Ann Smarty compiles a list of 7 free spider simulation tools that allow you to evaluate a Web page. One of her favorites, Domain Tools Text-Browser, offers basic SEO tips to improve SEO scores, aside from the standard features such as H-tags, links and nofollow. Spiderview, which offers a handy interface and several useful options, is another tool she recommends. She cites the tool's ability to show you the page content, stripping CSS and Javascript. It then lists internal and external links and their anchor text. And at the end, the tool gives you the full page source code …

Mike Moran wants you to know sitemaps are not required for search engines to crawl your site. He explains that pages designed properly allow Google and friends to "happily" add your pages to their indexes. But what if the sitemap isn't built correctly? Moran suggests checking Google's, Yahoo's and Microsoft's search engine to make sure your site's pages are indexed. If you have 60,000 pages, the best you can do is spot check with a method he provides. Rather than become fixated on sitemaps, keep testing to ensure your pages are being indexed.

Barry Schwartz summarizes multiple features Google recently added to Image Search and Google Reader Blog, such as a "What's Hot" area. In addition to searching in Image Search for faces or photo content types of images, or news content, now you can search for line drawings and clip art. A link in the post to the Google blog provides an example of the new options. It looks at the first few results for "Christmas," one of Google's most popular queries on Image Search at the time. You can access the images several ways without typing extra words into …

Trevor Claiborne, part of the AdWords crew, has posted the top 10 favorite posts for 2008, according to FrankRank, Google's AdWords ranking system. In an earlier post, Frank the turkey, AdWords's mascot, tells us, in a little tongue-and-cheek humor, FrankRank is based on "how well a particular ad goes with mashed potatoes and gravy... and quite frankly, how much I like the ad." FrankRank ranks No. 10 the blog post on Search-based Keyword Tool, which helps you locate missed opportunities for advertising campaigns. At No. 9 is "Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends," a fun post on how you could …

For those of you still at work trying to get through the last 48 hours before beginning your Christmas holiday, Stuart Tofts offers up a Christmas search engine quiz to amuse you. He calls it a "festive alternative to a serious blog post." In the quiz, you will find questions like "The first Google doodle was to show the company's employees were attending what event?" and "How many unique users does MSN say Live Search have?" Tofts explains you will find the answers at the bottom of the page "but if you are tempted to cheat -- remember …

Yahoo will be broken into separate units and sold off. Google will offer DART Search as a freebie. Omniture will swoop up Covario. These are some of the 10 predictions Aaron Goldman makes for search marketing in 2009. They span the gamut, from well-known companies buying selling or merging assets, to sweeping changes in privacy policies and services offerings. Goldman predicts "Google will have a major privacy slip-up and experience serious consumer backlash," pointing to the fact "a lot has been made over the issue of privacy lately," with Yahoo cutting the amount of time it stores …

Erik Dafforn takes a Taoist view of SEM to offer words of wisdom. "To attract the most visitors, do not think about traffic," or "if you want visitors to stay, show them how to leave," or "the more innovative the product, the less people will want it," he writes. Chances are if you build a "gizmo that solves a problem most people don't know is even a problem yet, you'll need to be equally creative in looking for keyword veins and devising an overall SEM plan that will prove beneficial, and your expectations should be realistic," Dafforn writes. …

Search Engine Land has gone through a redesign. Danny Sullivan introduced the new look this week. Two years old this month, the site now offers libraries, video content, how-tos, and exclusive content for members. The site also brought back the ability to comment on posts. Sullivan explains Sphinn added Editor Rob Kerry and other staff, who look forward to hearing from you. "When we launched our Sphinn social news site for Internet marketers back in July 2007, we stopped allowing comments directly on Search Engine Land itself," he writes. "Instead, you had to submit our stories to …

How does the Earth hang in the sky? Why do dying plants turn brown? Web sites that provide answers to these questions "live and die by their ability to get high rankings among Google search results," using SEO to crawl their way up to the top, according to Julia Angwin, who calls these sites "the lowlifes of the Internet." Angwin writes that one SEO consultant, Jeremy Goodrich, runs an answer site on the side to "showcase his SEO abilities." So what's the problem? All too often SEO helped catapult the answer to the question to the top …

Kris Kringle (aka Santa Claus) dictates an "open letter" to Jim Nichols asking marketers to more closely follow the Santa LLC brand guidelines when representing him. He highlights a few holiday ads that have run during the past 20 years, reflects on those who have used his likeness and trademarks without permission, and suggests it's time to move forward with plan for 2009. On Claus' request, Nichols offers advice to clients and brand managers, media planners and buyers, publishers, and ad networks, providing examples for each. For instance, he suggests one way to get clients to understand drop-dead …