23 July 2013 The RDF Working Group has published two Last Call Working Drafts today: A Last Call Working Draft of RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax . The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a framework for representing information in the Web. Comments are welcome through 6 September. A Last Call Working Draft of RDF 1.1 Semantics . This document describes a precise semantics for the Resource Description Framework 1.1 and RDF Schema. It defines a number of distinct entailment regimes and corresponding patterns of entailment. It is part of a suite of documents which comprise the full specification of RDF 1.1. Comments are welcome through 6 September. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity .

23 July 2013 The XML Query Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of XQuery 3.0: An XML Query Language . XML is a versatile markup language, capable of labeling the information content of diverse data sources including structured and semi-structured documents, relational databases, and object repositories. A query language that uses the structure of XML intelligently can express queries across all these kinds of data, whether physically stored in XML or viewed as XML via middleware. This specification describes a query language called XQuery, which is designed to be broadly applicable across many types of XML data sources. Comments are welcome through 13 August. Learn more about the Extensible Markup Language (XML) Activity .

“White hat” SEO optimizers are those who are looking to improve the user experience. They work to create valuable content, a seamless user interface, and ultimately strive to manifest the best overall experience in their niche for each visitor. These are precisely the folks Google is looking to reward with Penguin 2.0. What’s good for search engines is also good for users, and that means Google will not rest if webspam continues to reach top ranking positions in their search results. As a rule, white hat tactics also indicate good marketing strategies. If a company employs integrity and care in their SEO, they likely carry that attitude through all their business practices, using creativity to entice customers, not trickery. Although Google continues to be the search engine powerhouse, sites like Bing are providing healthy competition, motivating the leader to ensure their user experience is superior. That means highlighting the best sites available for every last search. And that mea...

04 July 2013 The Web Applications Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of Indexed Database API . This document defines APIs for a database of records holding simple values and hierarchical objects. Each record consists of a key and some value. Moreover, the database maintains indexes over records it stores. An application developer directly uses an API to locate records either by their key or by using an index. A query language can be layered on this API. An indexed database can be implemented using a persistent B-tree data structure. Learn more about the Rich Web Client Activity .

02 July 2013 The Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) invites comments on the updated draft of Easy Checks - A First Review of Web Accessibility , which has new sections on Forms and Plain Content View. Easy Checks helps you assess if a Web page addresses accessibility. It provides simple steps for anyone who can use the Web; no accessibility knowledge or skill is required. The checks cover just a few accessibility issues and are designed to be quick and easy, rather than definitive. Learn more about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) .

02 July 2013 Registration is now open for the online symposium on User Modeling for Accessibility to be held on 15 July 2013. Researchers, practitioners, designers, application developers, users with disabilities, and others are invited to participate. The symposium will analyze different methods and implementations of user modeling and their potential usage for improving accessibility. This includes the design, creation, storage, and usage of user models, in particular in web browsers, applications, authoring tools, and other aspects of the Web. For details and registration, see User Modeling for Accessibility - Online Symposium . Learn more about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) .

02 July 2013 W3C has published a new edition of Standards for Web Applications on Mobile , an overview of the various technologies developed in W3C that increase the power of Web applications, particularly in the mobile context. A deliverable of the webinos project, this edition highlights some of the HTML 5.1 features that are most relevant on mobile, integrates more specs from the SysApps Working Group. It also features a printer-friendly PDF version , and makes it easier to contribute to test suites via github. Learn more about the Web and Mobile Devices .

Bad backlinks kill search engine rankings. Website owners and SEO companies know this. Still, some small business owners have spent $100,000 to plant weeds in their Internet gardens. If your site was among the 2.3 percent of English-U.S. queries penalized by Penguin 2.0 on   May 22 , you're facing the arduous task of pulling all those backlink weeds from your site. But ridding your site of the types of links Google considers spam won't automatically improve your rankings. You'll have a nice clean site but not nearly as many backlinks. The temptation to quickly add as many backlinks as possible will be hard to resist. Fight the urge. Keep the weeds out and don't plant anymore. If this is the first time your site has been hit by a change in a Google algorithm, you might think "what's the harm?" in adding a few paid links to move your page up in the search engine rankings. Learn from these two expensive examples of website owners who made the mistake of tr...