The 10 Chrome extensions you need most

On its own, Chrome is a pretty fantastic browser, but extensions increase its potential exponentially.

So, what are extensions, exactly? Essentially, they're small programs that add extra functionality to your web browser. For Chrome, there are thousands of available extensions which perform a huge variety of functions — everything from extensions that automatically find shopping coupons, to extensions that make your computer run faster. A visit to the Chrome Web Store Extensions page can be overwhelming, so we're going to simplify things for you.

SEE ALSO: 8 climate change apps every tech-savvy advocate needs to download

For Chrome newbies, consider this your extensions starter pack. If you're a Chrome power user, you'll no doubt be familiar with some of these, but you might learn about some you've never heard of before. Once you try any one of these extensions, you won't know how you lived without them.

1. The Great Suspender

If you install but one extension on this list, make it The Great Suspender. As great as Chrome is, it's a bit of a memory hog, which contributes to slower performance and poor battery life for laptop users. This magical extension pauses unused tabs after a user-specified amount of time, saving precious RAM.

If you have a computer with, say, 4GB of RAM or less, this extension will change — and by "change" we mean "speed up" — your life.

2. LastPass

The problem with passwords is that you have too many of them. For that reason, you probably make them all the same or similar, which is easier to remember, but less secure. LastPasssolves both of these problems. It generates and remembers nearly impossible-to-crack passwords for each site that requires a login, all managed through one master password you choose.

LastPass had a security vulnerability earlier this summer (user passwords are encrypted, though, so those were safe), but until a truly more secure method of authentication is determined (think biometrics), it's still the best solution.

3. Giphy

Like emoji, GIFs have become an essential part of the Internet zeitgeist, but it can be a pain to find the exact one to impress all your friends with your vast internet skills. Giphy makes that a lot simpler by integrating a simple Gif search tool right in your browser.

4. Feedly

With the death of Google Reader in 2013, Feedly quickly rose to take up Reader's mantle. For news junkies and those who need to keep up with a particular subject area, Feedly is essential. It compiles all your favorite sources into categorized feeds and a small icon at the bottom right of each page lets you add a feed to Feedly. It's RSS, but better.

5. Grammarly

Grammarly is spell check, but better. It offers contextual spell check and grammar advice, so if you're the sort to get your "its" and "it's" mixed up (definitely not this reporter nope no way), this extension will save you scores of embarrassment. If you're willing to shell out for a premium Grammarly membership, the extension will even suggest better vocab and check for plagiarism.

6. UBlock Origin

Sometimes you just need to turn down the noise. UBlock Origin isn't the most popular ad blocking extension, but it doesn't require much memory to run and lets users specify which sites they want ads blocked on and which they don't. The big power button icon you see when you click on the extension stops ad blocking on the site you're viewing, but automatically turns it back on when you go to a different site.

7. HTTPS Everywhere

For those who value security — and if you don't, you should — HTTPS Everywhere is a must-install. This Extension, created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, switches every HTTP website to load over a more secure HTTPS connection.

8. Honey

Do you ever get the sinking suspicion you're not getting the best deals shopping online?Honey fixes that. When you go to check out at an online shop, it automatically searches for coupon codes and applies them, saving you precious cash. 

9. Save to Pocket

This is one of many "save for later" services, but Pocket is one of the most popular and highly recommended of them all. If you see a great article you won't have time to read when you find it, a click on the Pocket icon saves it for later. It's cross-platform, and you can even tag things you save, which is excellent for the hyper-organized.

10. Milennials to Snake People

Because it's not all about "productivity" — aren't you tired of the seemingly endless stream of baseless hot takes about millennials? Millenials to Snake People is the extension you need and deserve. As the title suggests, this extension changes any usage of "millennials" into "snake people." But wait! There's more: it also changes "millennial generation" to "snake person generation," "Generation Y" to "Serpent Society" and "digital natives" into "Parseltounges."

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Google Turns On Safe Browsing In Chrome For Android

Google’s Safe Browsing technology is now enabled by default on Android to protect mobile Chrome users from accessing phishing sites and web pages that harbor malware.

Until now, Safe Browsing was only available to desktop users, as well as for Chrome users on Android who turned on Google’s optional data compression service. Indeed, for those mobile users, Safe Browsing has already been enabled for almost two years.

So why did it take Google so long to enable this feature for all of its mobile users on Android? According to the company, it’s far harder to keep a long list of potentially harmful sites on a mobile device than on the desktop. With the data compression service, all your unencrypted web traffic is routed through Google’s servers, where Google can then easily check URLs against its blacklist. On mobile, it’s not that easy.

“Bytes are big: our mantra is that every single bit that Safe Browsing sends a mobile device must improve protection,” Google’s Safe Browsing team members Noé Lutz, Nathan Parker, and Stephan Somogyi said in today’s announcement. “Network bandwidth and battery are the scarcest resources on a mobile device, so we had to carefully rethink how to best protect mobile users. Some social engineering attacks only happen in certain parts of the world, so we only send information that protects devices in the geographic regions they’re in.”

Google says it made sure it didn’t just minimize network traffic but also optimized the service for low memory and processor usage.

With this update, Google says, the company is extending this protection to “hundreds of millions of Chrome users on Android” (there are a total of over 800 million mobile Android users, but that number also includes iOS users).

If you’re a Chrome user on Android, chances are you already use Safe Browsing. Google enabled this with its latest Google Play Services update. Chrome quietly started supporting it in version 46 (thanks to Google’s quick update cadence, the browser is now already on version 47). To check if you’re already using it, just head over to the Settings -> Privacy menu in Chrome on Android. Because it’s essentially a Google Play service, other browsers on the platform can also enable Safe Browsing for their users.

To make sure it’s working, head over to Google’s Safe Browsing test site.

5 Tips for Successful SEO Marketing and Yes, Quality Content Is Still King

Did you know that only one out of four people goes past Page one of Google search results? Most searchers are only willing to look through the results on the first page. They are also more likely to be satisfied with what they find from those results.

This goes on to tell you one thing - how you rank matters a lot because it determines how much traffic you get from search engines. So how do you improve your SE ranking? Through SEO!

Search Engine Optimization is crucial to your website/blog.

This list contains five of the most important tips for enhancing SEO success:

1. Post Quality Content on a Regular Basis

One of the most important parts of SEO is content. Search engines are focused on giving searchers the most relevant results. Thus, they "sift" through the different sites to get the best results. Your content should not only be relevant but authentic. Using other people's content will only get you penalized. Therefore, focus on fresh relevant content and post on a regular basis.

2. Make Sure Your Content has Proof Terms

Search engines like Google are determined to provide the best experience for searchers. Therefore, they constantly improve their algorithms for best semantic search. Hence, proof terms. These are terms related to the keywords. For instance, searching a movie title could bring back results with different character names or soundtracks.

3. Make Use of Social Media

To provide the best results, search engines can also analyze your social media presence to determine how much engagement your content gets. Therefore, it is important to promote the content you write and post.

4. Optimize Your Site for Mobile Devices

More and more people are using mobile devices like tablets and smartphones to access the internet. You don't want to lose all this traffic by not having a mobile-optimized website. Search engines will also look at this when giving back results.

5. Improve on Speed and Navigation

Research shows that 27% of people aged between 18 and 34 years will bounce (leave) if a site loads for more than a second. As you work to keep this 27%, it is also important to improve navigation between the different pages on your site. This is in an attempt to reduce user frustration and bounce rate.

Final Word

Quality content still matters when it comes to SEO. However, as important as regular posting is important, the quality is what matters most. Also, do not just focus on keywords but also on proof terms as some of the searchers will not search for the exact keyword or phrase. They will search for terms associated with the keyword.

Social media is also an important aspect of SEO and your site needs to be easily accessible through mobile devices. Last but not least, time is money and speed really does matter. Invest in your site to make it as responsive as possible while maintaining easy navigation.

Why Are Long Tail Keywords Important for SEO?

Many websites are usually thrown up in haste by their owners, without much consideration given to correctly optimising their content. They do some quick research into what keywords they should target based upon the product they wish to sell or niche they want to write about.

More times than not, the resultant keywords they decide to use are what we call short tail keywords e.g. Nike shoes, coffee machines, baby strollers etc.

These key phrases get millions of searches each month and to a novice, light up dollar signs in their eyes.

The problem with this, is, that the keyword phrases they have decided upon are not really buyer keywords but more generic and really not that great for optimisation of their content. Also they would be competing against big corporations who have been around for decades and have a great big advertising budget.

You might think that the more searches conducted for a keyword phrase will drive more traffic to your website or blog.

This can not be further from the TRUTH... !

However, in this article I will explain why this is not so and why you should be using long tail keywords for SEO (search engine optimisation).

• Long tail keywords

Long tail keywords are keyword phrases that have a 'tail' contributed to the organic keywords entered in an online search which your site visitors make use of (or ask inquiries) when searching the internet whether they are simply looking for info or to acquire your particular service or product.

Short tail key phrases are generally no more than 1 or 2 words. Long-tail key words are generally a lot longer, but far more importantly, they're likewise a lot more specific.

• So! What is a Long-tail Keyword?

As mentioned above these keywords are expressions hooked up to your main topic. Long tail keywords have a lot less competition as people rule them out due to not enough individuals doing a search for that particular set of words. They are a lot simpler to target and constantly produce more buyer friendly web website traffic.

Unlike conventional key words (coffee machines or Nike trainers), long-tail key word expressions are usually 3 words or more and usually no more than 5. They are a direct connection to a keyword phrase that an individual would type into a search engine (Google, Bing or Yahoo) which will aid in narrowing down their search. These keyword phrases are what you should concentrate on and use when optimising your site's content.

By using Long-tail key words, you will drastically increase the likelihood of your potential customer being a buyer. This is compared to using short-tail keywords which will create more search results but not necessarily produce buyers.

• Long tail keywords examples

Try typing "coffee machines" into a search engine, it will return about 16 million sites, but if you type "isomac coffee machines Australia", only 18 thousand sites are returned. 18 thousand search results are still a bit too high. Other experts may go as far to say that the returning search results of 18 thousand is OK. It does go to show that by using more specific keywords, you can cut the competition and improve your chances.

My personal recommendation and preference is to look for search results in the region of three hundred to eight thousand. Now this may not always be the case. If you are looking at local searches then these figures would become irrelevant and you could be looking at just a few hundred searches.

As a rule of thumb, when deciding to using local searches anything below 50 searches a month is not worth going after.

It is less complicated to get a first page ranking as well as obtaining web traffic with long tail key word phrases, as compared to short tailed, less specific keyword phrases.

• Other Long tail examples:

• baby wrap carrier Australia

• types of tea without caffeine

• caffeine free tea types

• cheap Nike shoes wholesale free shipping

• Long tail keywords SEO (search engine optimisation)

Targeting Long Tail phrases is a must for SEO purposes and also to help you get your business or blog indexed faster, as a result of fewer competitors and it's more than likely you get seen by the right audience i.e. customers who are ready to buy from you. You should also use this strategy for your site's content, your blog, your videos, your website design, as well as your off page optimization strategies.

• Long-tail SEO Strategy

Search Engines are becoming ever more personalised which is why it is very important to focus on long-tail keywords in your SEO campaigns.

• How To Find Long Tail Keywords For SEO?

There are many different ways of locating long tail keywords. You could possibly use keyword research tools or you can even spy on your competition to come up with unique keywords that no one is using.

Below are some the tools I use to find long tail keywords:

• Google Keyword Tool

• Google Auto Complete Tool

• Using Google Search

• Google Auto-suggest

Finally, when conducting research into which keywords you are going to use, remember that you should be eyeing phases which encompass between 3 to 5 words related to your main topic. They are narrow and buyer specific. And lastly have fewer searches.

I hope this clarifies what long tail keywords are and why they are need for your search engine optimization (SEO).

5 Simple Tips To Get Your Website To The Top Of Google

People are more likely to visit your website if it appears at the top of the Google search results. The procedure of getting your website to rank well on Google, without having to pay Google any money to put you there, is known as search engine optimization (SEO). These organic search results are produced when someone types something into Google that is relative to your website. So how do you get your website to the top of Google? Here are 5 simple tips.

1. Your Keywords

Your keywords are the most important factor to help you get your website to the top of Google. These are the words that someone will type into Google when they are looking for information, products or service related to your online business. There is a high level of competition for basic one word keywords so if you use specific keyword phrases of two words or more you are more likely to get on the front page of Google.

2. Update Your Content On a Regular Basis

When someone types a word or phrase into Google, it will search its index and provide results with the most relevant web pages listed first. Google wants to deliver its users with the latest information. If your website content has not been kept up to date for months, it may be regarded as no longer relevant.

3. Use Keyword Descriptions On Your Images

Despite the fact that Google can't 'read' images, it can read the descriptions that you give the pictures, images and photographs on your website. An 'alt image tag' are the words that your website visitor sees when they move their cursor over an image on your website. Google can also read those words so ensure you label your images with your keyword.

4. Links To And From Your Website

The links that go to and from your website to other websites is seen bu Google as a sign of the reputation and value of the content on your website. To get your website to the top of Google you need to have links from quantity websites to your website. Also create links from your website to these reputable websites. Additionally, link to other pages in your website using a keyword as the anchor text. Anchor text are the highlighted words that when clicked, will link to a specific webpage.

5. Publish Content That People Will Find Useful

Even if your website does get to the top of Google, if somebody doesn't click on it, then you really have achieved nothing. Your website has to provide useful information for people to actually be able to read and understand. Ensure your meta deception text encourages people to click on your link. This is the line of text listed below the title of your page when it's listed on Google. Despite the fact that it does not help to get your website on the front page of Google, these words that could make the difference between somebody clicking or not.

What Qualities to Look for in an SEO Expert

Whether you own a small business or a large, if its revenue, marketing, and sales depends majorly upon web traffic, then you either need to master the skills of SEO or need to hire someone who is an expert in this.

The website of your company might look excellent, with several multimedia sizzles, but everything is useless until your website is constantly attracting visitors and transforming them into real-time customers. To make your website work effectively and attract more and more visitors, you need to hire SEO experts. This is because only qualified people and experts can review your website, know the goals of your business, target visitors and find strategies that will improve the rank of your website. But before hiring them, you must look for some special qualities and characteristics, which are highly essential.

Here are some of the most prominent elements that you must look within an SEO expert before hiring him.

Years of Experience in This Field

These days, opening an agency for Search Engine Optimization is not a big deal; anybody can do that overnight and call themselves an expert. But this doesn't mean that they will be able to work efficiently, without creating any troublesome situation for business owners. SEO comprises of several little things, which plays a big role in establishing a company's rank. Years of experience in this profession transform a professional into an Expert.

To succeed in business, every company needs an expert guidance. People with years of experience in his profession can only work upon your website and help it gain more traffic.

Great Understanding of 3 SEO Levels:

There are three levels:

• Technical
• Off-page optimization
• On-page Optimization

It's very obvious that you will not look for SEO experts who are one-dimensional; rather you would look for someone who would effectively approach their tactics in various angles.

Records of Their Success:

Talking about SEO and sharing information about their importance and usage is much easier these days, as there are millions of blogs available on the web, which shares basic information about SEO and its advantages. Hence, you should never rely upon the words of the experts you are about to hire. Ask them to prove their authenticity and give you enough references, which you can cross check.

These are some qualities that you must look within an SEO expert. Apart from these, there are several others qualities that one can look inside experts before hiring them for your company.

Top 10 Free Antivirus Software for Windows

After talking about premium antivirus software, now it’s time to talk about their free counterparts. You might know many of these antivirus software, but here is the list of best free antiviruses. Before we start, remember that these versions do not offer the same protection as their paid versions. They don’t have all the features of afull paid antivirus and do not do as good of a job, so I won’t compare them with those versions, but from a free antivirus perspective. If you like an antivirus and the protection it gives, support the developers and buy the product.

1. Avast! Free Antivirus

Meeting again with Avast!, but now, in spotlight is the Free Avast! Antivirus. This is, in my opinion, the best free antivirus available. In the free version, all you have to do is register (for free) once a year and you get top notch protection on your computer, emails, downloads and IMs. It has a powerful heuristics engine that allows it to find almost every virus around. The experience gathered over the years (since 1988) by its developers shows really well in Avast!

2. Panda Cloud Antivirus

I must admit that Panda antivirus does not differentiate itself from other free antivirus software in any way when it comes to protection. It offers the same level of detection from viruses, trojan, spyware, adware, worms and malware and its features are not that specific. The thing that made Panda Cloud Antivirus the second position in my list is the fact that it is, as the name suggests, Cloud based. What that means, is that when you scan your computer, it doesn’t use resources from your computer, but it operates in the cloud, keeping your computer working as normal.

3. Microsoft Security Essentials

I know Microsoft is new to the internet safety game, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t develop a great antivirus. Microsoft Security Essentials is a great antivirus, it’s incredible easy to use and it’s absolutely free! It updates automatically and, being produces by Microsoft, it actively interacts with Windows and it’s perfectly integrated in the operating system.

4. Avira AntiVir Personal Edition

Avira is another example of a really good free antivirus program that has very much to offer. Excellent protection, user friendly and it consumes next to nothing from your resources. I’ve used it for some time and must say I’m really happy with the results. It detects most threats and it works in silence in the background. It’s perfect for laptops and netbooks, but also for your own personal computer.

5. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG is again on our list of best antivirus programs, this time, the free version. This antivirus works great and its top notch detection stats are impressive. If you are looking for a really good free antivirus, with cool features, like link scanner and email scanner, than you should definitely try AVG Anti-Virus, it’s one of the best.

6. Comodo Antivirus

Comodo Antivirus is a fairly good antivirus program. After making all the steps in installing it (it requires some extra steps from your usual antivirus), I saw a nice looking antivirus with a detection rate of up to 90% and a resolving percentage of 60%, but I recommend to use in parallel with another antivirus that provides more cleaning power. Its detection engine is really good, but you might think of getting another software if you want to clean your infected files.. Those numbers are what makes Comodo come on our list of best free antivirus programs.

7. Immunet Protect FREE

This is a fairly good antivirus, much like Panda Cloud Antivirus, it works in the cloud, keeping your computer working free. It offers really good protection against bots, worms, viruses, trojans, keyloggers, and spyware, so a full protection. This was a surprise, but Immunet is a really good antivirus and it has my thumbs up and recommendation for anyone who wants to try it.

8. PC Tools AntiVirus Free

PC Tools AntiVirus is one of the most basic antivirus programs you will find. It has some features, but don’t get excited. I featured it in this list because it is still better than other free antivirus software, but not by much. If you are not an avid internet browser, and more of the type that only sends emails, it will get the job done, but any more than that, I recommend something stronger.

9. Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes is 9th on our list because it doesn’t run in background, so no real time protection and it cannot protect you in real time. Technically, it is not an antivirus. But, the reason it is on our list is because when you run into a problem with malware or worms, trojans and such and your top of the line antivirus can’t handle it, all you have to do is run Malwarebytes and the problem is solved. This little program can handle anything you throw at it. I recommend keeping it on a USB flash drive and when your computer crashes, try giving it a scan in safe mode with this program, it might just save you from a “format C:/”.

10. ClamWin Free Antivirus

ClamWin Free Antivirus is not the best free antivirus. Although you may know it from the Linux version (CalmAV), this is more a basic tool that you use to scan your computer. The reason ClamWin is at the bottom of the list are: no real time protection, lack of features and a little tricky to use. But, on the other side, it does make a really good detecting tool and it doesn’t use many resources.

Keep in mind, the system I tested all these antivirus programs is an Intel i5 750@ 3.5 GHz with 4 GB of DDR3 Memory. Try to find out if these powerful antivirus programs will work well on your systems, as some require lots of horsepower.

There you go, top best antivirus software around. But keep in mind, there is another antivirus that is better than all of those put together! Do not click on suspicious ads or links, do not open spam mail or add in your IM list bots or people who you don’t know. And most important of all, update your antivirus on a regular basis and don’t think just because you have an antivirus software installed you’re protected and you can do whatever you want on the web, be on the guard and help your antivirus, your in this together!