# Coywolf

> Coywolf publishes news, guides, product reviews, and newsletters focused on modern web technologies and strategies to help tech enthusiasts, marketers, developers, and entrepreneurs adapt and thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Each link below points at the Markdown source of a page, so an agent can read the content directly.

## Pages

- [Essential Support Data Processing Addendum](https://coywolf.com/essential-support-dpa/index.html.md)
- [Terms of Use](https://coywolf.com/terms-of-use/index.html.md)
- [Privacy Policy](https://coywolf.com/privacy-policy/index.html.md)
- [About Coywolf](https://coywolf.com/about/index.html.md)
- [Coywolf Files: A WordPress plugin to upload files to Cloudflare R2 or Amazon S3 so visitors can download them from posts](https://coywolf.com/apps/coywolf-files/index.html.md): Coywolf Files is a WordPress plugin to upload files to Cloudflare R2 or Amazon S3 and present them as customizable, downloadable file blocks in posts and pages.
- [Coywolf Search: A fast, tunable full-text search engine for WordPress](https://coywolf.com/apps/coywolf-search/index.html.md): Replace WordPress's slow LIKE search with a full-text engine featuring BM25 ranking, fuzzy and prefix matching, and per-post-type control.
- [Coywolf Video Manager: A WordPress plugin for managing Cloudflare Stream videos](https://coywolf.com/apps/coywolf-video-manager/index.html.md): Coywolf Video Manager is a WordPress plugin for managing Cloudflare Stream videos, auto-generating VideoObject Schema markup and XML sitemaps, and adding likes, views, and upload dates.
- [Coywolf SEO: An essential WordPress plugin for optimizing your site for search](https://coywolf.com/apps/coywolf-seo/index.html.md)
- [Custom Blocks: Easily create and use custom blocks in WordPress](https://coywolf.com/apps/coywolf-custom-blocks/index.html.md)
- [Interesting finds submission](https://coywolf.com/interesting-finds-submission/index.html.md)
- [Testimonials](https://coywolf.com/testimonials/index.html.md)
- [Coywolf apps](https://coywolf.com/apps/index.html.md): Explore Coywolf apps including Progressive Web Apps, the Recollect notes app, WordPress plugins, Coywolf Search, and the Coywolf Video Manager.
- [Why we have no display ads](https://coywolf.com/partnerships/index.html.md)
- [Jon Henshaw](https://coywolf.com/jon-henshaw/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw is the Editor at Coywolf News, a 30-year internet marketing veteran, Raven Tools co-founder, app creator, and current Yahoo Director of Audience Management.
- [Submit a tip](https://coywolf.com/submit-tip/index.html.md)
- [Policies and Standards](https://coywolf.com/policies-and-standards/index.html.md)
- [Feedback submitted](https://coywolf.com/feedback-submitted/index.html.md)
- [Federated SEOs](https://coywolf.com/federated-seos/index.html.md)
- [coywolf.surf submission](https://coywolf.com/surf/index.html.md)
- [Contact](https://coywolf.com/contact/index.html.md)

## Posts

- [Google is feeding rank trackers poisoned SERPs with swapped results, Nozzle finds](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/rank-trackers-getting-poisoned-serps-from-google/index.html.md): New Nozzle research shows Google has been serving rank trackers normal-looking SERPs with the results swapped out, and 8.4% of SERPs have come back poisoned since September 13.
- [Lexica Ultralegible is a new font for low-vision readers based on Atkinson Hyperlegible](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/lexica-ultralegible-is-a-new-font-for-low-vision-readers-based-on-atkinson-hyper/index.html.md): Lexica Ultralegible builds on the Braille Institute's Atkinson Hyperlegible with 589 glyphs per font, support for 102 languages, standard ligatures, updated kerning, and an alternative zero, and it's free under the Open Font License.
- [This developer rebuilt his entire website using Swift](https://coywolf.com/notes/this-developer-rebuilt-his-entire-website-using-swift/index.html.md): Sorhus generates static HTML and CSS with the Elementary library and his own small framework using Swift as the compiler.
- [Anthropic research warns AI worms could replicate across cheap IoT devices](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/anthropic-research-warns-ai-worms-could-replicate-across-cheap-iot-devices/index.html.md): Anthropic projects small models could self-replicate across IoT devices by the end of 2026.
- [5 Modern Web Guidance updates that matter most for PWAs](https://coywolf.com/notes/5-modern-web-guidance-updates-that-matter-most-for-pwa-developers/index.html.md): Google's Modern Web Guidance skills for coding agents went from v0.0.186 to v0.0.193, adding guides for PWA origin migration, browser UI theming, bfcache-safe caching, IME-safe Enter submits, and Web Components.
- [Critical internet software is still maintained by just 1 or 2 people](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/critical-internet-software-is-still-maintained-by-just-one-or-two-people/index.html.md): Analysis of 23 projects that phones, browsers, and servers rely on found that 11 had only one or two people doing the regular work, and many of those maintainers get little or no public funding.
- [MacPaw releases CleanMyMac CLI for cleaning developer and AI environments on macOS](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/macpaw-releases-cleanmymac-cli-for-cleaning-developer-and-ai-environments-on-macos/index.html.md): MacPaw launches CleanMyMac CLI, a command-line tool for macOS that cleans developer caches, build artifacts, and AI coding junk. Now in beta, installable via Brew.
- [You can now chat using RSS](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/you-can-now-chat-using-rss-well-sort-of/index.html.md): Dave Winer, creator of RSS 2.0, built RSS Chat using open web standards to create a simple way to chat and follow conversations.
- [AI Alt Text for the Fediverse: Browser extension for generating image alt text on Mastodon](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/ai-alt-text-for-the-fediverse-chrome-extension/index.html.md): Privacy-first browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, that adds an AI alt-text button to Mastodon's composer, using your own Claude API key to autofill accessible image descriptions.
- [Link Manager: WordPress plugin for efficiently managing, fixing, updating, and removing links](https://coywolf.com/notes/link-manager-wordpress-plugin/index.html.md): Coywolf Link Checker is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that checks internal and external broken and redirected links, with inline editing, removal, and replacement. It supports scheduled auto-scans with email notifications and configurable scan speed, user roles, and custom user agents.
- [Panic announces Transmit 6: Here's everything that's new](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/first-look-at-transmit-6-by-panic/index.html.md): Panic has announced Transmit 6, a major upgrade to its file transfer app after years in maintenance mode. It features a redesigned interface, persistent activity view, the return of Transmit Disk for mounting remote shares in Finder, scheduled syncs, and a faster sync engine.
- [A plugin to reset the WordPress plugin update cache](https://coywolf.com/notes/a-plugin-to-reset-the-wordpress-plugin-update-cache/index.html.md): A free, open source WordPress plugin that solves the frustrating problem of WordPress caching plugin update checks for up to 12 hours. The plugin clears the cache, allowing developers to update and test new iterations without manually uploading them to the server.
- [Code Block Enhancer: Syntax highlighter and code copier plugin for native WordPress code blocks](https://coywolf.com/notes/code-block-enhancer-syntax-highlighter-and-code-copier-plugin-for-native-wordpress-code-blocks/index.html.md): Coywolf Code Block Enhancer is a lightweight, open-source WordPress plugin built with Claude's help that brings performant syntax highlighting to native code blocks.
- [WordPress 7 breaks Classic theme post edit styles; here's how to fix it](https://coywolf.com/notes/wordpress-7-breaks-classic-theme-post-edit-styles-heres-how-to-fix-it/index.html.md): After upgrading to WordPress 7.0, custom Classic theme styles disappear entirely from the Post editor, leaving unstyled text and browser defaults, though a fix is available.
- [1Password clarifies how they're using AI after users raise concerns](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/1password-clarifies-how-theyre-using-ai-after-users-raise-concerns/index.html.md): 1Password's April 2026 blog post about using AI to refactor internal code sparked backlash from users worried about security, prompting a follow-up clarification that the AI work involved only internal operational systems, not customer vaults or cryptographic protections, and that all changes went through standard engineering review.
- [Cloudflare ruined WARP's UX](https://coywolf.com/notes/cloudflare-ruined-warps-ux/index.html.md): Cloudflare WARP replaced its simple, joy-inducing menu bar modal with a large utilitarian settings window, losing the compact single-purpose design that apps like Ubiquiti's UniFi Endpoint still get right.
- [Google AI search experiences will soon show more links to websites](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-ai-search-experiences-will-soon-show-more-open-web-links/index.html.md): Google's AI Overviews, AI Mode, and other AI search results will start returning more links to sites relevant to queries and chat prompts.
- [You don't need MCP or Markdown to make sites agentic-friendly](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-says-you-dont-need-mcp-or-markdown-to-make-your-site-agentic-friendly/index.html.md): Google reps say AI agents only need well-coded semantic HTML, good accessibility, and clean rendering to comprehend and interact with sites.
- [Coding high performance sites](https://coywolf.com/notes/coding-high-performance-sites/index.html.md): I just updated my wife’s single-page site for her color consultancy business, Perfect Palette Design. Her site, which I hand-coded, encompasses everything I recommend: Semantic HTML, image optimizations, Schema.org markup, minimal CSS, and no JavaScript.
- [Adding author context to RSS](https://coywolf.com/notes/adding-author-context-to-rss/index.html.md): RSS, ATOM, and JSON feeds may be getting a much-needed update to the spec with the addition of Byline, which provides structured identity for syndication feeds.
- [The app that changed everything](https://coywolf.com/notes/the-app-that-changed-everything/index.html.md): I remember the first time I used the World Wide Web. I was in college, and the computers in the library had just installed the first multimedia browser, Mosaic. The idea that anyone anywhere in the world could publish content and make it instantly accessible to anyone was mind-blowing to me.
- [What would a LinkedIn alternative look like on the open web?](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/what-would-a-linkedin-alternative-look-like-on-the-open-web/index.html.md): LinkedIn is a centralized, career-focused social platform that many feel they must be on, whether they like it or not. But what if there was a better way? One that didn't control your feed, that respected your privacy, wasn't full of cringeworthy posts, and was completely open?
- [Fathom Analytics acquires Gauges from ReportGarden](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/exclusive-fathom-analytics-acquires-gauges-from-reportgarden/index.html.md): ReportGarden sold its analytics platform, Gauges, to Fathom Analytics. Fathom will leverage its experience in creating a GA4 importer to migrate Gauges' historical site data to its real-time, privacy-first analytics platform, providing Gauges' customers with a viable path forward.
- [Mastodon will get end-to-end encryption for private messages thanks to Sovereign Tech Agency](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-to-get-end-to-end-encryption-and-other-features-thanks-to-sovereign-tech-agency/index.html.md): The Sovereign Tech Agency, commissioned by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has awarded hundreds of thousands of Euros to Mastodon to address key infrastructure challenges faced within the fediverse ecosystem.
- ['TinyStart' is the Spotlight Search alternative I've always wanted](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/tinystart-is-the-spotlight-search-alternative-ive-always-wanted/index.html.md): TinyStart is a fast, minimalist launcher for macOS that focuses on the essentials: opening apps, folders, links, and search engines.
- [I switched from Synology to the UNAS 4 for home file sharing and backups, and have zero regrets](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/i-switched-from-synology-to-the-unas-4-for-home-file-sharing-and-backups-and-have-zero-regrets/index.html.md): Ubiquiti's new UniFi network-attached storage device, UNAS 4, is a stylish, quiet, and fast 4-drive NAS designed for home offices. It's ideal for file sharing, Time Machine backups, and off-site cloud backups, but it can't run third-party apps like Synology and QNAP, and that's fine.
- [Why Claude has my attention](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/why-claude-has-my-attention/index.html.md): Claude outperforms every other chatbot in accuracy and its use of open web reference links. It's also an effective vibe-coding app.
- [Google's Web Guide is the future of search I actually want](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/googles-web-guide-is-the-future-of-search-i-actually-want/index.html.md): Web Guide combines the best of AI Overviews and open web results into a single experience.
- [Doomscrolling Wikipedia](https://coywolf.com/videos/doomscrolling-wikipedia/index.html.md)
- [Mastodon now has an official share button for sites](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-now-has-an-official-share-button-for-sites/index.html.md): The share button solves the problem of Mastodon users being on unique servers. It can also be customized and dynamically generated.
- [Episode 16: Why I haven't written much about AI until now](https://coywolf.com/podcast/why-i-havent-written-much-about-ai-until-now/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw discusses the problems with AI, the changing landscape, and what publishers need to focus on.
- [FAIR shifts focus away from WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fair-quits-wordpress-but-one-of-its-best-features-remains-as-a-standalone-plugin/index.html.md): Joost de Valk announced that FAIR will no longer focus on WordPress and will instead invest its resources in TYPO3. Those who no longer want to use FAIR's connector plugin but still want the feature that serves avatars locally rather than from Gravatar can do so with a new standalone plugin.
- [The meaninglessness of divs](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-meaninglessness-of-divs/index.html.md): Most modern pages are coded with an enormous number of nested divs, from top to bottom. Replacing divs with semantic HTML helps bots parse content more effectively, developers write more efficient code, and makes pages more accessible.
- [Semantic HTML](https://coywolf.com/guides/method-seo/structure/semantic-html/index.html.md): Why and how to code web pages with semantic HTML using order, purpose, and intent.
- [Fathom, a privacy-first GA4 alternative, adds Google Search Console (GSC) integration](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/fathom-a-privacy-first-ga4-alternative-adds-google-search-console-gsc-integration/index.html.md): Customers of Fathom Analytics can now connect to and associate Google Search Console data with their sites, and report on Google referrer data directly in their dashboard.
- [Markdown is the new AMP for AI agents; should you use it?](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/markdown-is-the-new-amp-for-ai/index.html.md): Markdown for AI follows a similar pattern to AMP for Google. It's a duplicative additive solution that doesn't fix an underlying problem.
- [New study reveals where AI excels and fails in the workplace](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/new-study-reveals-where-ai-excels-and-fails-in-the-workplace/index.html.md): AISI research shows that AI can assist with basic tasks in the workplace but falls short on tasks that require higher-order thinking.
- [The UniFi Travel Router makes securely connecting to your home network while away a breeze](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/the-unifi-travel-router-makes-securely-connecting-to-your-home-network-while-away-a-breeze/index.html.md): There's finally a device that securely connects all your devices to your home internet while traveling, without configuring a VPN.
- [How brands, publishers, and creatives are using paper to connect with audiences offline](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/how-brands-publishers-and-creatives-are-using-paper-to-connect-with-audiences-offline/index.html.md): How sites are making an offline connection with their audience through an old medium.
- [You can now doomscroll Wikipedia](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/you-can-now-doom-scroll-wikipedia/index.html.md): Why not learn while you also doomscroll? This demonstration of how social media algorithms work is also fun to use.
- [Why Schema markup is more important than ever](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/why-schema-markup-is-more-important-than-ever/index.html.md): With the advent of LLMs and AI-powered search experiences, Schema markup has become more important than ever, and here's why.
- [Schema markup](https://coywolf.com/guides/method-seo/content/schema-markup/index.html.md): Learn what Schema.org vocabulary is and how to use it to maximize brand and site visibility for conventional search engines, NLP- and LLM-based artificial answer engines, and AI agents.
- [EPUB won't support HTML anytime soon, and here's why](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/epub-wont-support-html-anytime-soon-and-heres-why/index.html.md): After the Publishing Maintenance Working Group surveyed publishers, tool developers, reading system developers, independent authors, ebook retailers, social DRM providers, conversion vendors, distributors, and readers, they determined that adding HTML to EPUB was too challenging for now.
- [JPEG XL (JXL) is coming back to Chrome](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/jpeg-xl-jxl-is-coming-back-to-chrome/index.html.md): Google is adding the next-gen JXL image format back to Chrome after controversially removing it in 2022. Will re-adding it breathe new life into the format, or is it too late?
- [Starlink updates Privacy Policy to allow AI model training with personal data](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/starlink-updates-tos-to-allow-ai-model-training-with-personal-data/index.html.md): Starlink quietly enabled third-party AI model training on its customers' personal data by default. Fortunately, there's a way to opt out.
- [Why AI agents may get you pwned](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/why-ai-agents-may-get-you-pwned/index.html.md): The part of agentic AI that you may know less about is the agents that will autonomously take commerce and communication actions on your behalf. To do that, they must know everything about you. And by everything, I mean everything, and that's a problem.
- [AI Agent, AI Spy](https://coywolf.com/videos/ai-agent-ai-spy/index.html.md): Meredith Whittaker and Udbhav Tiwari presented on agentic AI vulnerabilities at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress (39C3) in Hamburg, Germany.
- ['Signal' President and VP warn agentic AI is insecure, unreliable, and a surveillance nightmare](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/signal-president-and-vp-warn-agentic-ai-is-insecure-unreliable-and-a-surveillance-nightmare/index.html.md): With agentic AI embedded at the OS level, databases storing entire digital lives accessible to malware, tasks whose reliability quickly breaks down at each step, and being opted-in without consent, Signal leadership is sounding the alarm for the industry to pull back until threats can be mitigated.
- [Details disclosure element can now auto-expand using the browser's find on page feature](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/details-disclosure-element-can-now-auto-expand-using-the-browsers-find-on-page-feature/index.html.md): All major browsers now support the hidden=until-found attribute on the Details disclosure element, allowing visitors to search and auto-expand hidden text on pages without JavaScript.
- [Homebrew gets GUI with Taphouse](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/homebrew-gets-gui-with-taphouse/index.html.md): Managing apps and services on macOS with the command-line interface (CLI) tool Homebrew just got a lot easier with Taphouse, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the popular package manager.
- [Image optimization](https://coywolf.com/guides/method-seo/performance/images/index.html.md): How to optimize images for search engines and people.
- [Best alternative to Gmail and iCloud is Fastmail](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/fastmail-is-the-best-alternative-to-gmail-icloud/index.html.md): If you have a Google or Apple account, they control and limit – each in their own way – what you can and can't do with your communication, data, and domains. Learn how to take full control of your email, calendars, and contacts with Fastmail.
- [Put the link in the post, not the comments](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/put-the-link-in-the-post-not-the-comments/index.html.md): Putting links in comments instead of the post creates a terrible user experience, and the reasons for doing it are overblown and erroneous.
- [A free app to visualize your subscription costs](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/a-free-app-to-visualize-your-subscription-costs/index.html.md): SubGrid is a free, open-source tool that visualizes subscription costs to help manage monthly budget decisions more effectively.
- [Firefox is adding an AI kill switch](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/firefox-is-adding-an-ai-kill-switch/index.html.md): Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, CEO of Mozilla, announced that AI will be added to Firefox. Public outcry prompted Enzor-DeMeo, and then Jake Archibald, Mozilla's Web Developer Relations Lead, to assure users that there will be an AI kill switch to turn off all AI features.
- [Google Search expands Preferred Sources for Top Stories globally](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-search-expands-preferred-sources-for-top-stories-globally/index.html.md): Google deemed Preferred Sources a success due to high usage and doubling of traffic to sites from Top Stories. Google announced that the feature is being rolled out to all regions and languages.
- [Did you know that Google has a free tool for analyzing competitors' sites?](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/did-you-know-that-google-has-a-free-tool-for-analyzing-competitors-sites/index.html.md): Sites can only use Search Console to analyze their own pages, but there's another free tool by Google that lets you analyze competitors' pages, too.
- [WordPress adds notes to posts, continuing an industry trend towards more collaboration](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/wordpress-adds-notes-to-posts-continuing-an-industry-trend-towards-more-collaboration/index.html.md): More apps are being updated with collaborative features to help teams become more efficient and stay in sync. Automattic is continuing the trend with the addition of notes in WordPress 6.9.
- [Episode 15: Interview with Mastodon creator Eugen Rochko](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-15-interview-with-mastodon-creator-eugen-rochko/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviews Mastodon creator Eugen Rochko about how he got started in software development, what led him to create Mastodon, why Threads interoperability with Mastodon fell flat, what it'll take to get people to switch to the fediverse, why he views Mastodon as a network and not a media platform, and why Mastodon chose ActivityPub.
- [Mastodon creator shares what went wrong with Threads and ponders the future of the fediverse](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-creator-shares-what-went-wrong-with-threads-and-ponders-the-future-of-the-fediverse/index.html.md): In a wide-ranging interview with Eugen Rochko, creator of the decentralized social network Mastodon, Rochko shared why Threads federation fell flat, why ActivityPub and ATProto will likely never merge, and what it will take to grow the fediverse.
- [You can now block specific spam referrers in Fathom Analytics](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/you-can-now-block-specific-spam-referrers-in-fathom-analytics/index.html.md): The privacy-first GA4 alternative, Fathom Analytics, added the ability to block and exclude unwanted referral traffic.
- [Minimalist notes app 'Recollect' adds real-time collaboration](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/minimalist-notes-app-recollect-adds-real-time-collaboration/index.html.md): Recollect users can now invite anyone to edit their notes with them.
- [Google adds custom annotations to Search Console](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-adds-custom-annotations-to-search-console/index.html.md): Charts in Google Search Console (GSC) can now have custom annotations added to them to highlight events that may affect search performance.
- [Google finally found a way to convince businesses to replace Windows with ChromeOS](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/google-finally-found-a-way-to-convince-businesses-to-replace-windows-with-chromeos/index.html.md): Google's integration of Cameyo into ChromeOS enables businesses to run Windows apps and finally switch to Chromebooks.
- [Mastodon's social posts are now optimized for Google Search](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodons-social-posts-are-now-optimized-for-google-search/index.html.md): The Mastodon engineering team added SocialMediaPosting Schema.org markup to version 4.5 of its software to optimize social posts for search engines and other systems.
- [Mastodon adds quote posts that prioritize user safety and privacy](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-adds-quote-posts-that-prioritize-user-safety-and-privacy/index.html.md): The release of Mastodon 4.5 introduces a new quote post feature designed to give users control over who can quote their posts.
- [Google News Guide: How to optimize your site and article content to appear in Google News](https://coywolf.com/guides/how-to-get-into-google-news/index.html.md): Google News is one of the best ways to get visibility on Google, increase search visits, and grow a brand. This guide provides a roadmap for how to structure and fully optimize your site for inclusion in Google News.
- [Alertmouse is a Google Alerts alternative with better monitoring, filtering, and insights](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/alertmouse-is-a-google-alerts-alternative-with-better-monitoring-filtering-and-insights/index.html.md): The new Alertmouse tool monitors people and brand mentions as simply as Google Alerts, but provides better results and reporting similar to those from expensive contract-based enterprise solutions.
- [The best Chromium browser isn’t Chrome, it’s Helium](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/the-best-chrome-browser-for-mac-windows-linux-isnt-chrome-its-helium/index.html.md): Helium offers an alternative to Google Chrome for Mac, Windows, and Linux users who prefer not to have AI Mode and Gemini enabled in the browser and prioritize privacy over Google's data collection practices.
- [President of Signal responds to AWS outage and user concerns](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/president-of-signal-responds-to-aws-outage-and-user-concerns/index.html.md): Meredith Whittaker, Signal's President, published an open letter on social media addressing concerns over Signal's reliance on AWS.
- [Fastmail launches desktop apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/fastmail-launches-native-desktop-apps-for-mac-windows-and-linux/index.html.md): The independent and privacy-focused email service Fastmail now has desktop apps for accessing emails, calendars, contacts, and files.
- [Google forced Gemini and AI Mode into Chrome; here's how to remove it from the browser](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/google-forced-gemini-and-ai-mode-into-chrome-heres-how-to-remove-it-from-the-browser/index.html.md): The newest version of Google Chrome displays AI features in the browser without any way to remove them. Fortunately, there's a workaround that will allow you to continue using Chrome without having to include the features imposed by Google.
- [Crawler Best Practices draft seeks to standardize bot behavior for all bots on the web](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/crawler-best-practices-draft-seeks-to-standardize-bot-behavior-for-all-bots-on-the-web/index.html.md): Until now, there hasn't been a Best Current Practice RFC IETF standard for how bots should crawl sites. The authors of a new Crawler Best Practices draft hope to fill that gap for bots and publishers.
- [How to show and hide geo-targeted content by country, state, city, or zip code](https://coywolf.com/guides/how-to-show-and-hide-geo-targeted-content-by-country-state-city-or-zip-code/index.html.md): My fool-proof method for displaying geo-targeted content that is easy to implement and can be optimized for Google Search.
- [Cloudflare proposes a new standard for managing AI bot access using Content Signals](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/publisher-can-now-manage-ai-bot-access-with-new-content-signals-policy-created-by-cloudflare/index.html.md): Cloudflare introduced new rules for the Robots Exclusion Protocol to help publishers specify how AI bots can access their content.
- [Fastmail's webmail app now works offline, and it's glorious!](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/fastmails-webmail-app-now-works-offline-and-its-glorious/index.html.md): The independent and privacy-focused email service Fastmail has updated its Progressive Web App to support offline access to emails, calendars, and contacts.
- [Google's clippable coupons in search results lack a crucial buying step it once had](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/googles-clippable-coupons-in-search-results-lack-a-crucial-buying-step-it-once-had/index.html.md): Google Search previously had a more user-friendly process for displaying coupon codes for online products. It has now become too obscure, removing a step that previously helped buyers complete purchases with the discount.
- [The rewards of respecting the reader's experience](https://coywolf.com/blog/the-rewards-of-respecting-the-readers-experience/index.html.md): Presenting content ad-free and in a single column helps readers focus and provides a better reading experience, resulting in higher quality conversions at the end of an article.
- [Google's 'Preferred Sources' lets you pick your favorite news sites](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-now-lets-you-pick-your-favorite-news-sites-for-top-stories/index.html.md): Searchers can now add sites as a preferred source to Google Search, which will display them more prominently in Top Stories when they publish fresh and relevant content related to the search query.
- [Configuring WordPress: The settings and plugins I use for optimal performance](https://coywolf.com/guides/configuring-wordpress-the-settings-and-plugins-i-use-for-optimal-performance/index.html.md): In this guide, I outline the WordPress settings and essential plugins used to make all of my sites performant and optimized for Google.
- [Cloud Cleanup removes unnecessary files and improves sync times on cloud drives](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloud-cleanup-removes-unnecessary-files-and-improves-sync-times-on-cloud-drives/index.html.md): MacPaw updated its popular CleanMyMac app with a new tool called Cloud Cleanup. The tool extends the app's file management and cleaning capabilities to cloud drives, with initial support for Google Drive, Microsoft's OneDrive, and Apple's iCloud Drive.
- [Is creator-model journalism the future of news?](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/is-creator-model-journalism-the-future-of-news/index.html.md): Project C, which helps independent journalists create viable media ventures, published their Top 50 list of creator-model journalists. Their analysis shows that creator journalism may be the future of news.
- [Self-heating mugs versus mug warmers: which one is best?](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/self-heating-mugs-versus-mug-warmers-which-one-is-best/index.html.md): I got tired of my coffee and tea getting cold, so I tested using a self-heated mug and a mug warmer. I found that one of them was superior, and it's now what I use every day to keep my hot drinks hot.
- [New version of PNG to challenge AVIF and WebP for image dominance on the web](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/new-version-of-png-to-challenge-avif-and-webp-for-image-dominance-on-the-web/index.html.md): After two decades of stagnation with the PNG image standard, it's back with a new version to rival the innovations made by WebP and AVIF.
- ['Digital Minimalism' will change your relationship with technology](https://coywolf.com/reviews/books/digital-minimalism-will-change-your-relationship-with-technology/index.html.md): In the book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, Cal Newport explains why we feel like slaves to technology and how we can take control to live more intentional and meaningful lives.
- [Yoast SEO is a crucial plugin for WordPress: here's how I utilize it](https://coywolf.com/guides/yoast-seo-is-a-crucial-plugin-for-wordpress-heres-how-i-utilize-it/index.html.md): I've used Yoast SEO for well over a decade, and it continues to play a critical role in how I technically optimize my sites for search engines. While I don't use or need all of its features, it still provides the ones I need most.
- [You no longer have to use Gravatar on WordPress for avatars, thanks to FAIR](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/you-no-longer-have-to-use-gravatar-on-wordpress-for-avatars-thanks-to-fair/index.html.md): The new FAIR plugin allows uploading avatars to user accounts in WordPress and serving them locally, bypassing the requirement to host them on Gravatar.
- [FAIR initiative decentralizes WordPress updates](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/fair-initiative-decentralizes-wordpress-updates/index.html.md): WordPress admins will no longer be dependent on getting Core, plugin, and theme updates from the centrally controlled WordPress.org.
- [Shopify shut down Linkpop](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-is-shutting-down-linkpop/index.html.md): Shopify notified customers using Linkpop that it was discontinuing its 'link in bio' service on July 7, 2025. The date has passed, and the service is no longer available.
- [Inputs and Signals](https://coywolf.com/blog/inputs-and-signals/index.html.md): Why SEO for Google's AI experiences is still just SEO.
- [WordPress creates an AI Team to accelerate development](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-creates-an-ai-team-to-accelerate-development/index.html.md): A new WordPress AI Team has been created to explore and coordinate AI projects across the WordPress ecosystem.
- [Google's AI optimization tips for Search include the same practices SEOs already use](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/googles-ai-optimization-tips-for-search-include-the-same-practices-seos-already-use/index.html.md): While many SEOs attempt to rebrand SEO for AI and write verbosely about the complexities of how it works, optimizing for Google's AI experiences isn't much different from how effective SEO is done today.
- [Why you should use a VPN at home and which ones are best](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/why-you-should-use-a-vpn-at-home-and-which-ones-are-best/index.html.md): Using a virtual private network at home will help protect your privacy from ISPs and ad trackers that fingerprint and target you online.
- [Google Search 'AI Mode' seen as content theft by news publishing industry representative](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-search-ai-mode-seen-as-content-theft-by-news-publishing-industry-representative/index.html.md): Google Search's AI Mode is a more extensive chatbot version of AI Overviews. Many publishers are concerned that AI Mode will further erode referral traffic and see the feature as a form of content theft.
- [Tab Search added to Chrome's toolbar to help find open tabs](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/tab-search-added-to-chromes-toolbar-to-help-find-open-tabs/index.html.md): Searching tabs in the Chrome browser on desktop computers has been available for years, but it was hidden. Google added a dedicated button for Tab Search to the toolbar, which is now displayed by default for all users.
- [Google made video indexing more challenging, but you can still get indexed with these tips](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-made-video-indexing-more-challenging-but-you-can-still-get-indexed-with-these-tips/index.html.md): Over the years, Google Search has changed the requirements for making videos eligible to be indexed and appear in search results. Here's everything you need to know to get your videos indexed.
- [Audience research platform, Sparktoro, gets a new look and significant new features](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/audience-research-platform-sparktoro-gets-a-new-look-and-significant-new-features/index.html.md): Marketers using Sparktoro for their audience research have a fresh redesign and several highly-requested features, including better visualizations, new audience-building tools, and improved data.
- [Why you should do more than resizing images with the srcset property](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/why-you-should-do-more-than-resizing-images-with-the-srcset-property/index.html.md): The image srcset property is primarily used to serve resized images for responsive layouts. However, it can also serve uniquely different images, significantly improving a visitor's experience and engagement on a web page.
- [Google adds better PWA visibility and navigational linking to Chrome](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/google-adds-better-pwa-visibility-and-navigational-linking-to-chrome/index.html.md): The latest version of Google's Chrome browser improves navigation management for progressive web apps (PWAs), and installed apps are now more visible in the address bar.
- [I moved all of my WordPress sites to Pressable from WP Engine, and here's everything you need to know](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/pressable-wordpress-hosting-review-wpengine-comparison/index.html.md): I moved my sites from WP Engine due to inaccurate visit numbers and pushes from Sales to upgrade instead of fixing the issue. I chose to host my sites at Pressable and am happy with the switch. This review covers the migration process, what's different from WP Engine, and why I recommend hosting WordPress sites at Pressable.

## Optional

- [Sites using reCAPTCHA must migrate to Google Cloud; Cloudflare Turnstile may be a better alternative](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/sites-using-recaptcha-must-migrate-to-google-cloud-cloudflare-turnstile-may-be-a-better-alternative/index.html.md): Google's reCAPTCHA, a service with privacy and data mining concerns, is forcing sites to move their keys to Google Cloud. Sites looking for an alternative can use Cloudflare's Turnstile CAPTCHA service, which is more straightforward, private, and free.
- [Bitly adds interstitial ads to shortened URLs, unlocking new revenue stream](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/bitly-adds-interstitial-ads-to-shortened-urls-unlocking-new-revenue-stream/index.html.md): Bitly has changed its policy and will now insert interstitial ads on millions of shortened links associated with Free accounts.
- [Signal can now sync messages with new devices](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/signal-adds-the-option-to-transfer-messages-to-new-devices/index.html.md): Signal announced a new feature allowing people to transfer messages and media from the last 45 days to new devices.
- [Pixelfed creator publishes open letter to Mark Zuckerberg](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/pixelfed-creator-publishes-open-letter-to-mark-zuckerberg/index.html.md): Meta is blocking links to the decentralized Instagram competitor Pixelfed as its users seek alternatives in response to MAGA and Trump-friendly policy changes on its social platforms. The Pixelfed creator published an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg that called Meta out on the practice.
- ['AirPrint Bridge' script enables iOS devices to print to older printers](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/airprint-bridge-script-enables-ios-devices-to-print-to-older-printers/index.html.md): Apple's AirPrint technology allows iPhones and iPads to use printers over Wi-Fi. Many older printers don't support the technology, but a new open source script, AirPrint Bridge, enables the AirPrint technology when Macs share those printers.
- [Why web apps are quietly replacing native apps on phones and computers](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/why-web-apps-are-quietly-replacing-native-apps-on-phones-and-computers/index.html.md): Web apps are becoming a viable alternative to native apps. Their ability to function on all platforms, always be up-to-date, and ease of use have made many a better choice than their native counterparts.
- [The search engine-friendly Details disclosure element has new styling options](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/search-engine-friendly-details-disclosure-element-has-new-styling-options/index.html.md): Google Chrome version 131 is the first browser to adopt new styling and interaction options for the Details disclosure element, and as of March 31, 2025, Safari also supports it.
- [CSS has a new official logo](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/css-has-a-new-official-logo/index.html.md): After months of public input and design iterations, a new official logo for CSS has emerged.
- [Signal is now the best free video call alternative to Zoom, Meet, and Teams](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/why-signal-is-now-the-best-free-video-call-alternative-to-zoom-and-meet/index.html.md): The free end-to-end encryption and privacy-centric messaging service Signal announced a significant update to its video calling. The messaging app added support for reusable call links, emoji reactions, hand raising, and more to its group video conferencing, making it a viable alternative to Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
- [Shop app provides shoppers with an alternative to Bezos' Amazon.com](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shop-app-provides-shoppers-with-an-alternative-to-bezos-amazon-com/index.html.md): Shopify's Shop app has products from over 5 million online stores, and many stores provide free shipping, making a subscription to a service like Amazon Prime unnecessary.
- [How to appear in ChatGPT search results without training their AI](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/how-to-be-in-chatgpt-search-results-without-training-their-ai-models/index.html.md): OpenAI created a method for websites to block or allow content in ChatGPT’s new search engine. Here’s how publishers can be included in their search results while stopping them from using their content to train their AI models.
- [I found the best guide for anyone who wants to learn how to build a website](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/i-found-the-best-guide-for-anyone-who-wants-to-learn-how-to-build-a-website/index.html.md): Software engineer Blake Watson created a free interactive book, HTML for People, which teaches people who have never used HTML how to create an entire website from scratch.
- [How to create PWA icons that look correct on all browsers and devices](https://coywolf.com/guides/how-to-create-pwa-icons-that-look-correct-on-all-platforms-and-devices/index.html.md): Apple doesn't support standard maskable icons for PWAs. Here's how to design one full-bleed icon that works everywhere and displays correctly on every platform.
- [Sub.club brings paid memberships and sponsorships to the fediverse](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/sub-club-brings-paid-memberships-and-sponsorships-to-the-fediverse/index.html.md): Open social web platforms like Mastodon have a new method for supporting community servers and individual creators via subscription payments and premium content.
- [Mastodon readies significant upgrade focused on better usability](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-readies-significant-upgrade-focused-on-better-usability/index.html.md): The decentralized social networking platform Mastodon made the next major version of its software, version 4.3, available for beta testing. The upgrade culminates 11 months of updates and brings fixes, changes, and new features for users, moderators, and admins.
- [Threads adds more fediverse features but its integration faces headwinds](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/threads-adds-more-fediverse-features-but-its-integration-faces-headwinds/index.html.md): Meta’s push to add decentralized interoperability to Threads by adding full support for the ActivityPub protocol is progressing slowly. Threads users who turn on fediverse sharing can now see and like off-platform replies.
- [Mastodon debuts feature highlighting journalists on the fediverse](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-debuts-feature-highlighting-journalists-on-the-fediverse/index.html.md): A new Mastodon feature enables journalists, bloggers, and organizations to be highlighted on Mastodon posts. It supports fediverse accounts on Mastodon, Threads, and other decentralized platforms using ActivityPub.
- [LinkedIn is deleting resumes and replacing its popular resume builder with AI](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/linkedin-is-deleting-resumes-and-replacing-its-popular-resume-builder-with-ai/index.html.md): LinkedIn emailed users to notify them that the resume builder tool is being deprecated. They gave job seekers a little over one week to download their resumes before permanently deleting them.
- [Small matters](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/small-matters/index.html.md): The idea behind the Small Web is to return to the early days before the internet was overly commercialized, homogenized, and controlled by mega-corporations.
- [Why you should backup your computer to the cloud](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/why-you-should-backup-your-computer-to-the-cloud/index.html.md): People lose photos, videos, and documents every year because they don't have a good computer backup plan. Cloud drives don't save every file, and external hard drives with backups can fail. The best backup plan is to use an online backup service to ensure you never lose files again.
- [Quishing: How to protect yourself from QR code scams](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/quishing-how-to-protect-yourself-from-qr-code-scams/index.html.md): Scammers can use QR codes with malicious links for phishing. Here’s how to protect yourself from quishing.
- [WordPress email delivery plugin launched by Gravity Forms](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-email-delivery-plugin-launched-by-gravity-forms/index.html.md): The new email delivery plugin for WordPress supports popular third-party services like SendGrid and makes sending email from sites more reliable.
- [People searching 'eyes hurt after eclipse' spike after solar eclipse](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/people-searching-eyes-hurt-after-eclipse-spike-after-solar-eclipse/index.html.md): Solar eclipse watchers from Vermont and Arkansas topped the list of people searching Google about their eyes hurting after watching the April 8, 2024 eclipse. Most searches came from states directly in the path of the total eclipse.
- [Why you should backup your computer to the cloud](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/backup-your-computer-to-the-cloud/index.html.md): People lose photos, videos, and documents every year because they don't have a good computer backup plan. Cloud drives don't save every file, and external hard drives with backups can fail. The best backup plan is to use an online backup service to ensure you never lose files again.
- [Threads adds fediverse integration for following accounts and sharing posts](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/threads-begins-testing-fediverse-sharing/index.html.md): Adam Mosseri announced the launch of fediverse sharing in Threads. After Threads users opt-in to the beta, users of social platforms like Mastodon can start following and interacting with their posts. Here's a first look, along with instructions on how to opt-in.
- [Grammarly's Editor app is discontinued, but there's a workaround](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/grammarly-editor-app-discontinued/index.html.md): Grammarly ended support for its native Editor app on Windows and macOS. Fortunately, there’s an alternative that allows users to run its web app as a standalone desktop app.
- [\[Updated\] Google Search adds support for AVIF images, making the format OK to use in WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/why-you-should-avoid-using-avif-images-in-wordpress/index.html.md): WordPress 6.5 added support for the AVIF image format, but Google Search didn't support AVIF. However, on August 30, 2024, Google officially announced support for AVIF images, making the format okay for WordPress sites that want images to appear in Google.
- [Contact Garden public beta has new features](https://coywolf.com/blog/coywolf-contact-public-beta-has-new-features/index.html.md): The minimalist PWA contact manager added auto-importing of Google Contact, Contact Record Sharing, and a contextual hotkey sidebar.
- [Gmail and Yahoo Mail now require DMARC policies; Here's how to easily add them](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/how-to-add-dmarc-policy-gmail-yahoo-mail/index.html.md): To thwart spammers from exploiting insecure bulk email servers, Google and Yahoo now require domain owners to add Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) policies or risk having their email messages blocked by their platforms. Fortunately, there's an easy method to add them.
- [Plans for 2024](https://coywolf.com/blog/plans-for-2024/index.html.md): The end of the year is typically a time when one reflects on the past year. I’m not going to do that. Instead, I will focus on what I want to do in 2024 with Coywolf.
- [The web is being reborn](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-web-is-being-reborn/index.html.md): The web we use today tends to be centralized and designed to confine us. Fortunately, 2023 revealed momentum towards a better and more open web.
- [Threads begins testing ActivityPub support](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/threads-begins-testing-activitypub-support/index.html.md): Mark Zuckerberg announced ActivityPub testing with Threads, and Mastodon users can now view and follow select profiles from Meta's Twitter alternative.
- [Google shifts focus toward creators with new support for profile pages and forums](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-shifts-focus-toward-creators-with-new-support-for-profile-pages-and-forums/index.html.md): Profile pages are the new author pages, and discussion forum results are getting more attention in Google's search results (again).
- [All things (mostly) search that are goog enough](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/all-things-mostly-search-that-are-goog-enough/index.html.md): The Googlesphere was busy last month and still is.
- [Shopify launches AI-driven marketplace to compete against Amazon](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-launches-ai-driven-marketplace-to-compete-against-amazon/index.html.md): Amazon has new competition with the debut of a web-based AI-driven marketplace by Shopify called Shop AI. The new marketplace allows shoppers to search all products hosted on Shopify’s ecommerce platform.
- [Fathom Analytics adds dynamic event and goal tracking](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/fathom-analytics-adds-dynamic-event-and-goal-tracking/index.html.md): The privacy-first GA4 alternative, Fathom Analytics, launched dynamic event and goal tracking, providing sites with the most efficient, flexible, and scalable method for tracking events and goals.
- [The most unlikely of heroes](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-most-unlikely-of-heroes/index.html.md): The Verge published an hour-long interview with Mark Zuckerberg that included a lengthy discussion about his commitment to making Threads part of the fediverse.
- [Google allows sites to opt out of training its LLMs for GenAI](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-announces-method-for-sites-to-opt-out-of-llm-training/index.html.md): Sites that don’t want their content used by Google to train its large language models for generative AI can now opt out by adding a new user agent, Google-Extended, to their robots.txt file.
- [Mark Zuckerberg explains why Threads is joining the fediverse](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-explains-why-threads-is-joining-the-fediverse/index.html.md): In a wide-ranging interview with The Verge’s Alex Heath, Mark Zuckerberg discussed why they’re adding ActivityPub support to Threads and what he thinks the benefits are to having decentralized interoperability.
- [Mastodon overhauls search and improves its UX](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/mastodon-overhauls-search-and-improves-its-ux/index.html.md): Version 4.2 of Mastodon introduces a more robust search experience, adds several user experience enhancements, and provides many optimization and performance improvements.
- [Meta renews commitment to make Threads part of the fediverse](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/meta-renews-commitment-to-make-threads-part-of-the-fediverse/index.html.md): Meta confirms that the company remains committed to adding the ActivityPub protocol to Threads, enabling it to participate in the fediverse, otherwise known as decentralized social media.
- [The writer’s block](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-writers-block/index.html.md): Changing how we interface with computers can be challenging. That’s especially true after spending years using an interface that works well. And that was true for me regarding WordPress’ old text editor.
- [Ex-VICE journalists launch 404 Media, a new reader-supported tech media business](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/vices-motherboard-journalists-leave-to-launch-a-new-reader-supported-tech-media-business/index.html.md): Four journalists, Emanuel Maiberg, Jason Koebler, Joseph Cox, and Samantha Cole, recently left VICE's Motherboard to start a new digital media company, 404 Media. The new venture is focused primarily on technology news and is reader-supported.
- [Should you delete your content for SEO?](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/should-you-delete-your-content-for-seo/index.html.md): CNET is deleting thousands of articles to improve its SEO, but is that a good idea? It's not and here's why.
- [FAQ rich results removed from Google Search](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/faq-rich-results-removed-from-google-search/index.html.md): Google Search announced it would only display FAQ results in its search results if the sites are well-known, authoritative government and health websites.
- [5 ways to protect yourself online](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/how-to-protect-yourself-online/index.html.md): Learn simple methods for protecting your privacy, online accounts, computers, and mobile devices from hackers, malware, and intrusive advertising
- [Best way to sell domains without marketplace fees](https://coywolf.com/guides/best-way-to-sell-domains-and-avoid-domain-marketplace-fees/index.html.md): Domain marketplaces like Dan, Sedo, Afternic, and GoDaddy (formerly Uniregistry), charge enormous commission fees that significantly reduce your profit. Learn why you don’t need to be listed in a domain marketplace and how to create a WordPress site to sell your domains and make more money.
- [Mobile-first UX considerations: Highlights from a redesign](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/mobile-first-ux-considerations-highlights-from-a-redesign/index.html.md): Coywolf reimagined its site navigation and WordPress theme elements and made unconventional decisions that function well for search engine bots and humans.
- [FCC proposes 'U.S. Cyber Trust Mark' for IoT devices](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/fcc-us-cyber-trust-mark-for-iot-devices/index.html.md): A new proposal announced by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel would create voluntary certification and labeling for Internet of Things (IoT) devices denoting that they have hardware and software to help deter cyber attacks.
- [Thoughts on Threads](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/thoughts-on-threads/index.html.md): Elon Musk's real-time work on his future memoir, How I ruined everything, has given Meta an opportunity they shouldn’t have and certainly don’t deserve.
- [Interview with Hugo Gameiro, founder of Masto Host](https://coywolf.com/videos/hugo-gameiro-interview/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviews Hugo Gameiro, founder of Masto Host, about how he initially got into SEO and later founded a managed hosting platform for Mastodon.
- [Episode 14: Interview with YouTube tech reviewer Mark Ellis](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-14-interview-with-youtube-tech-reviewer-mark-ellis/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviews YouTube creator Mark Ellis about starting his video tech reviews channel, diversifying revenue beyond YouTube with his reviews site, building different audiences, and growing a solopreneur community.
- [Interview with YouTube creator and solopreneur Mark Ellis](https://coywolf.com/videos/interview-with-youtube-creator-and-solopreneur-mark-ellis/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviews YouTube creator Mark Ellis about starting his video tech reviews channel, diversifying revenue beyond YouTube with his reviews site, building different audiences, and growing a solopreneur community.
- [Neeva shuts down privacy search engine to focus on AI for business](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/neeva-shuts-down-search-engine-focus-on-ai-business/index.html.md): Neeva, an ad-free and subscription-based consumer search engine focused on privacy, announced it would shut down on June 2, 2023. The founder emphasized its AI innovations and a new focus on business applications, which may be repositioning the company for an acquisition.
- [Stanford Seminar: Can We Mitigate Cryptocurrencies’ Externalities](https://coywolf.com/videos/stanford-seminar-can-we-mitigate-cryptocurrencies-externalities/index.html.md): David Rosenthal, known for co-creating Stanford University’s LOCKSS technology for the distributed preservation of digital content, shared a talk on cryptocurrency that he presented at Stanford’s 2022 Electrical Engineering Computer Systems conference (aka EE380).
- [How to have your GA and eat it too](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/how-to-have-your-ga-and-eat-it-too/index.html.md): Our direct traffic is full of lies and the great Google Analytics migration is upon us. Will you stay or will you go? If you're considering going, Fathom Analytics has you covered. Also, a new review of the best paper-like tablet on the market and how to get a classless style.
- [The reMarkable 2 form factor and user interface](https://coywolf.com/videos/the-remarkable-2-form-factor-and-user-interface/index.html.md): The reMarkable 2 is thin, sleek, and a joy to use, and it feels like you're using paper when you sketch and write notes.
- [ReMarkable 2 is the best paper-like tablet for sketching and notes](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/remarkable-2-review-best-paper-like-tablet-for-sketching-and-note-taking/index.html.md): The reMarkable 2 is the perfect note-taking and sketching tablet for people who want an ePaper (paper-like) experience and need a device to help them stay focused.
- [The best GA4 alternative is Fathom Analytics](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/fathom-analytics-review-best-google-analytics-alternative-privacy-first/index.html.md): Fathom Analytics offers sites 100% data ownership, full privacy law compliance, and complete visitor results. With its beautifully minimalist design, an enterprise-grade infrastructure, and Google Analytics importer, it's the best alternative to GA4.
- [GA4 Importer launched by Fathom Analytics](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/google-analytics-importer/index.html.md): Universal Analytics (UA) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data can now be fully imported into Fathom Analytics, a privacy-first alternative to Google Analytics.
- [Study finds 'Direct' traffic increasingly overreported as more platforms block referrer data](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/new-study-reports-cause-of-increased-direct-traffic-to-sites/index.html.md): Research suggests the rising number of direct traffic for sites is from social platforms that strip the referral data from outbound links.
- [AI Nauseam and other stuff that's actually interesting](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/ai-nauseam-and-other-stuff-thats-actually-interesting/index.html.md): Don’t worry. There’s more in this newsletter than the topic of AI. So feel free to skip past the first section about AI if you’re sick of reading about it like I am.
- [Open Graph Checker](https://coywolf.com/videos/open-graph-checker-chrome-extension/index.html.md): The Open Graph Checker by Coywolf makes it easy to check if a page has essential Open Graph metadata.
- [Contact Garden: A minimalist PWA contact manager](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/contacts-by-coywolf-a-minimalist-pwa-contact-manager/index.html.md): Contact Garden is a free contact relationship manager (CRM) and progressive web app (PWA) with a minimalist user interface built for speed and efficiency and works entirely offline.
- [Contacts by Coywolf](https://coywolf.com/videos/contacts-by-coywolf/index.html.md): A free minimalist contacts app that is a progressive web app (PWA) and fully supports offline mode.
- [The app that became a platform](https://coywolf.com/blog/the-app-that-became-a-platform/index.html.md): Something unexpected happened while building a new app. As I got closer to launching it, I discovered I hadn’t just created an app. Instead, I made a progressive web app (PWA) platform that could be used for other purposes.
- [10 ways Mastodon is better than X (previously Twitter)](https://coywolf.com/videos/10-ways-mastodon-is-better-than-twitter/index.html.md): Since Mastodon is decentralized and part of federated social media, it's better in several ways than X (previously Twitter).
- [The story of Napkinisms](https://coywolf.com/videos/the-story-of-napkinisms/index.html.md): Billy Ivey has spent his career in advertising trying to influence people. Little did he know, his greatest influence would come from sitting down at his kitchen table and writing notes of encouragement for his kids.
- [How to connect Mastodon to Buffer](https://coywolf.com/videos/how-to-connect-mastodon-to-buffer/index.html.md): Connecting Mastodon to Buffer is a simple process, and posting from Buffer to Mastodon is similar to posting to other social networks from Buffer. Here’s a screencast that shows how to connect Mastodon to Buffer, create a new post, and publish it to Mastodon.
- [CleanMyMac review](https://coywolf.com/videos/cleanmymac-review/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw reviews CleanMyMac. He describes using CleanMyMac for over five years and how he originally purchased it because of its ability to free up space by finding and deleting cache and log files, unnecessary app extras, and doing full uninstalls of apps. He describes how over the years it’s developed into so much more.
- [SEO, ChatGPT, Bard, and gimmicks](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/seo-chatgpt-bard-and-gimmicks/index.html.md): Why SEO continues to be misunderstood and why conversational AI won't replace traditional search engines anytime soon.
- [Episode 13: Interview with Masto Host founder Hugo Gameiro](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-13-interview-with-masto-host-founder-hugo-gameiro/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviews Hugo Gameiro, founder of Masto Host, about how he initially got into SEO and later founded a managed hosting platform for Mastodon. In the video interview, Hugo also shared what it was like during the Twitter migration initiated by Elon Musk's erratic behavior and what he thinks the future of Mastodon and the fediverse will be.
- [Buffer adds Mastodon to its social media management platform](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/buffer-adds-mastodon/index.html.md): Buffer’s popular social media management software can now schedule and post to Mastodon servers. Coywolf has a first look at what it's like to connect and publish posts from Buffer to Mastodon.
- [What will you create this year?](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/what-will-you-create-this-year/index.html.md): Creating comes in many forms; writing, designing, crafting, coding, capturing, editing, experimenting, and more. What will you create this year?
- [What brands need to know about Mastodon and the 'fediverse'](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/brands-mastodon-fediverse/index.html.md): As decentralized social media grows in popularity, companies have a unique opportunity to position their brands early in the fediverse and differentiate themselves.
- [How to switch to Mastodon, the best X/Twitter alternative](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-alternative-mastodon/index.html.md): Elon Musk’s takeover of X (previously Twitter) has its users looking for an alternative. Many people are considering the decentralized and ad-free X alternative, Mastodon. Here’s how to switch and migrate from X to Mastodon.
- ['Sans Style' and goodbye Twitter](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/sans-style-and-goodbye-twitter/index.html.md): The genius of default HTML styles and interactivity without CSS and JavaScript, and goodbye Twitter.
- [Level Bolt is a HomeKit-enabled smart lock that works with existing deadbolts](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/level-lock/index.html.md): The Level Bolt is a smart lock that doesn’t require changing the design of existing deadbolts. The smart lock replaces the internal hardware and is controlled remotely via HomeKit. It also supports Matter over Thread.
- [Google adds online product highlights by expanding use of 'Pros and cons' structured data](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-adds-online-product-highlights-by-expanding-use-of-pros-and-cons-schema-structured-data/index.html.md): The Schema properties used for pros and cons in Reviews – positiveNotes and negativeNotes – have been expanded for use with online products. Google requested the change to enable them to understand better the products that are sold online.
- [The joy of web surfing 🏄](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-joy-of-web-surfing/index.html.md): I sometimes go for weeks or months without anything to say, and then boom, I have several things I want to share. Here's what's on my mind in this issue.
- [Open Graph Checker: Chrome extension for previewing social sharing metadata](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/open-graph-checker/index.html.md): A Chrome browser extension to check if Open Graph metadata exists on a page, and if it does, if it needs to be optimized.
- [Decentralized Instagram alternative, PixelFed, launches new iOS app](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/instagram-alternative-pixelfed-ios-app/index.html.md): PixelFed is a federated social platform for sharing photos. It mimics Instagram’s features but is open-source, privacy-focused, ad-free, decentralized, and gives complete control to its users. PixelFed’s new iOS app hopes to entice iPhone-using Instagram users away from Meta’s popular image-sharing app.
- [Cloudflare attempts to recreate Alexa Rank with Radar Domain Rankings](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/cloudflare-attempts-to-recreate-alexa-rank-with-radar-domain-rankings/index.html.md): Leveraging its immense global traffic data, Cloudflare announced a replacement to Alexa Rank called Radar Domain Rankings. The so-called replacement only ranks the top 100 sites, and like Alexa Rank, the data is likely irrelevant to most marketers.
- [Safari 16 supports AVIF in macOS Ventura and iOS 16](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/safari-supports-avif-in-macos-ventura-and-ios-16/index.html.md): WebKit has supported the next-generation image format AVIF since April 2021, but Safari has not. That's because Apple's web browser can only process image types that macOS and iOS support. The release of iOS 16, and soon macOS Ventura, brings support for the AVIF image format to the operating system and Safari 16.
- [Structured data is a visibility factor](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/structured-data-is-a-visibility-factor/index.html.md): Structured data may not be a ranking factor in the traditional sense, but it is most definitely a visibility factor.
- [Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 + WARP VPN adds IP masking and more accurate geolocation](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloudflares-warp-vpn-adds-ip-masking-accurate-geolocation/index.html.md): In a significant update to Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 + WARP VPN service, the company added more precise geolocation to its free and premium account levels. The update now returns localized search engine and site results without exposing a user's public IP address.
- [Shopify upgrades Linkpop with new features](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-upgrades-linkpop-with-new-features/index.html.md): Several months after Shopify launched its ‘link in bio’ service, Linkpop, they’ve updated it with new customizations, support for multiple users, and added the Buy It Now feature to all product links.
- [Markdown writing app Ulysses adds support for tables](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/markdown-writing-app-ulysses-adds-support-for-tables/index.html.md): Ulysses, the popular writing and publishing app that uses Markdown for formatting, added support for creating, formatting and sharing tables.
- [Popular WordPress plugin that fixes email delivery issues gets major UI update after acquisition](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/popular-wordpress-plugin-that-fixes-email-delivery-issues-gets-major-ui-update-after-acquisition/index.html.md): Post SMTP, a free and widely used plugin that fixes common email delivery problems on WordPress, launched a new version of its software with an improved user interface on the heels of WPExperts acquiring it in March 2022.
- [Google Search adds author markup best practices](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-search-adds-author-markup-best-practices/index.html.md): In response to publishers improperly using the Schema structured data author type on articles, Google Search has published new author markup best practices.
- [How to use iconography to inform readers about external links](https://coywolf.com/guides/how-to-use-iconography-to-inform-readers-about-external-links/index.html.md): Appending external links with icons that denote context improves the user experience and can increase high-intent clicks.
- [Alexa Rank is gone: Here are the 8 best alternatives to the SEO metric](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/amazon-alexa-rank-end-of-life/index.html.md): Amazon's Alexa Internet retired its website research and analysis tools on May 1, 2022. The service was well known for its Alexa Rank score. Fortunately, there are many better alternatives digital marketers can use.
- [Elon Musk buying Twitter prompts some users to switch to Mastodon](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/musk-buys-twitter-decentralized-mastodon-social-network/index.html.md): Mastodon, an open-source and decentralized Twitter alternative, is gaining popularity as users seek out alternative social platforms in the wake of Elon Musk buying Twitter.
- [Google Search adding Signed Exchange (SXG) support for desktop results and creates a new meta tag for opting-out](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-search-sxg-desktop-results-new-supported-media-meta-tag/index.html.md): Signed Exchanges (SXG) is an open standard created by Google that makes it possible for non-AMP sites to be cached and served by Google for near-instant delivery. SXG was initially supported for mobile results but will now work for desktop search results too. Sites wanting to opt-out of SXG for desktop results will have to add a unique meta tag to their pages.
- [The future of social media is the fediverse, but we have to want it first](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/fediverse/index.html.md): Imagine if the only way we could exchange emails was to go to the same platform everyone else uses. And if we weren’t on that platform, we couldn’t communicate with each other. That’s the current state of social media, right now. Everything is centralized.
- [Update: ‘Fast’ one-click frictionless checkout shutting down after less than two years](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/fast-1-click-frictionless-checkout/index.html.md): After capitalizing on Amazon’s expired 1-click patent, Fast is shutting down its frictionless one-click checkout service that could be used by practically any ecommerce store. They initially promoted the service as making the internet faster.
- [Popular bookmark manager, Raindrop.io, adds highlights and annotations for websites](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/raindrop-bookmark-manager-adds-highlights-annotations-for-web-pages/index.html.md): Raindrop.io added a new feature to its browser extension that makes it possible to highlight text and leave notes on any web page.
- [Don’t wait for it. Make it.](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/make-it/index.html.md): All of us use products and services daily that are imperfect. We keep using them because they are good enough, and nothing else better exists. We resign ourselves to their mediocrity.
- [Google updates product review ranking and provides tips for better visibility in search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-updates-product-review-ranking/index.html.md): Google announced its third product reviews update within the past year. They provided publishers with clear guidance on optimizing product reviews for better search result visibility and answered frequently asked questions.
- [Shopify launches Linkpop, a ‘link in bio’ page with shoppable links](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-launches-linkpop-link-in-bio-page/index.html.md): Brands with Shopify stores can now build free 'link in bio' pages for their social profiles with Linkpop. The new service integrates Shopify's secure checkout, and visitors can make purchases with only three clicks.
- [Linkpop is a free link in bio page with Shopify Checkout](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/linkpop-review-a-free-link-in-bio-page-with-shopify-checkout/index.html.md): Shopify stores can leverage Linkpop to showcase products on their social profiles, and visitors can order items directly from the link in bio page with only three clicks.
- [The case against comments](https://coywolf.com/blog/the-case-against-comments/index.html.md): I quit using comments on all of my sites several years ago. Here’s why.
- [How to create a free URL shortener like Bitly and TinyURL with your own domain](https://coywolf.com/guides/how-to-create-self-hosted-url-shortener-custom-domain-like-bitly-tinyurl/index.html.md): You don't need a commercial service or significant resources to shorten URLs. Learn how to self-host a URL shortener with open-source software and a custom domain on a cheap shared hosting plan.
- [Why crypto is a waste of energy, full of crime, and isn't really decentralized](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/why-crypto-is-a-waste-of-energy-full-of-crime-and-isnt-really-decentralized/index.html.md): As venture capitalists pour money into Web3 and crypto, David Rosenthal meticulously explains why the overly hyped technology is extraordinarily inefficient, insecure, and more centralized than decentralized.
- [The early web was much more fun. Let's return to it.](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-early-web-was-much-more-fun-lets-return-to-it/index.html.md): Creativity and linking to other sites are what originally made the web fun and interesting. Let’s get back to doing more of that.
- [Google replaces FLoC with ‘Topics’ for cookieless targeted advertising](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/google-replaces-floc-with-topics-for-cookieless-targeted-advertising/index.html.md): Google abandons FLoC due to its lack of true federated learning and privacy controls. They are replacing it with Topics, an API that leverages browser history and provides users with more transparency and control.
- [Web3 and crypto skepticism is growing and people are finally starting to listen](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/web3-crypto-skepticism/index.html.md): Crypto skeptics have been trying to warn the public that cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme and Web3 is fake decentralization that can't fix a web that isn't broken. Critics have mainly been ignored as aggressive opportunism and skyrocketing token prices have silenced dissent. However, as crypto becomes more mainstream and people experience its downsides, critics' warnings are starting to be heard.
- [Episode 12: Interview with crypto and Web3 skeptic Stephen Diehl](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-12-stephen-diehl-interview-crypto-and-web3-skeptic/index.html.md): Stephen Diehl is a London-based software engineer working in the financial sector that has written and been outspoken about why Web3 is economically and technologically a terrible idea. In a 40-minute interview with Jon Henshaw, the two discuss the religious fervor surrounding Web3, why crypto is repeating history and will end badly, and how Web3 is already primarily centralized. They also discussed the Metaverse's potential impact on future generations and the promise no-code technology might have on society.
- [2021 recap: ending the Pro membership, buying a dot com, and restarting app development](https://coywolf.com/blog/coywolf-2021-recap/index.html.md)
- [Princeton privacy study halts GDPR/CCPA research over ethics concerns and industry blowback](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/princeton-radboud-researchers-halt-gdpr-ccpa-study-over-ethics-concerns-and-industry-blowback/index.html.md): Computer science researchers at Princeton University and Radboud University conducted an academic study that sent automated email messages to websites with GDPR and CCPA privacy policy requests from fake personas. Email operators, web admins, and privacy professionals interpreted the messages as security risks and legal threats, prompting the researchers to suspend the study and delete all communication.
- [Feedly adds RSS Builder to follow sites without RSS feeds](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/feedly-rss-builder/index.html.md): Feedly, the popular newsreader, aggregates content from Twitter, Reddit, and RSS feeds. Feedly can now follow sites that don’t have RSS feeds with its new RSS Builder tool.
- [How to secure macOS, iOS, and iPadOS on a public WiFi network](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/how-to-secure-macos-and-ios-on-a-public-wifi-network/index.html.md): Public WiFi connections have become ubiquitous, but are they safe? There's a very good chance many of them aren't, which is why you need to consider securing your MacBook, iPad, or iPhone when connecting to them.
- [Best way to backup your Mac](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/best-way-to-backup-your-mac/index.html.md): This is a tested and foolproof plan for automatically backing up your hard drive, so you never have to worry about data loss again.
- [Core Web Vitals FAQ](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/core-web-vitals-faq/index.html.md): There’s been a lot of social commentary lately about Core Web Vitals (CWV). SEOs and web developers have been debating if CWV has had any meaningful impact on search results, and more importantly if they need to concern themselves with it.
- [Chrome adds feature that disables viewing HTML source code](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/chrome-disables-html-view-source/index.html.md): To stop students from cheating on online quizzes and visiting blocked sites, Chromium developers updated ChromeOS and the Chrome browser to allow school IT administrators to disable viewing the HTML source code.
- [Twitter Blue launches with Ad-free Articles and premium features](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-blue-launch-ad-free-articles-premium-features/index.html.md): Twitter completes the transition of Scroll to Ad-free Articles with the launch of Twitter Blue in the US, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.
- [FTC warns they will seek significant civil penalties for fake reviews](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/ftc-seeks-significant-civil-penalties-for-fake-reviews/index.html.md): The Federal Trade Commission has put companies, advertisers, retailers, consumer product companies, and advertising agencies on notice about deceptive practices online.
- [1Password adds a secure sharing option for logins and sensitive data](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/1password-secure-sharing-logins-sensitive-notes/index.html.md): Login details, credit cards, and notes with sensitive information can now be securely shared with the latest version of 1Password. The new feature creates an expiring link and doesn’t require the recipient to be a 1Password customer to view the details.
- [Twitter Blue's 'Ad-Free Articles' to replace Scroll’s ad-free reading experience](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-blue-ad-free-articles-to-replace-scroll-ad-free-reading-experience/index.html.md): Scroll notified its subscribers that it would shut down as an independent service within thirty days. They said Scroll is being added to the new Twitter Blue subscription service and renamed Ad-Free Articles.
- [Fastmail launches Masked Email privacy service that's tightly integrated with 1Password](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/fastmail-masked-email-privacy-service-1password-integration/index.html.md): The Masked Email privacy service from Fastmail provides a better alternative to Apple’s Hide My Email service, comes with the option to use a custom domain, and is fully integrated into 1Password.
- [Twitter launches Professional Profiles 'About Module' for businesses](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-launches-professional-profiles-about-module-for-businesses/index.html.md): Twitter has finished testing Professional Profiles and has begun inviting select businesses to participate in an early preview of the new profile enhancement.
- [Cloudflare adds automated Signed Exchanges for Google Search](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/cloudflare-automated-signed-exchanges-sxg-for-google-search/index.html.md): Signed Exchanges enable non-AMP sites to cache pages with Google Search for near-instant delivery. The open standard is complex and has had a slow adoption rate, but Cloudflare has fully automated the process, making it trivial for sites to use
- [The deceptive patterns of Network Solutions](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/network-solutions-deceptive-patterns-domain-registration-transfers/index.html.md): Registering a domain name at Network Solutions can be tricky and pricey, and transferring a domain away from them is an unwarranted waiting game.
- [How to add QR codes to WordPress](https://coywolf.com/guides/qr-codes/index.html.md): The adoption of native QR code scanning on mobile devices, and the need for touchless communication and transactions, has breathed new life into an oft-ignored technology. Now is an excellent time to consider adding QR codes to web pages, and here’s how to do it.
- [WP Engine adds Web Rules as an .htaccess alternative](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wp-engine-web-rules-htaccess/index.html.md): WP Engine restored some of the lost functionality when they deprecated .htaccess files. The new Web Rules feature provides the ability to create rules for allowing and denying IPs.
- [Apple's search engine is Spotlight and it’s looking more like Google](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/apples-search-engine-is-spotlight/index.html.md): Spotlight search in the iOS and iPadOS 15 betas have gained rich results, and web images search results. Apple's Spotlight is poised to take market share away from Google Search because searches bypass Google's search engine entirely.
- [Updated: WordPress to improve plugin name checks to remove 'WP' trademark confusion](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/wordpress-bans-developers-from-using-wp-in-plugin-names/index.html.md): The WordPress Plugin Review Team is rejecting plugins that use WP in the name and slug. The messaging and code made it appear like a trademark issue, but it wasn't. A ticket has been created by a WordPress contributor to remove the confusion.
- [Why WebKit supports AVIF but Safari does not](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/why-webkit-supports-avif-but-safari-does-not/index.html.md): WebKit added support for the AVIF image format in April 2021, but it’s still unavailable in Safari. Its absence is because Apple chose an unconventional method for decoding images in its browser.
- [Google recommends author page URL be added to 'Article' Schema structured data](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-recommends-adding-a-link-to-the-author-page-in-article-structured-data/index.html.md): Google updated its Schema-based structured data recommendations to include linking to an author’s bio page to help it disambiguate the correct author for an article.
- [Verisign raises dot com domain name prices again](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/verisign-raises-dot-com-domain-name-prices-again/index.html.md): The price for a .com domain is going up again thanks to ICANN’s 2020 decision to allow Verisign to increase wholesale prices indefinitely. Verisign is expected to make hundreds of millions of dollars more after agreeing to pay ICANN, the non-profit in charge of coordinating domains worldwide, twenty million dollars.
- [What’s best for SEO isn’t always best for accessibility](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/whats-best-for-seo-isnt-always-best-for-accessibility/index.html.md): I’ve written about how SEO has made the web more accessible, but this week I was reminded that what’s best for SEO isn’t always what’s best for accessibility.
- [WordPress 5.8 adds native WebP image format support](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-native-webp-image-format-support/index.html.md): The latest version of WordPress now fully supports WebP images without the need for plugins or additional code.
- [Backblaze makes its cloud backup service faster and more efficient](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/backblaze-computer-cloud-backup-faster-more-efficient/index.html.md): Backblaze released a new version of its cloud backup service that supports significantly faster online backups, reduces hard drive writes and does a better job at managing bandwidth and system load. The update also coincides with a price increase.
- ['Product-Led SEO' is a blueprint for leveraging SEO for organic growth](https://coywolf.com/reviews/books/product-led-seo-book-review-eli-schwartz/index.html.md): Eli Schwartz outlines a comprehensive approach to incorporating SEO into product development to help propel growth via search engines.
- ['Big Mail' first look: New email app attempts to make reading email enjoyable again](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/big-mail-first-look/index.html.md): The Not So Big Company launched its Apple-centric multi-platform email client, Big Mail. The new email app has a stunning design, distraction-free reading, and a contact filtering tool that’s similar to Basecamp’s HEY.
- [Neeva makes invites available and adds Slack integration](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/neeva-invites-and-connected-apps/index.html.md): The ad-free, privacy-first, and highly personalized search engine, Neeva, provided current users with invite links and added the ability to search Slack workspaces.
- [When Ubiquiti said no, but the Apple silicon M1 chip said yes](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/when-ubiquiti-said-no-but-apple-silicon-m1-chip-said-yes/index.html.md): Ubiquiti’s free Teleport VPN software enables customers to use their iPhone to connect securely to their home network via Ubiquiti’s AmpliFi consumer Wi-Fi routers. Ubiquiti publicly stated they would not port it to macOS, but the Apple M1 chip runs the iOS app on macOS perfectly.
- [LinkedIn adds option to include pronouns to user profiles](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/linkedin-adds-pronouns-to-profiles/index.html.md): Timed with the start of the LGBTQ+ Pride Month, LinkedIn has added the option to include pronouns to Profiles.
- [Why your next website may be hosted by your peers](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/next-website-hosted-on-ipfs/index.html.md): Serving files on the internet is centralized. IPFS is providing an opportunity to decentralize file serving and place control back into the hands of makers.
- [Google ❤️ emojis: How to bring more attention to your search snippets 👋](https://coywolf.com/guides/google-loves-emojis/index.html.md): Emojis 😀 are frequently used in social media 🐦, email 📧, and messaging 💬, but not on websites 💻. Google Search’s support for emojis presents an opportunity for publishers to make their search snippets stand out.
- [Schema Markup Validator launches, replacing Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/schema-markup-validator/index.html.md): Google will be deprecating its Structured Data Testing Tool soon. Its replacement, the Schema Markup Validator, quietly went live as a beta version.
- [Pinata launches dedicated IPFS gateways with custom domains](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/dedicated-ipfs-gateway-custom-domain/index.html.md): Creating an IPFS gateway with a personal domain just became incredibly easy to do with Pinata’s new dedicated gateway feature.
- ['X' (formerly Twitter) testing ticketed Spaces](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-ticketed-spaces/index.html.md): Ticketed Spaces will allow X (formerly Twitter) users to schedule live audio, sell tickets to access the stream, and limit attendance.
- [Shopify adds Amazon order tracking to Shop app](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-adds-amazon-order-tracking-to-shop-app/index.html.md): Shopify updated its Shop app tracking feature to include automatic tracking of Amazon orders.
- [IPFS may be the future of file hosting and content delivery](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/ipfs/index.html.md): In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) made it affordable for independent web developers to build apps without the high cost. IPFS is positioned to transform the industry again through its free and high-availability distributed-web model.
- [Mozilla permanently removing FTP access from Firefox](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/mozilla-removes-ftp-from-firefox/index.html.md): After a year-long delay because of the concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mozilla announces they are disabling FTP in version 88 of Firefox and will altogether remove it in version 90.
- [Neeva first look: What the ad-free Google Search alternative is like](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/neeva/index.html.md): Neeva is a privacy-first ad-free and tracking-free search engine created by ex-Googlers. The search engine is still being developed, is currently in the alpha stage, and requires an invite and onboarding experience to use it.
- [New IBM patent uses IoT devices, eye-tracking, mics, and cameras to help make you a better writer](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/ibm-patent-iot-devices-eye-tracking-mics-cameras-to-make-writing-recommendations/index.html.md): IBM was awarded a new patent that uses cognitive systems and invasive monitoring to improve writing composition via automated behavioral and content recommendations.
- [Twitter updates two-factor authentication (2FA) to support multiple hardware security keys](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-2fa-login-multiple-hardware-security-keys/index.html.md): Twitter accounts can now add several hardware security keys that are used for two-factor authentication on different devices.
- [TextBuddy is a new macOS app that transforms, sorts, captures, and filters text](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/textbuddy-app-transform-sort-capture-filter-plain-text/index.html.md): The new TextBuddy app created by Retina Studio, an independent software development company in Nashville, TN, is a Swiss Army knife-like tool with over 130 commands for manipulating plain text.
- [The golden age of monitoring all the things](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-golden-age-of-monitoring-all-the-things/index.html.md): Several years ago, if you wanted to monitor something, you either did it yourself or paid someone to do it. And if the person you were paying to watch that special thing detected a problem, you would get notified via pager. We have come a long way from that time.
- [Little Warden is an essential site monitoring tool for publishers and agencies](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/little-warden-review-essential-site-monitoring-tool/index.html.md): Created for webmasters, site owners, and agencies, Little Warden automatically checks and monitors everything important for site health and SEO. As soon as it detects an issue, it sends an alert to help you address problems quickly.
- [How to add VideoObject Schema structured data to Cloudflare Stream videos in WordPress](https://coywolf.com/guides/add-videoobject-schema-cloudflare-stream-video-wordpress/index.html.md): Watch pages must have VideoObject Schema.org structured data to help videos hosted and served from Cloudflare Stream get indexed in Google Search. This guide shows how to add it in WordPress.
- [Interview with Dom Hodgson, Founder of Little Warden](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/dom-hodgson-interview-little-warden/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviewed Dom Hodgson about comedy, silly costumes, his love for Disney, why he created Little Warden, and how struggling entrepreneurs can find hope and happiness.
- [How to leverage Cloudflare and IPFS distributed web to host a free high-availability site](https://coywolf.com/guides/ipfs-distributed-web-cloudflare-host-site/index.html.md): The IPFS distributed web makes it easy to share files across the web from a home computer. Cloudflare can extend IPFS by allowing you to use a custom domain at no cost.
- [Memberful is the best membership solution for WordPress and beyond](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/memberful-review/index.html.md): Memberful provides a robust, easy-to-use membership management service that's ideal for WordPress. Additionally, their third-party integrations, OAuth 2.0 support, and API enable Memberful to be used without WordPress and with custom applications.
- [The beauty of HTML](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/the-beauty-of-html/index.html.md): In this issue, I discuss the enjoyment and utility of discovering new tags, why HTML is the best method for creating accessible sites, and how to get alerts when Google makes changes to rich result requirements.
- [There’s already a better way to do that new thing you just started doing](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/always-a-better-way/index.html.md): I love the internet because it's the most incredible communication tool ever invented. The fact that I can publish an HTML page and anyone in the world with unfettered internet access can read it still amazes me. I also love it because it's always changing and adapting. Even if you think you're using the latest, greatest thing, there's already something new being cooked up. People continuously strive to make things better, and that excites me. It represents humanity at its best.
- [Twitter’s 'bluesky' releases Ecosystem Review of decentralized protocols and apps](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-bluesky-decentralized-social-ecosystem-review/index.html.md): The Bluesky initiative, a project focused on creating a decentralized social network backed by Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey, shared a 61-page Ecosystem Review of viable protocols and apps.
- [Episode 11: Fabric CEO Faisal Masud and Co-founder Ryan Bartley discuss startups, the problem with low-touch platforms, and the unique capabilities of headless commerce](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-11-fabric-ceo-faisal-masud-and-co-founder-ryan-bartley-discuss-headless-commerce-and-the-future-of-ecommerce/index.html.md): Fabric Co-founder Ryan Bartley discusses how Fabric went from an idea to a startup company, and CEO Faisal Masud reveals Shopify Plus’ Achilles heel. Then they talk about what companies can do with headless commerce.
- [Interview with Fabric Co-founder Ryan Bartley and CEO Faisal Masud](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/interview-fabric-headless-commerce-ryan-bartley-faisal-masud/index.html.md): I met with Fabric Co-founder Ryan Bartley and CEO Faisal Masud to discuss commerce challenges, how they're attempting to solve those problems, and what we can expect from ecommerce in the future.
- [Adobe Flash Player now blocks all Flash content from playing](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/adobe-flash-player-now-blocks-flash-content-from-playing/index.html.md): The twenty-five-year-old Adobe Flash Player is now end of life and will no longer play Flash content. Adobe is urging all users to uninstall it immediately.
- [Making a better experience on the web](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/making-a-better-experience-on-the-web/index.html.md): Today is December 42, 2020. That joke is getting old now, but it still seems relevant as I write this newsletter. If you’re like me, you’re caught in a vicious cycle of doomscrolling and voraciously consuming news. I don’t want to know, but I feel the need to know, so I look, can’t turn away, and get sucked in.
- [Signal AMA on Reddit: Team reveals future plans and discusses privacy, security, and funding](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/signal-ama-on-reddit/index.html.md): The privacy-focused messenger, Signal, is experiencing record growth, partly due to WhatsApp's changes, its usage in the Hong Kong protests, and Elon Musk promoting it. To better engage with their users, many of which are new, they held an AMA on Reddit to answer questions about the app.
- [Google awarded patent for dynamic knowledge panels in productivity apps](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-in-app-knowledge-panel-patent/index.html.md): A U.S. patent recently awarded to Google describes integrating dynamic knowledge panels into apps, like Google Docs. The feature enables users to research without leaving the app and provides Google another channel for its shopping and ad networks.
- [Facebook adds support for uploading AVIF images](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/facebook-adds-avif-image-format-support/index.html.md): Chrome and Firefox users can now upload AVIF images to Facebook posts. Facebook automatically converts the AVIF images to JPEG format.
- [2020 recap: the past, present, and future](https://coywolf.com/blog/2020-recap/index.html.md)
- [Core Web Vitals optimization tips from Chrome Dev Summit 2020](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/core-web-vitals-chrome-dev-summit-2020/index.html.md): Google dedicated several presentations to Core Web Vitals (CWV) at their virtual 2020 Chrome Dev Summit. They provided details on how CWV are scored, the most common issues that affect the scores, and CSS tips and tricks to improve page scores.
- [Pixelmator Pro adds ‘Export for Web’ for the WebP image format](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/pixelmator-pro-webp-image-format-export-for-web/index.html.md): A much-anticipated feature, exporting optimized WebP images, is coming to the next version of Pixelmator Pro. The new feature will enable web designers and developers on macOS to switch from using JPG and PNG images to solely using the WebP image format for sites.
- [Give me some privacy and security, please](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/give-me-some-privacy-and-security-please/index.html.md)
- [WordPress adds support for video captions and subtitles](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-video-captions-subtitles/index.html.md): The release of WordPress 5.6 contained several accessibility improvements, including the ability to add captions and subtitles to videos using the Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT).
- [YubiKey has the best hardware security keys for two-factor authentication (2FA)](https://coywolf.com/reviews/products/yubico-yubikey-multi-factor-security-key/index.html.md): The diverse YubiKey options enable you to use the best security key for each device. They are more convenient and secure than SMS, email, and authenticator apps, which provides peace of mind that essential accounts are safer from being hacked.
- [Let's make things better](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/lets-make-things-better/index.html.md): 'There is another core web update, and there's nothing you can do about it!' Search Liaison, aka Danny Sullivan, screamed out into the SEO void this week. Then a maniacal laugh could be heard as he excessively pet a nearby kitten until it squeaked out a tiny 'meow' for help.
- ['Big Mail' continues the endless fight to make email better](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/big-mail-email-app/index.html.md): 'The Not So Big Company' opened up its beta registration for their new email app called Big Mail. They are the latest company attempting to fix how we experience email.
- [How to protect WordPress with Cloudflare’s Firewall](https://coywolf.com/guides/cloudflare-firewall-wordpress-protection/index.html.md): The popularity of WordPress has made it a frequent target for spammers and hackers. WordPress sites can leverage Cloudflare's Firewall to block bad actors from ever reaching their site. Here's how.
- [Don't do ALL THE THINGS!](https://coywolf.com/newsletter/dont-do-all-the-things/index.html.md)
- [Cloudflare’s Automatic Platform Optimization makes it possible to self-host high availability WordPress sites from your home](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/cloudflares-automatic-platform-optimization-wordpress-high-availability-hosting-from-home/index.html.md): Until now, I would have never recommended to anyone that they should host their WordPress site from their home network, but Cloudflare’s Automatic Platform Optimization (APO) has changed my mind. Here’s why it’s now a viable option.
- [DOJ suit against Google renews Apple search engine speculation](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/doj-suit-against-google-renews-apple-search-engine-speculation/index.html.md): The Department of Justice lawsuit against Google has the tech industry further speculating that Apple may be readying the launch of a new search engine.
- [Cloudflare 'Browser Isolation' makes remote browser isolation (RBI) faster and more secure](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloudflare-browser-isolation/index.html.md): As part of Cloudflare’s Zero Trust week, the company announced a new SASE product called Browser Isolation. The service enables companies using Cloudflare's SASE to securely browse cloud-hosted sites while rendering web pages locally in Google Chrome.
- [Shopify rolls out support for international domains and multiple languages with a focus on SEO](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-international-domains/index.html.md): Shopify is helping online stores expand their presence into other countries and languages. The new international features are also optimized for search engines thanks to the automated creation of hreflang links and sitemaps.
- [International SEO: What works and what doesn’t](https://coywolf.com/guides/international-seo/index.html.md): A lot can go wrong with international SEO, and resources describing how to do it correctly are outdated. I ran a series of tests to find out the best way to optimize sites for multiple languages and locales. The results may surprise you.
- [New ‘Do Not Track’ signal for browsers is designed to simplify privacy and be legally enforceable](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/do-not-track-global-privacy-control-signal/index.html.md): Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a proposed standard for a browser signal that communicates to sites and services not to sell or share personal information. Unlike past ‘do not track’ efforts, this standard is designed to enforce existing and future laws.
- [Cloudflare launches Automatic Platform Optimization (APO) for WordPress: Here’s how to install it](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/cloudflare-automatic-platform-optimization-for-wordpress/index.html.md): Cloudflare announced a new site speed optimization service called Automatic Platform Optimization. The service launched with support for WordPress, but it requires several steps to enable it for self-hosted sites.
- [Twitter rolling out a feature that increases referral traffic by up to 40% for shared articles](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-read-article-before-retweet-prompt/index.html.md): The Twitter Communication team announced the success of a test that prompts users to read articles before they Retweet. They plan to make the feature available to everyone globally.
- [Cloudflare's WARP VPN allows multi-platform license sharing](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloudflare-warp-vpn-multi-platform-license-sharing/index.html.md): Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 VPN has an unlimited and faster option called WARP+. The company allows WARP+ subscriptions to be used on up to five devices.
- [The triumphant return of email newsletters](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/newsletters/index.html.md): Amongst the social network and RSS feeds and site and app push notifications, email newsletters refuse to go away. Every time we see a new medium for consuming information, we are quick to abandon newsletters, hoping we’ve found its successor. But we keep coming back to it, and it’s always there waiting to take us back in, waiting for us to re-subscribe.
- [Cloudflare launches beta of 1.1.1.1 VPN with WARP for macOS and Windows](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloudflare-1-1-1-1-warp-vpn-beta-macos-windows/index.html.md): First announced in April 2020, Cloudflare has finally released beta versions of its 1.1.1.1 VPN with WARP for macOS and Windows. The VPN service also includes support for 1.1.1.1 for Families, which blocks malware and adult sites.
- [CleanMyMac is an essential macOS app for maintenance, anti-malware, privacy, and speed](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/cleanmymac/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw reviews CleanMyMac; an essential app used to optimize macOS to keep it fast and secure.
- [Apple showing signs it may soon launch a search engine to compete against Google Search](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/apple-search-engine/index.html.md): Changes in Spotlight Search on iOS and iPadOS 14 beta, a significant update to its Applebot support page, and an increase in crawling from AppleBot signify that Apple may be launching a search engine soon.
- [Google adding “Fast page” label to Chrome browser](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-adding-fast-page-label-to-chrome-browser/index.html.md): Google is utilizing Core Web Vitals to label web pages as fast in the next version of its Chrome browser.
- [WordPress 5.5 now has automatic updates for plugins and themes, but you may want to avoid it](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-auto-update/index.html.md): A much-anticipated feature was added to version 5.5 of WordPress. The popular CMS gained the ability to turn on auto-updates for plugins and themes. However, the new feature comes with risks.
- [How to leverage Cloudflare Stream for high-availability and low-cost video streaming](https://coywolf.com/guides/cloudflare-stream/index.html.md): Cloudflare is best known for protecting and optimizing site performance, but they have a lesser-known scalable video streaming service that is full-featured and affordable.
- [AVIF, a next-gen image format for the web, will have to wait in line behind WebP](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/avif-versus-webp-image-format/index.html.md): WebP is on the verge of replacing JPEG and PNG as the best image to use on the web thanks to Safari 14 finally supporting it. However, an even better image format, AVIF, is already looking to replace it.
- [Google testing $50 monthly fee for 'Google Guaranteed' badge in organic GMB local search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/gmb-google-guaranteed-badge-fee/index.html.md): The 'Google Guaranteed' consumer protection program has been reserved for businesses using Google Ads. Google has started testing making the badge available to profiles using Google My Business (GMB) for a fee.
- [How 'Core Web Vitals' focus on UX will directly impact the future of site strategy and development](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/core-web-vitals/index.html.md): Google created a new standard for websites with the introduction of Core Web Vitals. The new metrics will force sites to address performance and UX issues or risk losing visibility and traffic from Google starting in 2021.
- [iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 betas bypass Google Search on iPhones and iPads with Spotlight Search](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/ios-ipados-14-spotlight-search-google-threat/index.html.md): Apple introduced a new Spotlight Search feature to iOS and iPadOS 14 that enables users to search and go directly to a site, completely bypassing Google’s search result pages.
- [Head of Google Ads to run Search. Move concerns SEO veterans about the future of search](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-ads-search-concerns/index.html.md): Google announced Prabhakar Raghavan, former head of Google Ads, is changing roles to head Google Search while simultaneously overseeing Ads. The move diminishes the traditional separation of product teams and has SEOs concerned about how it might affect organic search results.
- [New YouTube 'Video Chapters' builds upon timestamp bookmarks](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/youtube-video-chapters/index.html.md): YouTube extended its timestamp bookmarks feature to enable Video Chapters for videos. The chapters are displayed on videos as individual clips, making it easier for viewers to identify and jump to different segments.
- [Do not disturb: How to use smarts lights at home to reduce Zoom and Slack call interruptions](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/working-from-home-smart-lights-avoid-call-interruptions/index.html.md): The best way for remote workers to prevent family members from being too loud and interrupting video and phone conference calls is to use smart lights around your home. This solution works with HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Nest smart home platforms.
- [The importance of disambiguation for increasing visibility on Google](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/disambiguation-visibility-google/index.html.md): Eliminating ambiguity in page content can increase Google's confidence in its topic relevance and result in better visibility on Google Search
- [Google significantly changes how it measures page performance with the release of Lighthouse 6.0](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-lighthouse-6/index.html.md): A new version of Google’s Lighthouse auditing tool dramatically changed how it calculates its score by removing two metrics and adding three new ones. The change in metrics signals a major shift in how Google is determining page performance.
- [ICANN rejects sale of .org to private equity firm citing public interest](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/icann-rejects-org-sale/index.html.md): In a dramatic chain of events, the ICANN Board unanimously blocked its consent for Internet Society (ISOC) to change ownership of the non-profit Public Interest Registry (PIR) to the private equity firm Ethos Capital.
- [Shopify launches Shop app to better compete against Amazon](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-shop-app/index.html.md): The new Shop app by Shopify consolidates stores into a cohesive shopping experience. Unlike its competitors, Shopify made the service only available as a native mobile app, which is reminiscent of Quibi’s recent launch.
- [Interview with Trevor Denton, Head of Design and Discovery at Route](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/trevor-denton-interview/index.html.md): I met with Trevor Denton while he was a Product Designer at Quibi to discuss his journey working with Starbucks and Snapchat, and the design opportunities and challenges he faced while helping to create Quibi.
- [Chrome 81 breaks the ability to bold system fonts on Macs](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/chrome-81-breaks-system-fonts-bold/index.html.md): A style bug in version 81 of the Google Chrome browser was discovered before it was released, but a decision was made to not fix it until the next version. Sites that default to the system font can no longer fully bold text for users on macOS Catalina.
- [Speedtest VPN adds paid tier and now supports iPadOS](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/speedtest-vpn-ipad-paid/index.html.md): Ookla ended beta testing of its Speedtest VPN and added a $4.99/mo unlimited data plan. The newest release now supports iPadOS in addition to iOS and Android.
- [Embracing the block: Why it's finally time to switch to Gutenberg](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/gutenberg-block-editor/index.html.md): Gutenberg has evolved from a clumsy UX mess into an elegant must use editor. Here’s why you should consider switching to it and how it can help you create better content for both readers and search engines.
- [COVID-19 makes Google Ads delay controversial changes to its Partners badge program until 2021](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/coronavirus-google-ads-delays-partners-badge-program-2021/index.html.md): Agencies unhappy with the upcoming changes to the Google Partners badge program received a temporary reprieve from Google Ads. Google emailed its partners to inform them that the new changes were delayed until 2021 because of the impact coronavirus has had on businesses.
- [Topicbox is a hybrid group messaging tool for teams](https://coywolf.com/reviews/software/topicbox/index.html.md): Fastmail leveraged its experience with email and web apps to create Topicbox. The hybrid group messaging service allows each team member the option to use email or discussion forums for the same topic thread.
- [How to use ‘content patterns’ to mimic structured data and get list-based featured snippets](https://coywolf.com/guides/content-patterns/index.html.md): Content patterns leverage Google’s ability to parse and structure content without the need for Schema structured data. The result is a better understanding of page content and an increased chance of getting list-based featured snippets.
- [Mozilla launches Firefox Better Web, a service that removes ads and tracking from news sites](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/mozilla-launches-firefox-better-web-a-service-that-removes-ads-and-tracking-from-news-sites/index.html.md): Mozilla debuted a new subscription service with Scroll that provides an ad-free experience on partner sites and enhanced tracking protection with its Firefox web browser.
- [ATTN: Digital marketers and webmasters, storefronts and restaurants need our help](https://coywolf.com/blog/coronavirus/index.html.md)
- [The benefits of being a news source in Google News](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-news-benefits/index.html.md): Google News can provide a significant boost in brand exposure and traffic. Jon Henshaw shares details about Coywolf News and what sites can expect after they get into Google News.
- [Most web developers are using inaccessible number inputs on forms and here is how to fix it](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/accessible-number-input/index.html.md): A common form input type that's used by most web developers to make filling out numbers on forms easier isn't fully accessible. The GOV.UK Design System team published the correct way to make entering numbers accessible for everyone.
- [Fastmail is beta testing more powerful email Rules and Filters](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/fastmail-rules-filters/index.html.md): Fastmail customers that have opted into using beta features can now access more robust email Rules and Filters. The upgrade includes the ability to block individual emails or entire domains and allows more actions per Rule.
- [Twitter is testing disappearing Tweets called 'Fleets'](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-fleet-disappearing-tweets/index.html.md): Twitter enabled a new feature called Fleets in Brazil. Fleets capture fleeting thoughts, and they disappear after 24 hours, similar to Facebook and Instagram Stories.
- [Email tracking privacy concerns may force email service providers to change what they report](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/open-click-tracking-privacy/index.html.md): All major email service providers (ESPs) track message open rates and link clicks. There are now renewed concerns by some privacy advocates that this practice equates to spying on users.
- [Amazon Lightsail offers cheap WordPress hosting in the cloud](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/cheap-cloud-wordpress-hosting/index.html.md): Webmasters can host WordPress sites for as cheap as $3.50/mo using the Amazon Lightsail cloud platform. While Lightsail is marketed as easy-to-use, it’s still significantly more complicated to set up and maintain than using a managed hosting provider.
- [How to add Open Graph and X/Twitter Card metadata and optimize images for social media](https://coywolf.com/guides/open-graph-twitter-card-image-optimization/index.html.md): Using Open Graph and X (formerly Twitter) Card metadata enhances links when they're shared on social networks, and optimizing Open Graph and X Card images can increase engagement and referral traffic.
- [Google Ads is forcing agencies to use its recommendations or risk losing their Google Partners badge](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/google-ads-partner-badge-controversy/index.html.md): Google Ads is changing the requirements for its Google Partners badge program by the end of June 2020. One change, in particular, requires partners to adopt a high percentage of recommendations that are made by Google’s machine learning or risk losing their badge. Agencies are claiming Google’s optimizations are ignoring their expertise and don’t make sense for their clients’ campaigns.
- [Google adds notification permission data to Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX)](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/google-notification-permission-data-crux/index.html.md): Google is now storing the decisions visitors make when they get prompted by a site to receive notifications. The dataset is available in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) and is being made accessible to sites via Google's BigQuery tool. The goal is to educate publishers and suppress notifications for sites that have a high Block rate.
- [WordPress local development tool 'Local' now works with WP Engine](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-local-development-wp-engine/index.html.md): Eight months after WP Engine acquired Flywheel, they are launching a new version of Flywheel's local WordPress development tool, Local, with full support for WP Engine. The latest version of Local seamlessly integrates DevKit, making it possible to develop sites locally and to push changes live to WP Engine with the click of a button.
- [Open-source URL shortener ‘YOURLS’ gets updated with Bitly-like random keyword plugin](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/open-source-url-shortener-yourls/index.html.md): The popular open-source URL shortener, YOURLS, was updated to version 1.7.6. The update adds a Bitly-like URL randomizer to the core set of plugins and fixes various bugs. Users that rely on the software are also encouraged to sponsor its development via Open Collective.
- [Campaign Monitor urges users to update API keys now for security](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/campaign-monitor-update-api-keys/index.html.md): Campaign Monitor recently strengthened the security of its API and is sending email messages to customers urging them to update their API keys now. They plan to start deprecating the old API keys soon.
- [ICANN allows Verisign to start increasing .com prices indefinitely](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/icann-allows-verisign-to-start-increasing-com-prices-indefinitely/index.html.md): ICANN announced that Verisign can start increasing .com wholesale domain pricing 7% every year for four years, with a two-year break, indefinitely. Verisign will increase its revenue by at least 70% over ten years (an additional $800m) in exchange for giving ICANN $20m.
- [Modern Tribe launches major upgrade of its WordPress event calendar plugin](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/event-calendar-plugin-wordpress/index.html.md): The best calendar plugin for WordPress, The Events Calendar, released a new version that was rebuilt from the ground up. The new plugin, version 5, includes a completely redesigned calendar view and experience.
- [Developer offers a glimpse of what a ‘Solid’ decentralized social network presence might look like](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/solid-profile-design/index.html.md): The standards-based initiative to decentralize social media data known as Solid has been difficult for most people to visualize. Angelo Veltens, a developer and IT consultant, recently shared an example of what a person’s identity could look like using Solid.
- [WP Engine will no longer support .htaccess with release of PHP 7.4](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wp-engine-deprecating-htaccess-php-7-4/index.html.md): The popular WordPress hosting platform, WP Engine, is removing the ability to use .htaccess files when sites upgrade to PHP 7.4. They claim the deprecation results in a performance increase of up to 10%, and they are providing .htaccess alternatives.
- [Google is completely removing FTP access from Chrome](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/chrome-removing-ftp/index.html.md): Users of the Chrome browser will no longer be able to view FTP directories or download files from FTP servers.
- [Semantic HTML elements that are rarely used but should be](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/semantic-html-elements/index.html.md): Living Standard HTML (aka HTML 5) has added new elements over the past several years to help fill in content ambiguity gaps for bots and humans. Some of the elements aren’t frequently used but may improve UX, accessibility, and search visibility.
- [Pixelmator Pro adds image upscaling that maintains clarity for enlarged pixelated images](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/pixelmator-pro-image-upscaling/index.html.md): The popular image editing app for macOS, Pixelmator Pro, added a featured called ML Super Resolution. The feature uses machine learning and a convolutional neural network to increase the size and resolution of raster images.
- [Ookla adds free VPN to Speedtest app for iOS](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/ookla-speedtest-vpn/index.html.md): A new version of the Speedtest app for iPhone and iPad includes a preview version of its free VPN service.
- [Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announces Bluesky, an initiative to create a decentralized social media standard](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-decentralized-social-media/index.html.md): Jack Dorsey made a surprise announcement that Twitter is funding a small team of software architects, engineers, and designers to create an open-source standard for social media.
- [Domain prices are unregulated and rising at an alarming rate](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/unregulated-domain-prices-rising/index.html.md): The days of enjoying reasonably priced domain names may be coming to an end. Generic top-level domain (gTLD) owners have been significantly raising their annual fees as their extensions gain in popularity.
- [Alphabet is quietly fighting attacks on free speech through its Jigsaw incubator](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/jigsaw-free-speech-projects/index.html.md): Jigsaw has six projects it's currently working on to help activists and journalists protect their freedom of speech. They include technology to prevent hacking and to detect disinformation campaigns.
- [How to create a custom automated RSS email newsletter with Campaign Monitor](https://coywolf.com/guides/rss-newsletter/index.html.md): Campaign Monitor supports the ability to automatically create and send email newsletters based on Really Simple Syndication. This guide provides a walkthrough for creating a custom RSS-compatible template.
- [Feedly launches Pro+ account with new AI-powered features](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/feedly-pro-plus-leo-ai/index.html.md): Feedly debuted a major upgrade to its content discovery and reading app. The new Pro+ account uses its Leo AI technology to surface content based on interest and usage, and includes deduplication and mute filters.
- ['Solid' Decentralized social apps, where users control their data and privacy, could replace Facebook](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/solid-decentralized-network/index.html.md): Tim Berners-Lee’s vision for personal data ownership and privacy on the web gains traction as more companies are committing resources to make Solid-based apps.
- [Report says ads.txt usage is up but impact on invalid traffic is minimal](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/ads-txt-report/index.html.md): The Pixelate Q3 2019 Advertising Trends Report found that more publishers are including ads.txt on their sites, but it may not be having any effect on reducing invalid traffic.
- [Coywolf Starter Theme for WordPress](https://coywolf.com/guides/wordpress-starter-theme/index.html.md): Download Coywolf’s barebones WordPress theme that is mobile-first, uses no JavaScript, and is incredibly fast.
- [Podcast creation app, Descript, adds filler word detection and removal to audio editor](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/podcast-filler-word-detection-removal/index.html.md): Leveraging its Lyrebird AI technology, Descript has added the ability to find ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’ in podcast transcriptions, and then seamlessly remove them from audio recordings.
- [Carbonite online backup service gets acquired by OpenText](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/carbonite-online-backup/index.html.md): The cloud-based backup service for consumers and businesses, Carbonite, was bought by OpenText, an enterprise information management company for $1.42 billion.
- [App Journal: Avoiding UX frustration by removing friction and making decisions for the user](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/remove-friction/index.html.md): It’s easy to dream up features, but getting the UX right for those features is typically a difficult task for most designers and developers. More often than not, the final product tries to do too much, and adds unnecessary steps to accomplish what should be simple tasks.
- [AmpliFi adds free VPN to its consumer Wi-Fi routers](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/amplifi-teleport-vpn/index.html.md): Ubiquiti Networks updated its AmpliFi consumer Wi-Fi routers to support VPN connections. The new feature is called Teleport and it enables iOS and Android devices to securely connect to home networks.
- [Episode 10: Drew Strojny discusses creating Memberful and why startups should run lean](https://coywolf.com/podcast/drew-strojny-memberful/index.html.md): Drew Strojny, Founder of Memberful, discusses how his frustration to find a good subscription service led him to create his own software, and how being a lean startup helped him during periods of slow growth.
- [Interview with Drew Strojny, Founder of Memberful](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/drew-strojny-interview/index.html.md): I spoke to Drew Strojny, Founder of Memberful, and we discussed his journey from playing in the NFL to creating the popular membership service for WordPress. Drew also shared details about being acquired by Patreon, and what people can expect next from Memberful.
- [Fathom Analytics adds single page application (SPA) tracking](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/fathom-spa-tracking/index.html.md): The privacy-focused web analytics service, Fathom, added the ability to track page views on sites that use SPA frameworks like Ember, React, and Angular.
- [Getting embed with BERT](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/bert/index.html.md): How does BERT affect SEO, and is there a way to optimize for it? AJ Kohn provided Coywolf with insights on how SEOs should respond to the latest Google update.
- [Firefox 70 shows inactive CSS and how to fix it](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/firefox-dev-tools-css/index.html.md): The Developer Tools in the latest version of the Firefox browser can now highlight Cascading Stylesheet properties and values that are not properly implemented, and provide details on how to fix them
- [Vimeo updates video player to be more accessible](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/vimeo-accessibility/index.html.md): The popular video service for creators and brands updated its video player to support the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ Level AA compliance.
- [Chrome, Firefox, and Safari now support dark mode for websites](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/dark-mode/index.html.md): Websites can now add support for native dark mode for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android by using the prefers-color-scheme CSS media query.
- [Backblaze adds 'forever' version history to its automated cloud backup service](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/backblaze-version-history/index.html.md): Backblaze released version 7.0 of its popular online backup app for Windows and Mac. The new version now supports saving version history for up to one year or forever.
- [Campaign Monitor acquires Conversio and launches ecommerce automation tool](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/campaign-monitor-ecommerce-automation/index.html.md): Campaign Monitor has turned its acquisition of Conversio into a new ecommerce email product named CM Commerce. The new service works with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce and automates customer communication.
- [You can now host static sites on Cloudflare](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/cloudflare-static-website/index.html.md): Cloudflare has leveraged its Workers platform to host static sites on its Edge caching servers, removing the need for a web hosting service.
- [Chrome to block images, audio, and video that aren’t secure](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/chrome-blocking-nonsecure-assets/index.html.md): To increase privacy and security, and to improve the user experience when people visit sites with mixed content (sites that serve assets with http and https), Google is transitioning Chrome to block all non-secure assets.
- [Twilio’s SendGrid launches Email Validation API](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/sendgrid-email-validation-api/index.html.md): SendGrid has created an email validation service to help email marketers reduce their bounce rates and maintain deliverability to mailbox providers.
- [How SEO has made the web more accessible for everyone](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/accessibility/index.html.md): Search engines like Google are dependent on the same accessibility attributes that many people depend on to comprehend and navigate sites. Search engine optimizers have unwittingly made the web more accessible, and they are in the best position to make it even better.
- [Cloudflare launches WARP VPN for iOS and Android](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/cloudflare-launches-warp-vpn/index.html.md): The 1.1.1.1 app by Cloudflare has been updated with a plug-n-play VPN that automatically secures mobile traffic on smartphones. It’s currently available in Google Play and the App Store.
- [Zeus Prime: Amazon's Jeff Bezos targets Google Ads and Facebook with new ad network](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/zeus-prime-ad-network/index.html.md): The Washington Post announced the launch of Zeus Prime, an automated way for advertisers to buy premium advertising. They plan to make it available to any publisher on any content management system.
- [GitHub to make software deployment more secure with purchase of Semmle](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/github-buys-semmle/index.html.md): Microsoft’s GitHub acquired Semmle, a code analysis platform for finding zero-days and automating variant analysis.
- [Google brings YouTube timestamp bookmarks (Video Segments) to its search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-video-segments/index.html.md): YouTube’s test of timestamp bookmarks has become a feature in Google Search. Video producers that don’t publish videos on YouTube will be able to use Schema structured data to achieve the same results.
- [Google testing native contact picker in Chrome 77 for Android](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/chrome-contact-picker-api/index.html.md): In an attempt to bring more native app functionality to PWAs, Google has created a Contact Picker API to allow websites to access contact details.
- [WP Engine removes a popular plugin from their disallowed list](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wp-engine-removes-a-popular-plugin-from-their-disallowed-list/index.html.md): WP Engine worked with Wordfence to make their security plugin compatible with its hosting service and to remove it from WP Engine’s infamous Disallowed Plugins list
- [Shopify acquires 6 River Systems’ robotic army to strengthen their Fulfillment Network](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-acquires-6-river-systems/index.html.md): Amazon may have more competition soon after Shopify’s acquisition of 6 River Systems, maker of cloud-based fulfillment software and mobile robots
- [DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) coming to Chrome and Firefox browsers](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/dns-over-https-chrome-firefox/index.html.md): In a move to force mass adoption of DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), Mozilla and Google are adding DoH to their browsers, and they plan to turn it on by default for all users.
- [Feedly is developing an AI tool to help its users prioritize articles from RSS feeds](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/feedly-leo-rss-news-feed-ai/index.html.md): Feedly is working on an artificial intelligence research assistant named Leo that can automatically analyze and personalize results from RSS feeds based on a user’s interests and behaviors.
- [Google releases official ‘Native Lazyload’ plugin for WordPress](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-native-lazyload-plugin/index.html.md): Sites using WordPress can now take advantage of Chrome’s new native lazy-loading support with Google’s new Native Lazyload plugin. The plugin uses a JavaScript fallback for lazy-loading if a browser doesn’t support it natively.
- [WordPress releases version 5.2.3 with several security fixes](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wordpress-5-2-3-update/index.html.md): The latest security and maintenance release of WordPress includes eight security updates, including several cross-site scripting vulnerabilities.
- [Facebook is hiding Reaction (Like) counts in new test](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/facebook-hides-reaction-counts/index.html.md): In an attempt to remove pressure from its users, Facebook has extended its testing of hiding Reaction counts on social posts from Instagram to Facebook.
- [WordPress 5.3 includes fix to feature that helps keep sites from appearing in search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/wordpress-listing-fix/index.html.md): A WordPress feature that is commonly used to keep search engines from including development and staging sites in their search results has been fixed in version 5.3.
- [Google's 'Polymer Project' could replace PHP templates with their 'lit' library and web components](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/google-lit-templates-web-components/index.html.md): PHP templating engines like Twig are popular among web developers but Google is working on JavaScript solutions that have the potential to replace them. Google's Polymer Project created the JavaScript-based 'lit-html' templating library and more recently released LitElement, a solution for creating fast and lightweight web components.
- [JMAP open standard for email gets closer to replacing IMAP and SMTP](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/jmap-open-standard/index.html.md): The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recently published the specifications for JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP), a modern open standard replacement for IMAP and SMTP, that makes communicating with email servers faster and more secure.
- [AMP adds support for custom JavaScript](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/amp-custom-javascript/index.html.md): Web developers can now add custom JavaScript, including frameworks like React, to AMP pages using the new amp-script component.
- [FAQPage Schema may be driving more traffic to sites, not decreasing it](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/schema-faqpage-google-traffic/index.html.md): A common concern by search engine optimizers is losing search visits after adding FAQPage or HowTo Schema.org structured data to their pages. Distilled is reporting that they saw more traffic after implementing it on several sites.
- [Study correlates highest star review rating with lower revenue](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/online-review-higher-revenue/index.html.md): Research conducted by Womply, a SaaS that provides reputation management tools, studied over 200,000 small businesses to determine how reviews affect their revenue. They found that small businesses with the highest average rating were reported as having lower revenue.
- [Chrome web browser now supports native lazy-loading](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/chrome-native-lazy-loading/index.html.md): Lazy-loading is a common practice used to defer the display of images below the fold of a browser window and has always required JavaScript. The latest version of Chrome removes the requirement to use JavaScript.
- [Google updates Search Console with evergreen Chromium](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/evergreen-chromium-testing-tools/index.html.md): Three months after Google switched to using evergreen Chromium for their Googlebot crawler, they are now updating their search tools to also use evergreen Chromium to render pages.
- [Researchers use AI to identify content that’s been written by AI](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/ai-content-identification/index.html.md): OpenAI created a language model that can write copy so well that it's indistinguishable from a human-written text. Now researchers from Harvard and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab have created a method to identify AI-generated copy that also uses AI.
- [Google leveraging AMP to help its visitors from accidentally leaving Google and using the Back button](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-image-search-amp/index.html.md): Google announced the launch of a new feature in its Image Search that helps publishers help Google visitors not leave Google by using AMP.
- [CSS getting additional line style options for text, including spelling and grammar errors](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/css-new-line-styles/index.html.md): The W3C has proposed new ways to decorate lines that will allow web developers and designers to control the thickness and offset of lines. They are also introducing spelling and grammar error line properties.
- [Fathom Analytics launches cookie-free tracking that supports unique visits and GDPR](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/fathom-analytics-cookie-free/index.html.md): Creators of privacy-focused Fathom Analytics, Jack Ellis and Paul Jarvis, announce cookie-free tracking that anonymizes pageviews and unique visits and maintains automatic GDPR compliance.
- [How to exclude low quality sites and content from Google Alerts](https://coywolf.com/news/productivity/google-alerts-site-exclusion/index.html.md): Google Alerts is a free and useful tool that can help you stay up-to-date with current events related to a particular topic. Unfortunately, it also includes low-quality and unwanted sites in its results. This article shows you how to exclude low-quality sites so you never have to see them again.
- [App Journal: Starting development with scope control while maintaining the big picture](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/app-journal-scope/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw shares his experience of making an app for Coywolf. In the second entry of an ongoing series, Jon describes the need to control the project scope while also communicating the full vision from the outset.
- [HubSpot adds email creation, sending, and analytics to its free CRM offering](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/hubspot-email-crm/index.html.md): Marketers can now send email messages in HubSpot's free CRM. Matthew Howells-Barby, Director of Acquisition at HubSpot, explains to Coywolf News the importance of adding email to their freemium product.
- [App Journal: Finding a developer and the importance of a good consulting agreement](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/app-journal-developer-agreement/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw shares his experience of making an app for Coywolf. In the first entry of an ongoing series, Jon describes finding the right developer and why it's important to have a good consulting agreement.
- [TechRepublic reports 'Sign In with Apple' won't significantly impact tracking as originally thought](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/tracking-sign-in-with-apple/index.html.md): Apple’s proxy email service was considered a silver bullet to stop ad targeting, but Kazuki Ota, Co-founder and CTO of Arm Treasure Data, doesn't think it's going to be an encumbrance to customer tracking.
- [LinkedIn reveals how its social feed works so marketers can take more advantage of its platform](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/linkedin-feed-optimization/index.html.md): Pete Davies, Senior Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, shared insights into how their social feed's algorithm displays and promotes posts. Coywolf News asked Lyena Solomon, an SMM experienced with optimizing for LinkedIn, to clarify best practices for the Feed.
- [Episode 9: Die With Me and the trouble with Apple](https://coywolf.com/podcast/podcast-9-die-with-me/index.html.md): Dries Depoorter and David Surprenant discuss their struggle to get Apple to accept the final version of their app, Die With Me, into the App Store because it unintentionally brought attention to Apple's battery problems.
- [Die With Me: Interview with Dries Depoorter and David Surprenant](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/die-with-me/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews Belgian artist, Dries Depoorter, and interactive developer, David Surprenant, about their iOS and Android app, Die With Me.
- [Firefox Ad-free Internet is a rebrand of Scroll that picks up where Google Contributor left off](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/firefox-ad-free-internet/index.html.md): Firefox Ad-free Internet is considered a direct competitor to Apple News+ but it's more akin to Google Contributor and has the potential to upend traditional revenue models for publishers by shutting out advertisers.
- [Google removes support for crawl-delay, nofollow, and noindex rules in robots.txt](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/google-removes-noindex-nofollow-crawl-delay/index.html.md): In an attempt to reestablish robots.txt best practices and provide an extensible architecture to crawlers, Google removes well-known rules and recommends webmasters use alternative methods to accomplish similar results.
- [Google and others update and submit Robots Exclusion Protocol to create new standard](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/robots-standard/index.html.md): 25 years after the Robots Exclusion Protocol was created by Martijn Koster, Google has teamed up with its creator to address edge cases and to have robots.txt formalized as an international standard.
- [Google takes direct aim at GIPHY by adding shareable GIFs](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/google-shareable-gifs/index.html.md): Google is leveraging its acquisition of Tenor with tight integration into Image Search, making it easy for people to quickly find and share animated GIFs.
- [Site analysis of 150k SMBs reports Yelp in 92% of local SERPs but GMB still dominates](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/fresh-chalk-smb-study/index.html.md): The study identified potential trust signals for local SEO and also revealed that Yelp continues to have the most visibility in organic local results.
- [WP Engine expands WordPress hosting customer base with acquisition of Flywheel](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wp-engine-buys-flywheel/index.html.md): The acquisition of Flywheel will add 28,000 more customers and additional developer tools like 'Local' to WP Engine's rapidly expanding business.
- [Google adds 'short names' to GMB, hinting that it may have big social plans for businesses](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/gmb-short-names/index.html.md): Google My Business' new short names are reminiscent of how businesses used Google+ profiles and they may represent yet another attempt by Google to create a viable social platform.
- [Shopify announces new design experience and other features at their Unite partner conference](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-unite-2019-new-features/index.html.md): The new design experience from Shopify enables more customizations, content portability, and a redesigned workspace.
- [YouTube testing timestamp jump links in its search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/youtube-timestamp-bookmark-links/index.html.md): YouTube is parsing timestamp lists from video descriptions and displaying them as jump links in search results, potentially creating a new search optimization tactic.
- [Sign In with Apple's proxy email addresses will make ad targeting virtually impossible](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/sign-in-with-apple/index.html.md): Apple's new SSO is a double threat to its competitors. Not only does it want to replace them, but it's also designed to disrupt their advertising business.
- [Yoast, Google, and others propose integrating XML sitemaps into WordPress Core](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/xml-sitemaps-wordpress-core/index.html.md): The XML sitemap proposal for WordPress Core would generate basic sitemaps without the need for a plugin and would also allow plugin-makers to build on top of the core functionality.
- [Dynamic Email (aka AMP for Email) is being turned on for all G Suite accounts](https://coywolf.com/news/email-marketing/dynamic-amp-email/index.html.md): On July 2nd, 2019, Google will default all G Suite accounts to support AMP for Email functionality in Gmail. Admins and Users will have to opt-out if they don't want to see dynamic email messages.
- [WP Engine releases DevKit app for local WordPress development and deployment](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/wp-engine-devkit/index.html.md): DevKit enables web developers to iterate more quickly by running their site on a local environment and then making it easy to deploy to a live development, staging, or production environment on WP Engine.
- [Episode 8: Marketing News Recap: Google, OUYA, W3C, WHATWG, Twitter, and Rev](https://coywolf.com/podcast/news-recap-google-mobile-serp/index.html.md): Google debuts a new mobile SERP that makes paid and organic results look the same, the browser makers take over the HTML and DOM standards, and Twitter buys a company to help make it less toxic.
- [Is Facebook killing off organic reach on Instagram?](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/is-facebook-killing-off-organic-reach-on-instagram/index.html.md): Agencies are becoming increasingly concerned that Instagram might be quietly removing organic reach from brands.
- [Amazon encroaches further into Google's core revenue source with new acquisition](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/amazon-acquires-sizmek/index.html.md): The largest independent buy-side advertising platform, Sizmek, has been acquired by Amazon.
- [New study reveals brand loyalty is taking the lead over individual purchases in ecommerce](https://coywolf.com/news/ecommerce/shopify-state-of-commerce/index.html.md): The June State of Commerce Report by Shopify discovered a significant increase in online shoppers returning to make new purchases from the same store.
- [Twitter acquires AI company to fight abuse through deep learning](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/twitter-acquires-fabula-ai/index.html.md): In an ongoing effort to reduce the need to report abuse, harassment, and doxxing, Twitter has acquired Fabula AI for its related deep learning expertise.
- [Google deprecates Target Search Page Location and Outranking Share in AdWords](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/google-deprecates-automated-bidding-features/index.html.md): Sagar Shah, Product Manager for Google Ads, announced the deprecation of two automated bidding features in Google AdWords. They will be replaced with Target Impression Share.
- [Is Google AdWords Automated Bidding for everyone?](https://coywolf.com/news/paid-marketing/adwords-automated-bidding/index.html.md): Paid search marketing expert, Pamela Lund, shares her opinion about Google AdWords automated bidding features.
- [Rev opens up early access to its automated speech to text transcription service](https://coywolf.com/news/content-marketing/rev-automated-transcription/index.html.md): Audio and video content creators, especially podcasters, will be interested in Rev's new automated transcription service if they're short on time.
- [W3C relinquishes control of HTML standards to WHATWG](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/w3c-gives-html-control-to-whatwg/index.html.md): After W3C and WHATWG parted ways in 2018, they've now agreed to a single HTML and DOM standard that will be managed by Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla.
- [Google adds Guidelines for favicon use in its search results](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-favicon-guidelines/index.html.md): The immediate misuse of favicons and reports of hate symbols appearing in Google's new mobile search results prompted Google to take quick action on how favicons can be used with its search engine.
- [Razer shutters OUYA indie gaming platform and Forge TV](https://coywolf.com/news/startups/razer-shutters-ouya-indie-gaming-platform-and-forge-tv/index.html.md): The once successful Kickstarter wasn’t able to convince enough gamers to play its console, and Razer’s own ambitions couldn’t save it either.
- [Google debuts new mobile search result that uses favicons](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/new-google-mobile-search-result/index.html.md): The new mobile search result blurs the line between paid and organic results, irking many SEOs.
- [Interview with Google's Ben Morss about AMP](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-amp-ben-morss/index.html.md): Jon Henshaw interviewed Ben Morss, Developer Advocate at Google, about what AMP is and isn't. The discussion included the origin and purpose of AMP, how it's different from regular web pages, and Google's plans for the future of AMP.
- [The high risk and reward of agencies becoming software developers](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/agency-software/index.html.md): With the help of Will Critchlow, Russ Jones, and Ryan Evans, Jon Henshaw explores what agencies need to know before they commit to creating and selling commercial software.
- [Will Critchlow interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/will-critchlow-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the Founder and CEO of Distilled, Will Critchlow.
- [Russ Jones interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/russ-jones-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the Principal Search Scientist at Moz, Russ Jones.
- [Ryan Evans interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/ryan-evans-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the Cofounder of Tend, Ryan Evans.
- [Episode 7: Samantha Anderl on building a marketing foundation for scale](https://coywolf.com/podcast/podcast-7-scale/index.html.md): I spoke to Samantha Anderl, Co-founder of Interimly, and we discussed the best marketing channels for new businesses, and why companies should focus on building a marketing foundation that can scale with their growth.
- [Samantha Anderl interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/samantha-anderl-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the Co-founder of Interimly, Samantha Anderl.
- [A decentralized social network is coming and it's bringing a big opportunity for marketers and app makers](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/decentralized-network/index.html.md): The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, is leading a project that will decentralize our social data. Once realized, it will forever change social media marketing and how we connect online.
- [Episode 6: Amanda Orson on competing against big companies and leveraging PR](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-6-pr/index.html.md): I met with Amanda Orson, VP of Growth at Zift, about how she approaches marketing Zift's cross-platform parental control apps. She shared how she plans to win over parents through PR and education, and take on giants like Apple by providing a better product.
- [Amanda Orson interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/amanda-orson-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the VP of Growth at Zift, Amanda Orson.
- [Episode 5: Rusty Mitchell and Kelly Merrell on building native apps vs Progressive Web Apps](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-5-pwa/index.html.md): I met with the VP of Design and VP of Engineering at Mercury Intermedia where they create native iOS and Android apps for some of the world's biggest brands. I asked them about the potential for Progressive Web Apps to replace native apps.
- [Should you convert your site or app to a Progressive Web App?](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/progressive-web-app-pwa/index.html.md): Google appears to be all-in with Progressive Web Apps. There are a lot of good reasons to consider migrating and building PWAs. There are also several reasons not to, which is why PWAs may not become mainstream anytime soon.
- [Mercury interview with Rusty Mitchell and Kelly Merrell](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/rusty-mitchell-kelly-merrell-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews Rusty Mitchell, VP of Design, and Kelly Merrell, VP of Android Engineering at Mercury Intermedia.
- [Episode 4: Paul Jarvis discusses skills vs. passion and proposes a more Zen-like approach to growth and success](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-4-paul-jarvis/index.html.md): In Paul Jarvis’ new book, Company of One, it’s not business as usual. We discuss the importance of building skills versus blindly following your passion, and rethinking ideas around growth and success.
- [Paul Jarvis interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/paul-jarvis-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the author of Company of One, Paul Jarvis.
- [Episode 3: David Mihm explains why Google My Business is now more important for Local SEO than a website](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-3-david-mihm/index.html.md): Google has been investing a significant amount of resources into Google My Business (GMB) but not a lot of businesses are fully taking advantage of it yet. David discusses why he thinks that’s about to change and why GMB is becoming more important than ever for Local SEO.
- [David Mihm interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/david-mihm-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews Founder of Tidings and GetListed, and VP of Product Strategy at ThriveHive, David Mihm.
- [The unconventional business of online life coaching](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/online-life-coaching/index.html.md): Leadership and life coaching aren’t new, but there’s been a steady increase in people entering the space online. I wanted to learn what was driving its growth and I was surprised by the answers I found.
- [How to win enemies and influence no one in social media](https://coywolf.com/news/social-media/divisive-posts/index.html.md): In an age of identity politics and divisive rhetoric, it’s become easier than ever to turn off potential customers from your brand. Should you avoid it or embrace it?
- [Google's VisBug extension for Chrome is a web design tool for everyone](https://coywolf.com/news/web-development/visbug/index.html.md): Google Chrome Labs created the best browser extension for web design that I've ever seen. It makes some of the most practical and useful features of Chrome Developer Tools easily accessible to everyone.
- [Episode 2: Jon Acuff on social media marketing and avoiding entrepreneurial shame](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-2-jon-acuff/index.html.md): In the second episode of the Coywolf Podcast, Jon Henshaw shares three excerpts from his 50-minute interview with New York Times bestselling author, Jon Acuff.
- [Jon Acuff interview](https://coywolf.com/news/entrepreneurship/jon-acuff-interview/index.html.md): Coywolf Founder, Jon Henshaw, interviews the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author, Jon Acuff.
- [WordPress Performance and Speed Optimization Guide](https://coywolf.com/guides/wordpress-site-speed-optimization-guide/index.html.md): Over one-third of the websites on the internet use WordPress, and many of them have the same problem, they’re bloated and slow. This guide will show you how to fully optimize your WordPress site for speed.
- [Episode 1: Are you prepared for Gutenberg?](https://coywolf.com/podcast/episode-1-gutenberg/index.html.md): In the debut episode of the Coywolf Podcast, Jon Henshaw talks about the upcoming chaos that Gutenberg is going to cause when WordPress 5.0 is released on November 27, and how you can avoid it.
- [How to test Gutenberg and update to WordPress 5.0](https://coywolf.com/guides/gutenberg-wordpress-5/index.html.md): After much anticipation and trepidation, WordPress 5.0 is here. The most visible change is the new Gutenberg editor, which replaces TinyMCE and also creates new headaches.
- [How to leverage RSS for competitive research and content marketing](https://coywolf.com/guides/leverage-rss/index.html.md): Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is the forgotten standard that is more relevant today than ever for digital marketers.
- [Introducing the Google "SERP App" and why you should care](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/google-serp-app/index.html.md): Google seems to always be experimenting with their search engine result pages (SERPs). This is true for both desktop and mobile SERPs. There’s so many variations it’s hard to keep up with them. The latest trend has been converting results into cards, which presents all kind of new possibilities for Google.
- [Should your company practice transparency?](https://coywolf.com/blog/should-your-company-practice-transparency/index.html.md): For the last several years there’s been a trend towards corporate transparency. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s the act of publicly sharing information about your company like revenue, customer count, churn, and sometimes personal information about your employees.
- [How Google is becoming the new AOL](https://coywolf.com/news/seo/how-google-is-becoming-the-new-aol/index.html.md): AOL was notorious for keeping its users on its proprietary platform. Google mimics some of AOL's tactics by intentionally creating new experiences to keep visitors from leaving its properties.