First, remember that none of the account's negatives--from the poor Quality Score, to the resulting sky-high minimum bids, to the horridly jumbled ad groups--are your fault. Then, take Andrew Goodman's advice for digging out from under the pile of fun that's been shoveled at you. It's actually a very common situation for search consultants to be in, as "the default approach to trying AdWords is for a business owner (yep, it's common practice for even a CEO of a decent-sized company) to go in there and plop in a few keywords and ads to see what things cost," …

"I feel that Google search is making me addicted to it and at the same time lazy," says Ann Smarty. Smarty illustrates how the search giant is able to answer her questions and even help her accomplish some daily tasks that fall outside the realm of "core" search. For example, she uses Google instead of a spell-checker, instead of a dictionary and even in lieu of using (or setting up) internal search on her own site. And since English is not her first language, she also uses Google to check the accuracy of phrases and terms she's planning …

Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) offers two keyword matching options to help pair ads with user queries. The first is advanced match--the default--which allows ads to appear in response to a broad range of searches. For example, a bid on the keyword "Fender guitar" in advanced match could lead to the ad being shown for queries like "Fender Telecaster guitar" or "electric Fender guitar." In this way, the keyword doesn't have to be an exact word-for-word match with the search query--which increases an ad's overall exposure potential, but can decrease relevancy. So Roger Park advocates making use of excluded …

Jesse DaCosta offers a thorough review of the Advanced SEO course from the SEMPO Institute--which, in addition to shoring up your knowledge of more in-depth keyword research, link-building and analytics techniques, also allows you to add a certificate of completion to your resume. The five-module course is online--meaning you can go at your own pace--and even includes a 30-day trial membership to Wordtracker (upon completion of the Advanced Keyword Research module). "What this course does well is provide you with loads of new or reinforcing information that you can use on your own website or on those of …

Microsoft doesn't just "bribe" users to search with Live Search. The software giant also donates to charity for every query generated through the Search and Give program. Implemented last year, Search and Give queries generated more than $250,000 in donations for local schools and charities. So Microsoft has relaunched the program this year, with a streamlined interface and more organizations included in the mix. Users sign up at http://www.searchandgive.com/, and then can automatically earn one cent per search (up to $5.00 per person, per month) for their designated charity. Search and Give also allows participants to …

Amber Benedict extols the virtues of a few, less-well-known Google Analytics (GA) tools to add to your campaign management repertoire, starting with the site overlay report. This tool, which is found under the "Content" section in GA shows you precisely where users are clicking on a given landing page. The report sheds some light on what visitors may find most popular or intriguing--be it a product, a headline, or even a video clip or link back to a blog. "If you find that a particular product is getting a majority of clicks then perhaps you should increase bids …

The search industry is built on the premise of delivering information to a user who's searching for something. But what about the reverse process? What about a user who wants to be searched for--like a job-seeker, or former high-school recluse, or even a mortgage-buyer? For the latter, there's MoneyAisle, a marketplace for loans and mortgages. Users set their desired loan amount and term and jump into the pool--where banks are searching for the right person to lend to. Charles Knight points to a number of other services that focus on the "searched" as opposed to the …