This holiday season, sharpen your keyword searches and focus on attracting local shoppers, suggests Erik Dafforn. Although increases in gas prices have mildly subsided, they're still above $3 in most parts of the country, and many shoppers will first search online for bargains close by. Consider shifting some additional PPC effort and resources to geographically targeted local campaigns. Highlight the inventory of the store nearest the consumer and target your copy to appeal to someone with car keys in hand, which sounds like good advice to attract consumers going green by conserving fuel. Don't bury important …

Advice floating through the SEO world suggests that PageRank sculpting should be used only when all other methods for improving SEO are complete. But in a recent post, Rand Fishkin strongly disagrees. He believe using "nofollow to flow link juice is something that should come up at the same time site architecture and link architecture does." That means when you're trying to figure out how to get the search engines to index all your content and find new content as quickly as possible. Fishkin lays out several steps to help you test and watch PageRank sculpting, supported by nofollow, …

Part IV provides steps that can help you uncover important core terms. Stoney deGeyter suggests that site owners use a variety of keyword research tools to ensure getting a range of data. Select a core term from your list and plug it into the tool's search box. Scan the results and look for core terms you don't already have on your list. Aside from looking for new core terms, you also want to look for new words that can be used to create new core terms. DeGeyter provides an example. If "waterproof wheeled bag" is on the page, …

A study at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) measured brain activity of older adults as they searched the Web to see if Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others can make you smarter. Dr Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA., recruited two groups of people. One had minimal computer experience, while the other had lots. Twenty-four people were divided into the two groups, similar in sex, educational achievements and age, ranging from ages 55 to 78. Their only difference was their technological experience. It turns out members …

Here are five strategic goals you need to shoot for to help get your Web site noticed. These easy to understand instructions provide insight on how and why to optimize your site's Web pages. The recommendations start with placing a link to your new page on one frequently crawled by Google, checking cache to determine the frequency of the crawl. This allows Google to find the link quickly, follow it, and discover your new page. Also: Use descriptive words and phrases. Structure the content in a clear, hierarchical format whenever possible, using headings, lists, and emphasis to highlight …

In an effort to ensure its proposed deal passes antitrust scrutiny, Google and Yahoo are negotiating concessions to deflate monopoly concerns, reports Wired.com, citing the Wall Street Journal. Google and Yahoo insist the partnership, which would allow Google to serve ads to underperforming keywords on Yahoo's search engine, does not violate antitrust laws. The DOJ's ongoing investigation has been picking up steam, fueled by Microsoft's lobbying efforts. Worries that the deal, announced in June, will give Google an unfair advantage in search have held up the DOJ's investigation and caused the companies to delay implementation of the deal beyond the …

Google has delivered on the promise to tell Webmasters the pages where broken links originate. Knowing about them will help ensure visitors find their site and that fixed links are properly credited. By implementing the redirect, visitors who search and click on the link can find the correct content. Actually, Googlebot finds the content, and mypage.html gets credit for the link. Vanessa Fox says that when you see a 404 error for www.example.com/mpage.html, most likely users meant to link to www.example.com/mypage.html. The broken link is missing the "y" in mypage.html. Fox provides information on how to view broken …

Google and Adobe have teamed up on a new algorithm to index text in Flash. The results: Googlebot now indexes "textual content in SWF files of all kinds and extracts URLs embedded in Flash." Brian Ussery spent months of research to illustrate how Google handles Flash since the update in July, which is designed to assist Googlebot to traverse simple JavaScript, like SWFObject. While the full impact is yet unknown, the technologies will redefine how Flash sites are created, constructed, designed and, as a result, optimized. Several case studies test steps you might take to optimize a Flash search site. …

If you're still trying to understand Twitter and its search capabilities, Jennifer Laycock suggests you think about the site and technology as a Post-It note. There are millions of people in the world with thoughts, opinions and questions. Some you want to hear, others you don't. Now think about thousands of colorful Post-It notes tacked to a wall of messages. About one-third of the Post-It notes are blue, one-third yellow and the remainder pink. The blue notes are from people whose thoughts, opinions and questions you want to follow. Similar to RSSS feeds, Twitter will compile the list of …

Marketers have become more comfortable with SEO. That's the findings from an online survey conducted by the Online Marketing Blog. More than 400 business marketers responded. Readers were asked: What three Internet marketing tactics will you emphasize most in the next six months? The results ranked search engine optimization, blogging, and pay per click at No. 1, No. 2, and No.3, respectively. While the top three aren't too much of a surprise, search engine marketing factors into many aspects of marketing campaigns. Contrary to some mainstream media characterizations, search engine optimization impacts strategies and can become a valuable …