Andrew Goodman, my personal hero, wrote an excellent article which really clarified the most important roles paid search marketing plays. It’s not a cure for all that ills us, but it does have a very important “closer” role to play in the sales cycle. Mr. Goodman get’s it

Your Closer had better not mess up any of these things, or she isn’t earning her keep.

• Keyword coverage. Every keyword related to your brand, products, and best selling items should of course be in your account. Keyword expansion should also focus on obvious secondary terms, often called the keyword torso. This is not about the ”long tail sexiness” of leaving zero stones unturned - that’s impossible. Just cover the most you feasibly can.
• Finding the best ad copy for maximum ROI or CTR depending on objectives.
• Figuring out the right landing pages.
• Testing pages enough so that the site at least sees a growing trend of learning about user response and improving conversion rates.
• Figuring out issues of channel conflict; coaching resellers so that they have the fullest coverage they can muster. Read the rest…

It is impossible to find a search marketer who does not have a strong opinion about the Google-Yahoo agreement. Well, at least if you look in the US and Canada. The problem, however, is that many speculations swirling around are not supported by actual facts.

Check out this Yahoo treat for the information hungry: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/ysm/sps/ysmmanage/permlinks/yahoo-openad

In addition to regulatory materials, advertiser benefits, original press releases, and some strong opinions, you get a glimpse of how search results pages may begin to look in the near future.

I think this is worth a click. Or two, for that matter.

Are you prepared for the upcoming holiday season? Make sure you submit your products through Googles’ Product Search tool. Worried about cost? Don’t be! It’s Free! You can submit a single product or create a simple data feed listing ALL of your products. Visit Googles’ Product Search home page for more information. Happy Holiday’s!

The highly anticipated open source platform “Android” has finally arrived courtesy of T-mobile which just announced the first Android-powered mobile phone. Android allows all applications open access to the phone’s functionality. Read the rest…

Google has introduced a new Submit Your Content microsite. If you’re launching a new site, posting a new video or simply adding a new page, this is a great tool to gain traction fast. Read the rest…

By now, you all should of heard about the lastest tool coming out of Mt. View: Google Chrome.  These days, it seems like everywhere we turn, we’re running into a new Google app or a new Google tool. Check out the story behind the motivation and making of Google Chrome as well as a few tips on how to use it faster.

The Story Behind Google Chrome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGmO7Oximw8

Google Chrome Shortcuts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlh8gSF_hhE&feature=user

We’ve all be hearing how mobile search is taking off for years. We’re still waiting. Last year advertisers spent a relatively miniscule 35 Million on mobile search advertising; but eMarketer predicts that number will increase to 1.5 billion by 2012.

Now Google and Verizon are talking about a partnership deal that could prove to be a big step in that direction. It’s still months away before a deal is struck, but I’d keep this one in the memory bank when you look back at when mobile search got some traction. Here’s the article:

Here is an interesting link that I found when reading John Battelle’s Searchblog. What caught my attention was that this is not the first time I’ve run across web extensions or sites that have been built with the sole purpose of excluding content (Google or Wikipedia content to be specific) from SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Why exclude these most trusted of sources? Is Google becoming so ubiquitous that they have started to dilute their search results in the eyes of consumers? Or maybe Google is simply becoming over played? Like any flash-in-the-pan pop start, there is only so much of a good thing that people can take before they start to look elsewhere just for the sake of change. Is the day approaching when people will turn to other “Cuil” new sites for more unbiased search results?

Let us know what you think!

New tweaks by Google are on the way to “improve” the quality score metric to help with relevency. It’s being rolled out in phases so you should see the results in your search campaign shortly. Read the rest…

The article also gives a refreshing perspective on Google. They have not created the world’s best tech company, but rather they have created the world’s best marketplace, which stemmed from having the best search technology back in the day.

Nowadays however, having the best search technology alone is not enough. I mean really, how many of us have actually gone to live.com?