The internet has a deep-rooted issue: trust. How do consumers know whether the information presented by websites can be trusted? How can website owners claim ownership over their content? The web wasn’t designed with integrity in mind and therefore trust on the web is fundamentally broken. Around 2010, the web started to implement Schema.org. This helped search engines and social media to index our content. Therefore, whom to trust is outsourced to those platforms. Yet still, misinformation literally costs lives, while online fraud is at all-time highs. How can trust on the web be democratized? How can we make the web a trustworthy place through Schema and Timestamps? In 1991, blockchain was invented for timestamping documents. With a timestamp, you can prove that you didn’t tamper with data or content since a specific date and time. How are Schema.org Markup and blockchain timestamps building blocks for a better internet today? By Sebastiaan van der Lans: Sebastiaan is chairman of the Trusted Web Foundation & founder and COO of WordProof. He has a big heart for open source. In 2006 he co-founded Amsterdam-based open-source agency ‘Van Ons’, which is a leading digital agency now, serving over 100M page views a year. In 2020, WordProof won Europe’s ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ contest. Sebastiaan has a strong passion for improving the playing fields of publishing, SEO, and e-commerce. Solutions by his teams are actively being used by over 200.000 organizations. Let’s build the Trusted Web, together!

1. Fixing the Internet
through Timestamps &
Structured Data
@ Friends of Search
Sebastiaan van der Lans
Founder & CEO WordProof
Chairman Trusted Web Foundation
Sebastiaan@wordproof.com
+31 6 4265 7349

2. 15 years experience with WordPress
(agency since 2006)
Co-organizer of Dutch WordCamps since
2015
9 years blockchain experience
Started WordProof in 2019
- Keynote on mainstage #WCEU2019
- #1 in Europe’s Blockchains for Social
Good competition 2020 🏆󰎾
- Marieke & Joost on board since 2020
Married to Mirco 💍󰝲
Aspiring dad 🐕 󰔩
Sebastiaan van der Lans
@delans
About me

3. In 1991, blockchain was
invented for Timestamping.

5. Through Timestamps we
bring open source benefits
to 4.88 billion people
- 100 million open source site owners
- As site owners, we have transparency and can
hold our software accountable, because it’s
open source
- Through timestamps, all internet users benefit

6. In a few years from now,
if you don’t timestamp your
articles on the blockchain,
you’re going to be
considered a fraud.

7. (5:03)How it works, in a standardized way, we hash content, that hash, unique
fingerprint so you will, we put in the blockchain. And provide tools to verify. Under
a blog, link. Pop-up, walk through revisions. (KILL: A total open-source loop. Via
standardization, we take it a step further and we tend to build a whole ecosystem.)
FLOW, GIT SCREEN -> GIF REVISIONS
See it live

12. #1 SEO strategy:
Simply BE the best result!
- @JdeValk, since … forever
2014 Does having a mobile version of my
site impact my ranking?
✅ YES!
- Hence mobile-indexing
- It’s simply better UX
2017 Does using SSL impact my ranking? ✅ YES!
- Google says “Not secure” without
- It’s better because it’s safer
2022 Does radical transparency &
accountability impact my ranking?
…

13. Transparency
- Timestamp content
- Show certificate
- Show revisions
Accountability
- Use a custom blockchain account
- Connect identity to your wallet
- Timestamp T&C
- Hold degrees in your wallet
Timestamps lead to a
Trusted Web

14. Outputting the timestamps
to people & search engines
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trust

16. WordProof Policy Framework
Unregulated
Internet
GDPR
- Makes organizations
more responsible for
their user’s privacy
- Gives citizens more
rights regarding their
personal data
Trusted Web
- If information impacts
lives, citizens deserve
transparency
- If information impacts
lives, citizens deserve a
sender to take
accountability
- Through the holistic
Timestamp Ecosystem
- Law of the jungle
A truthful internet
makes a trustworthy society

17. Sebastiaan van der Lans
Founder & COO WordProof
Chairman Trusted Web
Sebastiaan@wordproof.com
+31 6 4265 7349
@delans @wordproofio
Let’s build the
Trusted Web, together!

18. Sebastiaan van der Lans
Founder & COO WordProof
Chairman Trusted Web
Sebastiaan@wordproof.com
+31 6 4265 7349
@delans @wordproofio
🔎 Launching Users
wordproof.com/fos

19. Sebastiaan van der Lans
Founder & CEO WordProof
Chairman Trusted Web
Sebastiaan@wordproof.com
+31 6 4265 7349
@delans @wordproofio
Let’s build the
Trusted Web, together!