I've been thinking about not-so-natural-born Google killers -- not fancy new whiz-bang search engines or other "direct" Google competitors, but companies, individuals, and institutions that stand in the way of Google capturing the lion's share of the world's ad dollars.

If someone tweets about you on Twitter and you don't hear the sound, did the tweeter tweet at all? This is one of the philosophical questions about Twitter that has a practical answer. Fortunately, now there are many ways to listen to the tweets.

This week, I want to discuss the specific characteristics of an "ideal" SEM professional. The idea here is to give you an understanding of why finding truly qualified folks is daunting for agencies and in-house teams alike. So what must these people be able to do?

The boundaries of search marketing have, of course, been blurring for several years (maybe more), taking search marketers outside the realm of query-based targeting. Google AdSense and other forms of contextual advertising, for example, fall within the search marketers' domain. But they are not "search." Rather, the skills necessary to manage a successful contextual campaign -- facility with auction-based pricing, comfort managing thousands of placements, mastery of self-service ad platforms --made search marketers uniquely qualified to take ownership of this opportunity.

The frequent flier blitzkrieg continues. This week's stop, Sydney, Australia for SMX. In the opening keynote, Danny Sullivan asked Google's Marissa Mayer what keeps her at Google. Her answer was that there are just too many really interesting, really hard questions still to be answered. She likened it to the world of scientific discovery and pegged the current state of search and online as analogous to the 15th or 16th century. Sir Isaac Newton has just discovered gravity.

In my last Search Insider article, I briefly mentioned comScore's Universal research presented by James Lamberti on the Orion panel at SES NYC. Considering that this may be one of the most significant studies on Universal Search queries to date, I think it is worthy of sharing some of their findings with Search Insider readers. Here is an overview of methodology and findings taken from both Lamberti's talk, and data from the PPT presentation.

When planning search engine optimization strategies, what if you tried to promote your site like you're promoting a book?

It's no secret that one of the biggest challenges the SEM industry faces is attracting and keeping qualified people. Even Google isn't immune from the fact that its main assets walk out of the door each night, and several widely publicized departures have caused concern among Wall Street analysts in recent weeks. But the "SEM people problem" isn't limited to high-level search executives. It extends to just about everyone working in this business today, but is almost invisible to those outside our industry because outsiders often believe that technology prowess, not good old-fashioned, human labor, is what drives success or …

Google's new Search within Search functionality has captured the attention of everyone from search marketers to New York Times columnists, The purpose of this functionality in everyday search engine results pages is to allow users to further drill down their inquiry into specific pages within a site. However, as Google strives to provide the best user experience, ulterior motives must be evaluated. After all, Google does make money off pay-per-click ads. So is this change meant solely to improve user experience -- or is it meant to increase revenues generated from typically low average cost per click (CPC) keywords?

Having just dragged my butt off a beach in Hawaii, my mind has not fully settled itself back in the search groove. But I did come to a realization in between snorkeling (highly recommended) and hiking the Na Pali coast in Kauai (even more highly recommended). Mobile is going to change our lives in amazing ways.