Following up on my last post, there were just too many excellent newsletter articles and blog posts on SEO last year to fit them all into one post, so here are more of the best bits of SEO guidance from 2007. 5 Rules of Social Media Optimization (SMO) by Buzz Marketing for Technology Über-blogger and podcaster Paul Dunay provides five unconventional tactics for improving search engine rank, such as adding social bookmark site buttons to web pages, making content portable (e.g. video, audio files and PDFs) and encouraging mashups. Traits of a Great SEO Client: Commitment by Small Business SEM Marchex SEO pro Scott McGee writes about the client side of the SEO relationship, list the traits that help a client work successfully with an outside SEO firm, starting with commitment—the willingness to be fully involved in the entire process. The Alternative Search Engine of the Year, 2007! by Alt Search Engines Blogger Charles Knight rates the top 10 alternatives to G-Y-M on several fact...

SEO is dead? Balderdash! Judging by the number of high-quality articles and blog posts still devoted to the topic (so many I had to split this category into two posts), SEO remains a critical component of online marketing success. It has certainly evolved; SEO is no longer about using clever "tricks" to manipulate search engine results, but rather about crafting relevant and compelling content, writing for searchers, and using best-practice techniques in content emphasis and meta tagging to help search engines find your content. Here are (part one of) some of the best posts and stories devoted to SEO in 2007: 20 Hard Core SEO Tips by SEO Theory and Analysis Blog A compelling mix of indispensable (Learn how to write Who, What, Where, When, and Why in 4 paragraphs or less. Why? Because you should never write a press release that starts out with, “John Shlock Smith the Shmuck proudly announces….”) and questionable ( Stop using keywords in your URLs. Why? Because if you don...

The last post here presented some of the best articles and blog posts on general search engine marketing practices. This post focuses on interesting observations and helpful advice pertaining specifically to Google AdWords, the largest SEM platform. In Google AdWords, Bidding Wars Are a Thing of the Past: Beat Your Competition with These 4 Tactics by PPC Hero Post demonstrating how tactics such as keyword group optimization, writing relevant ad text, and designing relevant landing pages can save you from over-bidding on keywords. Techniques that Always Work?: Who Uses Dynamic Keyword Insertion? by Traffick Blogger Andrew Goodman provides the how and why of dynamic keyword insertion in AdWords, and why, though it's a powerful technique, it doesn't "always" work. Just a Bit Off Target With Pay-Per-Click by Future Now Even sophisticated, major retailers can make SEM mistakes. This post shows how Target screwed up a PPC campaign, and how it could have been fixed. AdWor...

Search engine marketing (SEM) is one of the fastest-growing categories in all of advertising, because it is both measurable and logical: present your ads when people are searching for what you're selling. A well-crafted search marketing program can provide not only broad brand exposure at a very reasonable cost (with CPMs of $10 or less), but also high-ROI lead generation. As with any other type of advertising, however, a poorly-designed campaign will be a disappointing waste of money. In addition to best practices in search engine marketing , the following articles and blog posts were among the best of 2007 at providing helpful guidance for creating and managing effective search marketing programs. Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign by Search Engine Guide Blogger Jennifer Laycock explains how common mistakes such as "ego bidding," writing a single ad for all keywords, and directing all of your traffic to a single landing page can limit the res...