can truly make an impact in the future, we see greater need and bigger opportunities in making building products and features tailored to work better for the next billion user markets,” said Sengupta.

Google isn’t the only tech giant that has worked to offer free internet to users in developing markets. Facebook’s successor to Internet.org — the program that was banned in India for violating net neutrality regulations — launched in the country in 2017.

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The 7 Best Cloud Gaming Services to Stream Video Games

The future of gaming is almost certainly in the cloud. PlayStation Now, Microsoft’s Project xCloud, GeForce Now, and Google Stadia are all prominent cloud gaming services. They stream games to your TV, without a games console or gaming PC, for a fee.

But which one is best? Which of these cloud gaming services offers the best games, and which should you subscribe to? In this article, we compile a list of the best cloud gaming services to help you decide which, if any, you want to subscribe to.

What Is Cloud Gaming?

Traditionally, gaming requires expensive hardware. This might be a games console, a gaming PC, or a set-top box (such as Amazon Fire TV or Android TV).

With cloud gaming, expensive hardware is no longer required. Instead, the games are streamed to you over the internet, much like a movie is on Netflix. A fast broadband internet connection is required; the higher the better.

Cloud gaming essentially lets you play games on any device. It might be a phone or tablet, a netbook, or an older laptop or PC. Mac owners can potentially play PC games that aren’t released on their platform.

Cloud gaming services rely on a monthly subscription for access. Typically, you’ll get a few free games; while some require dedicated devices, these are cheaper than a current-gen games console. In most cases, video game streaming services offer mobile apps, meaning you can enjoy AAA games on almost any device.

Our guide to cloud gaming explains things in more detail.

Several cloud gaming platforms are available:

1. GeForce Now
2. PlayStation Now
3. Jump
4. Google Stadia
5. Project xCloud
6. Vortex
7. Shadow

You can sign up to these today—but which cloud gaming service is right for you? Read on to find out…

1. GeForce Now

GeForce Now is graphics chip designer Nvidia’s cloud-based gaming service for Windows, macOS, SHIELD TV, and Android devices.

GeForce Now lets you access your existing library of games on Steam, Origin, and other digital delivery platforms for PC. These are then streamed to the device running GeForce Now.

Available in North America and Europe, it has two membership levels: Free and Founders. Free members get standard access and one-hour sessions, while Founders pay $5/month for priority server access and extended sessions. These last for up to six hours, with priority access to the next server session. Founders also get RTX (hardware ray tracing), an enhanced graphical option.

A massive benefit of GeForce Now is that you keep the games you’ve bought if you cancel the service. This makes it almost unique among cloud gaming services.

2. PlayStation Now

For a monthly subscription of $9.99 you can play hundreds of PS4, PS3, and PS2 games on-demand with PlayStation Now.

Over 800 games can be streamed to a PS4 or PC. Just connect your Dualshock 4 controller via USB, install the PlayStation Now app on Windows, and you’re ready to play.

If you’re concerned about the cost, PlayStation Now offers a free trial. With such a large library of quality games to choose from (such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Horizon Zero Dawn) you’re going to be spoiled for choice. New titles are added every month.

3. Jump

AAA games not your thing? Jump might be the answer.

Designed to stream indie games to your computer for just $4.99/month (with a 14-day free trial), Jump adds new games monthly. 70 percent of the revenue supports indie game developers, with a selection of 100+ games across all genres.

“From roguelike dungeon crawlers, & artsy platformers to 8-bit narrative puzzlers, turn-based strategy games… we have it all.”

Jump is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

4. Google Stadia

Launched in late 2019, Stadia is Google’s offering to the cloud streaming market. It comes with some impressive features, such as 4K streaming at 60FPS and two free games a month for subscribers. Google Stadia includes a wireless controller and a Chromecast Ultra, geared towards minimal lag.

The Chromecast Ultra means that games can be streamed directly to your TV without additional hardware. That’s quite an advantage. Games can also be played on Android and PCs.

Costing $129 for access to the streaming service, a single wireless controller, and the Chromecast Ultra, only the Premiere Edition is currently available. This includes three months of Pro membership, after which the $9.99/month subscription kicks in. It’s expensive, but the results are stunning.

However, as good as the streaming quality is, initial set up is a little frustrating. Additionally, the selection of Google Stadia games available by early 2020 was worryingly modest. Questions over Google’s commitment to Stadia have been raised, following the tech giant’s habit of “fridging” projects.

Stadia has great technology behind it, the streaming is perfect on speeds over 40Mbps, but its long-term future is already in doubt.

For more on this game streaming service, check out our Google Stadia review.

5. Project xCloud

Developed by Microsoft, Project xCloud streams Xbox games to Android phones and tablets.

Over 50 games are included; all you need is a Bluetooth Xbox One controller. An optional gaming clip is also available for connecting your Android phone to the controller. Project xCloud primarily aims to deliver Xbox gaming to mobile devices—this requires 5Ghz Wi-Fi or 10Mbps mobile internet.

If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because Microsoft offers another game streaming solution, Xbox Console Streaming. This is also in preview, but only streams games across your home network from an Xbox console to Android.

Project xCloud is set to launch in late 2020. Before that happens, you can sign up for the preview period.

6. Vortex

A cloud service that aims to stream the best PC games, Vortex is available for Android, Windows 10, and macOS.

Three packages are available:

• $9.99 for the Basic 50 hours a month and 97 games
• $19.99 for Pro, with 80 hours and 178 games
• $29.99 for Ultra, offering 140 hours and 178 games

To use Vortex, you’ll need a 10Mbps domestic internet and a 5Ghz Wi-Fi router. 4G/LTE mobile internet is also supported.

Vortex supports PCs, tablets, and set-top boxes alike, making it a strong contender.

7. Shadow

A cloud PC gaming platform with dedicated storage, Shadow launches in mid-2020. Games and progress can be imported from Steam, Epic, Uplay, Battle.net, Origin, GOG, and many other digital delivery platforms.

This sets Shadow apart from other PC game streaming services, as does the price of $12.99/month. Shadow is available for Windows 7 and later, macOS 10.10 and later, Ubuntu 18.04 and later, along with Android 5.0+, iOS 11.0+, Android TV, and Apple TV.

Real-time statistics are on offer as you play, while the vast size of the library—games you already own—should guarantee you’ll never be bored.

But there’s a downside. Despite a strong platform, Shadow is expensive compared with PlayStation Now, GeForce Now, and Google Stadia.

Which of These Cloud Gaming Services Is Best?

The game streaming platform you choose may be informed by the devices you own. PlayStation and Xbox fans might prefer to stay within their existing ecosystems, while PC users may opt for GeForce Now. While Google Stadia arguably offers the best experience, it can be difficult to use.

Overall, we suspect GeForce Now will break through as the biggest and best cloud gaming service. But only time will tell. For now, cast your eyes over the details of each of these cloud gaming services, and choose the best one for you based on the cost and supported devices.

It should be noted that you can also stream games without subscribing to one of these services. So here’s how to play local co-op games online using Parsec.

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What Is an SEO Specialist and Could You Become One?

We use search engines every day to find the content spread all across the internet. As such, companies are in dire need of SEO specialists to help them. But what is SEO? How do you specialize in it?

Let’s break down these terms and explore if this job is right for you.

What Does SEO Mean?

To break down how someone specializes in SEO, we must first break apart what SEO means. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” a term related to making a website or webpage more “search engine friendly.” As XKCD has pointed out, no website wants to be the one on the second page of Google!

Have you ever wondered how a search engine selects which websites to show you first? You may have even seen some odd cases where the search engine prioritizes third-party websites over “the real thing.”

For example, if you look for tickets to Bermuda from Osprey Airlines, you may find the official airline’s website will be at the number five spot, with ticket booking websites sitting above it.

The reason some websites overtake others on the listings is due to their SEO. When a search engine has to decide what order of links to show a user, it considers which one will answer the user’s query best. As such, it will look for keywords related to what the user searched.

For example, let’s say you searched “Osprey Airlines flights to Bermuda” in the above example.  The official Osprey Airlines website may not have much information on Bermuda, so Google ranks it quite low.

Ticket booking websites will capitalize on this by making webpages specifically targeting Osprey Airline flights to Bermuda, and may even use the exact search term in the text.

Because the booking websites use the search terms on their website, the search engine considers those websites a better answer to your query than the official Osprey Airlines website. That’s why the third-party websites outdo the official one in listings.

What Is an SEO Specialist?

As you might have guessed, an SEO specialist is someone who understands how SEO works and uses this knowledge to boost website statistics. Companies hire them to promote their websites as high up the search rankings as possible and earn more clicks as a result.

SEO specialists have roots in marketing. They may need to write an article or a piece that contains specific keywords as dictated by the search engines. As such, good writing skills will help the specialist create content to boost the rankings.

SEO isn’t just about content creation, however. The specialist also builds the website in a way that plays nice with both visitors and search engines. As such, an SEO specialist will often need coding knowledge, specifically with languages that handle web development.

If you like the sound of an SEO specialist role but don’t want any of the pesky coding parts, look for job adverts that want an SEO writer or SEO copywriter instead. These are 100% focused on the writing aspect and don’t involve coding.

While an English degree or similar would be advantageous for these jobs, you could use your technical background to apply to IT-related businesses to show you know your stuff.

What Are the Requirements For an SEO Specialist?

Usually, an SEO specialist job will ask for a degree of any kind; however, your odds are better if your area of expertise is in technology. After all, one requirement is knowledge of languages such as HTML and JavaScript. Studying a degree that teaches you those languages will go a long way.

A job advertisement may also ask for prior experience. A company may directly ask for SEO experience, but some may only ask for experience creating websites. This requirement is another reason why a computing course is useful; pick one with a module in web design, and you’ll develop both the skills and a portfolio to show prospective employers.

As for your mindset, you need to toe the balance between logic and experimentation. You’ll have a wide range of tools to check what people are searching for and the best way to structure the website.

However, you’ll need to perform different tests to see which ones draw in the most clicks. It’s not a “one and done” job; it requires tweaking over a long time for the best results. If you want an idea of what kind of tools you’ll use, there are free tools to get the best keywords for your website.

Interestingly, according to PayScale, SEO specialists are a rare instance where the gender balance of a tech job is close to equal. The gender breakdown is around 55% men and 45% women, which is a lot more balanced than a typical programming job with a ratio of 84% male to 16% female. As such, an SEO specialist role is a good pick if you’re worried about gender bias.

What Is an SEO Specialist’s Salary?

According to PayScale, an SEO specialist earns around $45k a year at the time of writing. The minimum is about $33k, and the maximum is around $64k.

As is the case with jobs, experience does make a huge difference to pay rate. At the time of writing, someone who’s been in the business for a long time sees a 43% increase in salary, while first-timers get 13% less.

Where Do SEO Specialists Work?

SEO specialists can work in all kinds of locations. For instance, a company may hire one to be on-site, working at an office within the company’s building. Other businesses may choose instead to hire SEO specialists on a freelance basis, where the professional works from home.

Which route you prefer comes down to you. If you can’t imagine working without having others around you, you’ll be better off applying for in-office jobs. More introverted people will prefer the isolated nature of working from home.

Coming Technology and Work

If you have a head for technology and love marketing, an SEO specialist role may be perfect for you. It strikes a balance between creativity and logic, using both marketing and programming skills to help companies climb the search engine rankings.

If you want a technically-minded job, but programming makes you wince, try these tech jobs you can get without coding experience.

Read the full article: What Is an SEO Specialist and Could You Become One?

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Phylogenetic Tree

Phylogenetic Tree