Tom Pick likens Google to an alcohol abuser in need of an intervention in this piece--which takes a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the search giant's increasingly frequent marketer offenses. For example, Google's "wild mood swings and erratic behavior" translates to search rankings that have become terribly unstable. Pick says that he's seen a site go from the 49th spot for a particular keyword, to the ninth spot, and then back down to somewhere on the fifth page within a matter of weeks--with no changes made to the page. Meanwhile the giant has been starting to …

There are a number of similarities between the best practices for local SEO and yellow page ads. For example, small businesses have long been told to include as much info as possible in each yellow pages ad they place--because if consumers don't see it in the ad, they don't think you do it. The same goes for on-page SEO and the engines' crawlers, according to Tim, the Local Search Hound. "If you don't mention the service on your site, Google assumes that you don't do it," Tim says. "And you will have little chance of ranking for that …

Last week YouTube rolled out YouTube Suggest, a predictive search feature that helps users narrow down their search for the most popular videos. And Bryson Meunier notes that video-focused SEOs can use the tool for keyword research as well. Meunier says he used the tool to discover "some of the most popular YouTube queries and categories." And though the results weren't mind-blowing insights, Meunier says that they can likely be used to "justify Arts & Entertainment spend in YouTube, or to find alternative subjects that still bring in a lot of search volume."

Melanie Nathan has the inside scoop on how to increase the chances of getting positive responses to your link requests, and it starts with using a "trustworthy" email address. Nothing says link-requesting freeloader like a generic address from one of the free providers--so try not to use your Hotmail or Yahoo account. Instead, get an address that includes the name of your business (like jane.doe@[businessname].com). When asking prominent bloggers for links, it's best to have a clear goal of what kind of link you want. Are you pushing for a mention of your site in a post, a …

Using social media as part of a client's search strategy has become the norm--but not all companies have a clear understanding of who their target audience is when it comes to social media. Li Evans breaks down the eight most prevalent types of social media users, and how you should direct your content toward, around or away from them. The most valuable users are the brand evangelists, promoters and co-creators. Each group has varying degrees of affinity for a brand--with the evangelists being die-hards who are likely to tell everyone they know, the promoters being less crazy (and …

Sarah Bird, legal counsel for the search firm SEOmoz, brings readers up to speed on the fight to keep the term "SEO" from being trademarked. About a month ago, it came to light that a Jason Gambert was trying to trademark the term, so Bird and others in the search community (including Rhea Drysdale and the team at Arteworks) filed opposition proceedings to block his application. In response, Gambert launched a Web site defending his position, arguing that he was simply trying to "save search pros from themselves" by forcing the community to adhere to standards. Despite repeated …

There's no shortage of examples of odd or potentially brand-damaging search rankings in the wild, and as Lisa Melvin illustrates, they're often the best tools to use when trying to instruct marketers on the necessity of search reputation management. For example, Hyundai demonstrates good ownership of the first SERP for "Hyundai," with its official U.S. homepage in the top organic spot, individual dealer Web sites, a Wikipedia listing and news clips below. The company also secured the top spot in paid search. But a search for "Hyundi," a common misspelling, turns up no official Hyundai info …

John Battelle recaps Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg's conversation with Yahoo top brass Jerry Yang and Sue Decker at the D Conference. Yang and Decker are as frank as they can be about the Microhoo implosion, the search race, employee morale and how they're dealing with the shareholder turmoil. "Over the last two years we've closed the gap against Google by quite a bit," Yang said, speaking about bid prices on Yahoo's Panama platform. "Now we've shifted our focus back to driving query growth, which is growing on an absolute basis." He acknowledged that Yahoo was second fiddle …