In honor of the U.S. Military, I’ve borrowed some common-sense rules from military doctrine and applied them to search engine optimization for both educational and entertainment value. Hopefully, it will help improve your SEO efforts while also acknowledging the organizational wisdom of our military. 1. Clarity of purpose. One of the basic rules of military [...]Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.8 Lessons SEO’s Can Learn From The U.S. Military

Successfully managing a marketing agency has never been an easy task, and has recently become even more difficult in these tough economic times. That said, B2B agencies that can steer their way thru this current minefield will be in a great position to thrive once the economy is in full recovery mode. As the CEO of a mid-sized, B2B search marketing agency, I’d like to share a few thoughts on ways to improve your odds of navigating through these difficult times. *** Read the full post by ...

All Steve wanted was tooth-whitening toothpaste. Instead, he got 282,000 search results. Not surprisingly, he didn’t know where to click. Suffice it to say, he felt a tad lost in the sea of search. But such information overload actually represents an opportunity for savvy CPG marketers. Understanding The Opportunity Today, brand awareness is king. A product could [...] *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

We’ve identified a way to reliably measure the conversion rate of our social media efforts using Google Analytics. Here are the results of our experiment. *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

If you're serious about competing with the locals in any given market, then you need to take your localization seriously, and that extends to the linguistic and cultural quirks of each individual market. ...

SEOs and agencies need to consider not just how to build quality links for clients, but how to actively manage the link profile and ensure that the right links are being built. ...

Google is taking what it calls “rogue pharmacies” to court in an attempt to prevent them from continuing to advertise on Google. In today’s announcement, Google says it has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court “against advertisers we believe have deliberately broken our rules.” Google positions the lawsuit as an almost last resort: Like many [...] *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

We work very hard to make sure that ads shown on Google provide useful information for our users. But sometimes we need to take action against ads that violate our policies, as when we block malware ads, or when we filed suit last year against “Google Money” scammers. This is especially true when it comes to advertising for products such as pharmaceuticals, which can be dangerous without the right prescription.Like many online services, we have struggled with this problem for years. ...

Anssi Vanjoki , the soon-to-be former head of Nokia's smartphone unit, has reportedly said that mobile phone makers that adopt Android are like Finnish boys who "pee in their pants" for warmth in the winter. This is according to an article from the Financial Times, which has gained a good deal of exposure today. If Android is cool, consider me Miles Davis.  AT&T's TerreStar GENUS satellite phone became available today, after being announced nearly a year ago, as Engadget points ...

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Aggregates Midterm Election Forecasts Google has joined forces with a handful of political web sites to track forecasts for the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections. Those forecasts are available now at maps.google.com/elections2010. By default, [...] *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

Google has joined forces with a handful of political web sites to track forecasts for the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections. Those forecasts are available now at maps.google.com/elections2010. By default, the map begins by showing the outlook for nationwide Senatorial races. You can filter to see a specific state, data from a specific source, or you can [...] *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

eBay has announced some updates to its Feedback, Seller Standards and Buyer Protection systems. The company says they're designed to ensure  your seller performance ratings are a "true reflection" of the service provided. "When we know you delivered fast and free shipping on a transaction, we’ll make sure your rating reflects that," says Dinesh Lathi, eBay Vice President Seller and Buyer Experience.  "We’ll also make it easy to report your experience with the buyer to eBay, ...

(Cross-posted from the YouTube Blog)There is perhaps no other country in the world that has undergone more change or been under more scrutiny in the past decade than Iraq. The draw-down of U.S. troops and a recent election that has yet to produce a formal government have left Iraq in a state of flux. The country’s destiny has implications not just for the Arab world, but for the world at large.That’s why, in partnership with the Arabic-language television network, Al Arabiya, we’re ...

Google has released a new version of the Gmail app for in the Android Market. The company says Gmail updates are no longer tied to Android version releases, though the update does require Froyo (Android 2.2).  Now you can get new Gmail stuff faster without having to wait for system updates. To start you off, we've improved message replies, access to quoted text, and more," says the Gmail for Android team. "As you scroll through a conversation, your most important message actions will now ...

Last week, Danny Sullivan posted an article at Search Engine Land about the things Google Instant blacklists - the words you can type in the search box that won't deliver Instant results, mainly due to potential offensiveness. 2600.com has taken things a step further, and is actually compiling what it is calling the Google Blacklist.   "Obviously, all you have to do is hit return to get the results like you always could," the site says. "However, even when your request isn't blacklisted, you're ...

Powerhouse Dynamics, provider of eMonitor, a circuit-level home energy tool, has become an integrated device partner with Google PowerMeter. “Powerhouse Dynamics’ integrated device partnership with Google PowerMeter provides our customers with one more level of convenience in viewing home power consumption,” said Powerhouse VP of Business Development Tim Durant.”     "eMonitor allows homeowners to monitor their circuit-level energy usage and provides the ...

Facebook has a somewhat hidden feature that lets people follow your updates when you're not actually friends with them. Before you freak out, this is only applicable for updates that are shared publicly.  The social network recently changed its friend confirmation functionality (at least for some users). Before, when someone requested to be your friend, you could either confirm them or ignore them. Now, "ignore" has been replaced with "not now". It's unclear if the change is just being tested ...

Google announced today that Google Docs now supports web fonts using the Google Font API. To start off, there are six new fonts available. "This is just the beginning of fonts in Google Docs," says software engineer Jeremie Lenfant-Engelmann. "We added six new fonts today and we’re already testing our next batch. You’ll see many more new fonts over the next few months. And because Google Docs uses web fonts, you’ll never need to install a new font: when you load your document, ...

Earlier this year Google launched an innovative “Government Requests map,” which showed how regularly governments around the world were asking Google to remove information or content from its index and services. Google won plaudits for the initiative, as well as criticism from some governments that the map allegedly made look like censoring regimes. Yesterday Google folded [...] *** Read the full post by clicking on the headline above ***

Bing Social yesterday announced a new feature called People Recommendations to help searchers discover new Twitterers. Based on a search query, the feature is designed to also return "recommended" users on Twitter. Those users receive rankings, such as "Influential" or "Popular." So a Bing search for [search engine] returns @SEWatch as influential. Though it obviously isn't perfect, as it returns @funnyhumour for some reason as a popular source for search engines. Click to read the rest of this ...