Tutorial Assignment #11 - Final Exam Review: Apps

Tutorial Assignment #11 - Apps

The word app came from application software. Apps are designed to help the user perform a specific task. A lot of apps are made available for smartphone and tablets and those are called mobile apps. In order to create a really good app, the user interface needs to look really good, target a specific audience and it doesn’t make people want to delete it after they try it out. Really popular mobile apps include Flappy Bird, Angry Birds and Candy Crush. Individuals and organizations like to create apps because it can help them reach a broader audience, reach new people and provide information and market research. There is a website called Appy Pie and it is rated #1 mobile app builder in the world. After the app is created, there are many ways to promote and market the mobile app. Some strategies include: shortening the URL, generating a QR code, promote using social media, submit the app to review sites, target publications that think they will find the app useful, YouTube and use forums to post regularly to topics that are connected or similar to the app. 

Final Project - Google Instant

Google Instant

Google Instant is also an extremely effective way of coming across information in rapid succession. As you are just typing in your search query you may find under the search box google will predict your search and complete your unfinished sentence, phrase or word. Google Instant is much like a digital connection with your mind and individuality as a person. It becomes part of you and an extension of yourself that knows what you want automatically. It is amazing how accurate instant search is and you may find yourself never completing a full query when searching as there is no need. This ability really transcends the whole idea of research and makes you one with the digital realm. By predicting your search while typing this results in faster searches up to 2-5 seconds each time. It will also give you many options of searches that might have been better than what you had in mind. I.e. a better way of saying it or providing a search if you didn’t have a complete grasp on what you wanted to research. This is essential and should be used to work more efficiently and also clean up search results and get access to the digital world in a matter of a couple of seconds

Final Project - Advanced Search

Advanced Search

Google is an extremely powerful search engine but you need to know how to maximize it’s efficiency through advanced search methods that will help you increase chances of your discovery of knowledge much more effectively. I will now go over the specific commands and functions that are needed to achieve a refined search. Google operators are needed to be used as commands to omit and narrow down your search and get rid of the other material that is less relevant. Google operators are essentially search terms and here are some of the most useful ones that you should know to maximize your access to quality material.

-define: 

use the operator “define:” followed by the words of your choice to give you the definition of it

i.e. define: classical

-filetype:

use “filetype:” followed by the file extension then by the word

i.e. filetype:pdf fine art painting

-site:

“site:” to only search the content in that specific website

i.e. site:ryerson.ca photography

-double quotation:

putting words in the double quote will search for exact phrases and the phrase as a whole

i.e. “Rosie Hardy” 

-allinurl:

only provides results with the words that appear in the page url

i.e. allineurl:paint

-related:

will list searches in which are similar to a specific web page

Final Project - Effective Search

Effective Search

Google syntax is important in everyday lives. Whether it is for a student who is doing a research essay or just a regular day to day person trying to look for something on Google, learning how to search effectively and efficiently is important. It can save you lots of time because key words are the key when doing a Google search. When we use the right words, we will be able to find the information much faster. Learning how to do an effective search is a powerful skill. Think about all those times where we went to Google to search for something. Once we understand the way search engines work, we have the ability to look for information quickly, effectively and more relevant to the search. Like all of us, when the correct results don’t show up, it can get frustrating. Learning how to find the right combination of phrases and keywords is difficult. Looking through Google’s search guide will help you do a more effective search with the suggested methods.

Here are some tips to do an effective search:

1.    Keep it short

2.    Use quotes

3.    Search a website

4.    Search a domain extension

5.    Tell the search engine what you don’t want and be specific about it

6.    Use OR between words

7.    Avoid using synonyms

8.    Do a specialty search

For a more detail information visit this website.

Final Project - Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the short form of search engine optimization and it refers to a method that people utilize to help their content increase to the front page on Google or other search engines. There are two techniques: black hat and white hat. Black hat refers to a system that is against the standard rules and practices. White hat refers to a system that is considered moral and encouraged. No matter which technique people use, Google doesn’t like SEO because Google wants to focus more on developing their own algorithms to help deliver better quality content. Google suggests that instead of using SEO strategies, they recommend web users to create good quality content, update their websites daily and follow Google’s own “Webmaster Guidelines”. When web users are trying to build their content, the best thing to do is post good content, post frequently and create links with other members of the same community. Another strategy is to have a guest blog because it can help their website rise in a Google search especially with another name added as a tag. Being able to social with other members in the community is a great way to help build engagement and exposure without relying on Google. Another important strategy is to have good quality photographs. This is important because every web user will want to see images that are in focus. It is always good to have more images uploaded than to have not enough. Here is a link to 8 SEO stats that are hard to ignore.

Final Project - Why Use Google?

Why Use Google?

Google is the leading search tool on the Internet today. Not only is it the best web search engine, it also includes features such as image search, map, news and much more. Google is fast, appropriate and the largest single catalogue of web pages made available today. As shown here, this website has a list of top 15 most popular search engines. It is made up of over 60 trillion individual pages and it is constantly continuing to grow bigger and bigger. Google searches the web by crawling. It means that we follow links from page to page. As searchers we sort each page by their content and other factors. All of the contents are kept tracked of in the index which is over 100 million gigabytes. Then, Google write programs and formulas to distribute the top results possible. As we begin to search, algorithms look for clues to get a better understanding of what we mean. This includes different search methods, spelling, auto complete words, phrases or sentences, synonyms and query understanding. Based on all those clues, Google brings up relevant documents from their index. Each result is ranked based on the quality of the site and page, how fresh the page looks, safe search, user context, worldwide search and translation. Every webpage may include spam and Google works hard to fight them to help keep our results relevant to our search. Most of the spam is removed automatically. Every time we type something into the Google search bar, it goes through these steps. What’s even better is that all these steps happen in 1/8^th of a second. 

Tutorial Assignment #10 - Piktochart

Six Visual Solutions To Complex Digital Marketing/Analytics Challenges blog by Avinash Kaushik