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This security and maintenance release introduces 14 fixes and enhancements, including changes designed to help hosts prepare users for the minimum PHP version bump coming in 5.2.

This release also includes a pair of security fixes that handle how comments are filtered and then stored in the database. With a maliciously crafted comment, a WordPress post was vulnerable to cross-site scripting.

WordPress versions 5.1 and earlier are affected by these bugs, which are fixed in version 5.1.1. Updated versions of WordPress 5.0 and earlier are also available for any users who have not yet updated to 5.1.

When it concerns targeting the right customers on the web, service businesses, small company owners, and locally-focused companies need to develop marketing methods that fit their requirements. To no surprise, many rely on Yellow Pages, Yelp, Home Advisor, Angie’s List, and so on to provide leads.

The issue is, their site can’t be found near the first page of search results as it is hidden on the fifth or sixth page of Google. Most likely not generating leads or even getting in front of a human visitor.

This is where local SkylarStudios SEO, helps. Small, local businesses are losing out when it comes to optimizing their websites for local search (which means, local consumers in your city, town, community or area of service).

f you haven’t been keeping up with the latest WordPress news, you might be surprised to hear that WordPress 5.0 is almost here. It was announced just yesterday that they plan to release WP 5.0 on Thursday December 6 (US Time). That’s this week!

WordPress 5.0 is a huge release as it sees the introduction of a new editing experience. Most people currently know it by its development name, Gutenberg, but once it’s part of core WordPress, you’ll most likely just hear it referred to as the Block Editor.

Gutenberg is replacing the existing edit screen with an entirely new interface. If you’re keen to see what this looks like, you can install the Gutenberg plugin on your site before WP 5.0 arrives and give it a test run. In fact, it’s highly recommend that you do, to make sure that this new editor doesn’t break any of your existing functionality.

If you’d like to keep using the existing editor, thankfully there’s a way, at least for now. Download and activate the Classic Editor plugin on your site before updating to WordPress 5.0. If your site is using one of the many page builder plugins (or themes) out there, like Elementor, Beaver Builder or Divi (just to name a few), then it’s also a very good idea to install the Classic Editor plugin.

An upcoming change to the Google “Chrome” browser that will label all websites that are not using SSL for encryption of the site as “Not Secure”.  This change will take effect in July of 2018.

If you would like to avoid having your site labeled as “Not Secure” in the Google browser (which is currently used by approximately 60% of all desktop computer users, and abo​ut 50% of all users including mobile), then you will need an SSL certificate.

The process to add an SSL to your site and ensure all traffic is routed securely using that SSL is as follows:

1. Purchase SSL certificate (including generating the request)
2. Installing the SSL certificate on your hosting server
3. Updating your website code to force all traffic to utilize the SSL certificate

SkylarStudios can carry out this process for you with your approval.  You will only need to approve us to do it, and then approve the SSL certificate issuance via an email approval process.

1. Sign into your Gmail account at Google Analytics
   • Decide whether to use a free account or a Gsuite account.
   • If you put it under a free account, you can always move it later.
2. Choose the type of account
   • When you log in, you will have the option between mobile app or website.
   • Choose website for your account.
3. Enter your account name
   • This will be the profile name for the website.
   • Once you add this, you’ll add in the website url, country, and time zone.
4. Get the tracking ID
   • Click the button that says “Get Tracking ID”.
   • This is what you will put on your website to view traffic data.
5. Verify your website
   • Yoast, All in One SEO, Monster Insights and other plugins can verify this for you. During this process, the plugin will add the tracking code to your website.
   • You can also add in the HTML code manually or upload the HTML file to your website. If you use one of these methods, you will have to add in the tracking code manually.
   • If you have an e-commerce website, use a plugin like WooCommerce Google Analytics Pro to get tracking codes for all of your products.