During a recent Search Marketing Now Webcast, Chris Sherman dove into the perils and best practices of managing PPC campaigns for massive sites. This kind of campaign management requires clearly defined goal-setting, leadership and buy-in from all marketing departments, as well as the use of automated tools whenever possible. Often, handling paid search for major sites means running both direct response and brand-focused campaigns, so making sure that the PPC ads gel with the other on- and offline messages is key. Sherman added that the paid search data could be used for creative message testing for offline …

The "Rip Off Report" (ROR) is a site that aims to help consumers spread the word about dishonest businesses, scams and possible rip-offs, but Chris Bennett takes them to task for what he calls SEO spam and gaming Google's algorithm. As a source of constantly renewed user-generated content, the ROR has hundreds of thousands of pages that can make it into Google's index. According to Compete data, Google refers nearly 610,000 searchers to the ROR each month--with the referrals stemming from roughly 5,700 different keywords. But since the ROR doesn't censor or fact-check these user complaints, Bennett argues …

Mike Grehan says that SEO firms as we know them now are headed for extinction. While he extols the virtues of bringing in a team to deal with the "heavy lifting" of getting pages indexed, link-building and plugging in meta data, he notes that once taught, members of the in-house IT team (or perhaps even a dedicated SEO strategist) can handle the upkeep. And that the outside firm no longer needs to be on the payroll. Search has become the dominant way users navigate the Web, and as such, has evolved to encompass the many ways that the …

Paid search managers, if you're tired of the "Intro to AdWords" panels and two-session "PPC breakout" tracks at online marketing conferences, Mark Curtis says that you should think about attending the PPC Summit. The two-day conference is completely focused on paid search advertising, with tracks like "Setting up and Optimizing Campaigns: The Checklist," "Landing Page Testing and Tuning," and "Expanding Search Engine Coverage to Smaller Engines." Curtis says that the summit is for PPC beginners and experts, corporate, in-house and search firm managers, as well as small business owners themselves. The two sessions coming up next …

A recent post by Wiep Knol entitled "How to Build Links for Crappy Websites" sparked a discussion in the Sphinn community, and Tamar Weinberg sums it up in her post here. Search marketers are often faced with the task of driving traffic and building links to a sub-par site--even after telling the client that changes need to be made. Some in the discussion said that making those changes should be top priority, either by adding quality articles, or subtly manipulating the site's structure or layout. But if the client won't budge, others suggested buying other …

Perhaps you (or your client) don't have the time or budget to sit with a Web designer and craft a custom site--so you turn to one of the many template programs to get property up and running on the cheap. Bo Sandkvist says that you should make sure that the template isn't so ubiquitous that the site is indistinguishable from competitors'. "Your Website will not appear unique at all and your reputation as a solid, different Website will be tarnished," he writes. On the other hand, you don't want to spend too much time and energy tweaking the template--since …

According to George Michie, many PPC account managers pay too much attention to testing and changing their ad copy. Often tinkering with ad copy can actually drag down Quality Scores, as Google grades keyword and copy block combinations on the basis of whether they've worked before. If you have a relatively well-performing combo and change it in the hopes of making it even better, the change will immediately lower the ad's position or bump up the CPC--and you lose the original Quality Score. Of course, if the new combo does perform better, then it was worth the slight dip, …

Richard MacManus is publisher of the ReadWriteWeb Network of blogs, a group of successful tech-focused Websites that include Alt Search Engines, as well as the namesake blog. ReadWriteWeb has built up equity within the search and dot-com communities--so naturally someone took note of it and sought to profit from that popularity. "I am going to launch ReadWriteWeb.mobi, the mobile version of ReadWriteWeb optimized for viewing on a mobile phone," said a Mr. Sobolev, a Russia-based Web entrepreneur, via email. "Thought you might be interested." MacManus was quite interested, and what followed was a series of emails …

Local search service DexKnows.com launched with info for some 14 states in the West and Midwest--and now parent company R. H. Donnelley has doubled the coverage area, adding states like Florida and Connecticut to the mix. DexKnows.com includes info from more than 700 of R. H. Donnelley's print directories, as well as personalization features like ratings and reviews. The site also offers maps and driving directions, a comparison shopping option, and has plans to offer video listings in the near future.

Think optimizing for blended or Universal is just about adding meta data for videos and images? Think again. Jody Nimetz lists all of the additional kinds of data that have come up in search results since the Big Four upgraded their algorithms last year, from book and job listings, to health info, MP3 search and product comparisons. While not every Web site will need to contain all of these elements, even optimizing for a few of them can seem daunting. So Nimetz offers a set of tips for simplifying the blended SEO process, including deciding which kinds of …