Microsoft has upgraded the navigation and reporting features available in adCenter, giving Webmasters an at-a-glance view of up to 20 reports (via the Reports tab), and making it easier to toggle between different views. Webmasters can see graphs and details on keyword and ad performance in terms of CTRs and positioning, as well as conversion tracking if enabled. AdCenter also offers the reports in zipped, CSV format -- so users can examine the reports offline, in whatever spreadsheet or database programs they choose.

Greg Sterling uses his wife and her search for a pair of Emu boots for their daughter to illustrate how local search is actually better at driving offline conversions than e-commerce. They'd tried to find the boots while out shopping, and called multiple stores to no avail, so Sterling's wife took to the Web when she got home. She did a Google search for "Emu girls boots" and found a retailer that had a local chain in the sponsored results. Mrs. Sterling clicked through to the retailer's page and made a beeline for the store locator, …

You may be above using black-hat tactics to maintain a client's site, but what happens when a competitor's dirty SEO tricks have a negative impact on all the hard work you've done? According to Diane Aull, dealing with a black-hat bully is much like dealing with a playground bully -- and she offers a strategy for handling them pulled right out of a grade school handbook. The first step is to make sure that the negative effects (be it loss of traffic, poor conversions or other metrics) aren't a result of your own missteps. Combing your site's …

The ROI Revolution team has compiled a second list of ads for its "Funny AdWords Contest," and wants your votes for the top 3. The list features 10 text ads with title or body copy that makes you laugh out loud (or scratch your head) -- most likely as a result of dynamic text insertion. The list includes ads for "Trash" and "New Babies" from Target, the options to "Sell Your Soul" or get a "New Brain" on eBay -- and most importantly, "Buy Love" at Amazon.com. Winners of the last round included the option to "Sell …

Whether you're a freelance search consultant or working under the umbrella of a search firm, chances are that as your business grows, you'll need to do some traveling. With interstate travel, down time in airports is almost inevitable -- and the Search Mojo team is no stranger to the trials of working at the airport. Whether its lack of Internet access, awkward seating or the virtually nonexistent power outlets, airport waiting area structures typically don't lend themselves well to getting computer work done. Nonetheless, the Search Mojo team serves up a list of the top four search marketer-friendly …

New Zealand's Yellow Pages Group turned down a deal with Google to have its business listings included in Google Maps last year -- and now the search giant has inked a deal with smaller IYP firm apnfinda Limited. But Yellow Pages is "reasonably relaxed" about Google's position as a competitor in terms of the local search and mapping market in New Zealand -- since the company believes that its listings are more comprehensive than apnfinda's (which launched as a merger between APN Infomedia and finda Group in March). According to Tom Pullar-Strecker, Yellow Pages has a …

Jeff Hudson waited almost two months to respond to a post on Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion blog about an imminent PPC recession -- but his rebuttal is thoughtful and provides a point-by-point critique of all of Rubel's main points. Referring to clutter, Hudson said that the engines are actively working to make sure only the best ads get served with each search. After all, Google's continued focus on the "user experience" and the constant tweaking of Quality Score metrics have to be impacting the number of ads that show up. In terms of the move toward CPA …

About two weeks ago, Blumenthal's blog posted one user's account of a possible shift in the way Google was displaying reviews and ratings for local businesses. The California florist noted that Google local had specifically deleted a number of her CitySearch reviews and removed her "star ranking" -- and that the changes were negatively affecting her traffic. So the Local Search Hound dug into why Google might have scrapped those reviews, and came up with a possible theory -- that the search giant has begun applying a Quality Score-like grading system to reviews (and reviewers). By …

Matt McGee says if you're a small business owner, tuning up your Web site should be a goal you set for yourself -- even before we usher in 2008. So he drafted a 10-point plan to do so. Reviewing your company info (like an "About Us" page, a "Management Team" page, etc.) and contact info might seem like common sense, but personnel and telephone or fax info can change multiple times over the year -- and sometimes the task of updating it on the site gets forgotten. The same goes for updating your copyright or privacy policies. …

No less than three SEM automation tech firms launched this year, and we'll likely see more contenders emerge in 2008. And why not? The promise of effectively managing PPC campaigns, tweaking bids and maximizing the ROAS without having to do all of that granular analysis has appeal for both huge companies and mom-and-pop shops. But OneUpWeb's Drew notes that while SEM automation packages offer less stress and low cost optimization, their lack of personalized, human management severely limits their value. Some SEM tech firms give business owners a false sense of security, allowing them to think …