The Google Analytics team recently took a stab at defining search engine optimization (and differentiating it from Web site optimization)--stating that SEO is "adjusting the content of your site so it ranks higher in the list of search results for a particular keyword or keyword phrase." Simple enough, but as Andy Beal notes, the definition doesn't include any mention of link building. It seems as if the giant is attempting to shape Webmaster opinion about SEO "so that we all focus on the 'on page' enhancement, not the 'off-page' link enhancements--you know the stuff that makes up the …

There's still time to catch the Mother's Day stragglers with a search campaign, and the Inside AdWords team offers a set of quick hits to make the most of this seasonal promotion. Create a unique ad group with keywords and copy geared toward Mother's Day--you can pause it once the occasion has passed and rerun the campaigns with minor tweaks next year. Highlight specific benefits like extended or overnight shipping, gift cards and gift-wrapping clearly in either your ad copy or on the landing page--as these details may be exactly what searchers are looking for. And …

E-tailers have a unique challenge when it comes to including product names on their Web sites: the names need to be unique enough for the core and comparison shopping engines to index, but simple enough for everyday users to scan and click on.. Adrienne Doss has come up with a quick fix for this problem. "For each product in your database, you want to create two name fields," Doss says. "I'll call them Long Name and Short Name. The Long Name works well for your product pages and title tags, while the Short Name can be used in …

MSN has upgraded Live Search, both on the front and back-end. The core search page features a new font and color scheme, and on the SERP, the search box has been brought down so that it's better aligned with the results. Meanwhile, the Live Search team has also been tinkering under the engine's hood, improving the on-page integration of video and pulling in health search info from a number of different sources.

Yahoo has partnered with McAfee to make using its search engine safer. The new feature, dubbed SearchScan, is akin to the malware warnings that Google currently offers with StopBadware.org. SearchScan checks for the most common Internet threats on Web sites within Yahoo's index--including browser exploits, virus or malware-hosting downloads and spam--and either removes the site before users see it on the SERP, or displays a potential risk warning next to the link. Currently in beta, SearchScan will be automatically turned on for all Yahoo searches, though users can choose to turn it off. They can also choose whether …

"Most advertisers are doing split testing all wrong," says Dan Thies. "That's because, in a typical A/B split test, what you're doing is keeping your Control (the best performing ad) running, and creating a new test ad to run against it. Doing it that way is perfectly normal, but it's also completely, utterly, and totally wrong." Thies' argument is that a new test ad typically gets ranked lower than an established, well-performing control ad (no matter which engine or ad platform), and will by default get fewer views and CTRs--which at the end of the test, makes it …

OBG Management and Convera have partnered to launch OBGfindit, the Obstetrics and Gynecology search engine. The vertical service is designed for consumers in search of OB/GYN-specific doctors, news and other information. There are sponsored text and display ads from various OB/GYN-related service providers. OBGfindit pulls in content from sites like biomedcentral.com, americanpregnancy.org and obgyn.net, but filters the info through an editorial lens so that the results focus on "association activities and publications, peer-reviewed medical research, surgical procedures, diagnostic techniques, standards of care, medicolegal, and other related information to the ObGyn field."

Google offers a number of tools to help advertisers ensure that they receive the most high quality traffic from their AdWords content targeting campaigns--with site and category exclusion as the primary option. The Site and Category Exclusion Tool allows advertisers to choose not to have their ads run on certain sites and is executed on a per campaign basis. At the site level, users can exclude an entire domain, a sub-domain, or specific pages within it. Meanwhile, topic (or category) exclusion allows users to keep their ads from running against sexually suggestive, profane, tragic, gory and other edgy …