Diamond retailers have long told consumers to think of the "four Cs" when it comes to determining the quality of a stone--clarity, cut, color and carats--and Sonia Simone applies those same traits to quality Web site copy. Clarity means be clear and simple--but not dumbed-down. "Effective content must be absolutely clear if it's going to persuade," Simone says. "Whether you want your readers to subscribe, to bookmark, or to buy, confusion is the enemy of action." Likewise, cut your copy to remove hyperbole, useless words and make sure you're focused tightly on one (or a few) main themes. …

Noah Mallin weighs in on how the various "privacy modes" of the crop of new browsers may make it harder to track search conversions (both on- and offline) for products with a longer purchase and decision cycle. "In privacy mode, cookies are turned off, so for a longer interaction cycle it can be difficult if not impossible to know that the user who is making the purchase is the same user who clicked through the search ad a month ago," he says. Of course, the full weight of the impact depends on how many users actually browse while …

Kevin Lee extols the virtues of search-centric microsites in this post, arguing that a company's main Web site is often built to serve the needs of various visitors--shareholders, press, casual browsers and even job-seekers--but not to snag searchers with particular products or services in mind. "If search is important for your business, you should probably stop selling to your search visitors from your headquarters," he says. "Start thinking like them, and design a user experience that balances your need to sell against their desires to select the best solution for their needs." That means developing a …

The Pandia Search team examines some of the ways that the engines are using personalization to deliver a better user experience, but also how those enhancements may affect privacy. For example, "when you're signed in to your Google Account, Google will try to get you more relevant, useful search results, recommendations and other personalized features," the team writes. And while personalized results may be more useful, the fact that the giant is developing a profile tailored to your interests, your emails, search history and Web feeds has already given rise to concern--especially since Gooogle keeps the data for …

Bill Hartzer serves up a roster of questions to ask yourself (or a client) before choosing whether to buy or develop a domain name, to park it with a company like Sedo.com to let it earn its keep, or to just use it as a redirector to another Web site. The disclaimer is that these criteria would likely work best for generic names as opposed to detailed, long tail domains. First, run a search for the primary domain phrase. You're checking to see if there are ads running against the keywords, and who your competitors in the …

Search spending in the U.K. is set to top £2.75 billion (nearly $4.9 billion) in 2008, according to new research from E-consultancy. That's up nearly 25% from 2007, in the midst of an economy that's facing some of the same mortgage- and credit-based headwinds as the U.S. "Growth in consumer internet usage is flattening out but the sector is certainly more robust than other media channels that have a less measurable return on investment," said Chris Lake, editor-in-chief of E-consultancy. "And [it] should continue to grow for years to come." SEO spending will increase by nearly …

"The domain name is part of the identity of your business," says Stoney deGeyter. "The URL chosen can have a significant impact on brand identity and in a lesser extent, keyword ranking performance. However, how your site domain name and page URLs function can have significant impact on the crawlability of the site as well as overall visitor and traffic performance." And with that, deGeyter serves up a list of domain and URL features that search pros should stay on top of. First, try to keep the domain name short and simple--avoiding unneccesary dashes, extra words and underscores--and …

Will Paoletto argues that there's a consensus among many in the search community about the value of directories and the links they provide--namely, that they're worthless. "I don't know where the people who seeded this myth (or the parrots who repeat it in lockstep) came from, but I know how to make them flip their opinion straight away," he says. "By using logic." For example, a dig into the linking structure of a client's site (using Google Webmaster Tools) showed 20 backlinks from a given directory. Paoletto had tagged and submitted a number of the site's pages to …

Greenseng is a search engine (built on Google's Custom Search platform) that measures the amount of energy used by its servers (and the computers of its users) and purchases renewable energy certificates to offset the negative effects on the environment. It's the latest offering from YCombinator startup CO2Stats, and the company plans to continue to develop the engine--working to fold in ranking algorithms from Yahoo BOSS.