In his book "The Believing Brain," Michael Shermer spends several hundred pages exploring just how powerful beliefs are in forming our view of the world. Beliefs impact not just what we think, but they literally filter what we see and do. And, once in place, beliefs tend to be stubbornly unshakeable. We will go to great extents to defend our beliefs with rationalizations that are often totally or partially fabricated. As Shermer says, "Beliefs come first, explanations for beliefs follow."

I have to admit it - yesterday's column by Ryan DeShazer got my dander up a little bit. Just the headline -- "Doesn't Google Owe SEOs Something?" -- caught me and wouldn't let go. So, I decided I'd present the other side of this discussion today on why Google does not owe anything to SEOs.

"It's one of the most important rules of search engine optimization. Don't depend solely on SEO. Especially don't depend solely on Google, the largest of the SEO sources. I'm always surprised when people fail to learn this lesson." That's how Danny Sullivan began his column, "Penguin's Reminder: Google Doesn't Owe You A Living, So Don't Depend On It." In that piece, Sullivan draws parallels between Google's latest algorithm update, codenamed Penguin, and algorithm changes from the past. He references the online virulence that often occurs in the wake of such changes. Penguin has been no different. Hence the article and …

There's a chicken and an egg paradox in mobile marketing. Many mobile sites sit moldering in the online wilderness, attracting few to no visitors. The same could be said for many elaborate online customer portals, social media outposts or online communities. Somebody went to the trouble to build them, but no one came. Why? Well, it could be because no one thinks to go to the trouble to look for them, just as no one expects to find a ball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield.

Last week was the 13th running of the Search Insider Summit, AKA -- as I once made the mistake of referring to it and and am still reminded by my wife every time I leave her and my three kids to go -- summer camp for search geeks. As I had done for each of the last 11 outings, I tracked the official SIS buzz-o-meter to capture the focus of the content and jargon of the campers, er... attendees. This go-round proved to be quite buzz-worthy, even by SIS standards. Let's just say it was DataPoppin'!

Just get on with it already. You've thought about it. You've made excuses. You know it's time. As a search marketer, you need to get off last-click attribution. Ahh... last-click attribution. Like any addictive drug, it gets you hooked and is hard to give up. But, like any addictive drug, the fun days are over, and now, if you don't quit, you will only see the negative consequences.