Shimon Sandler takes readers through optimizing a pre-existing (and likely underperforming) AdWords campaign step-by-step, starting with downloading the Keyword report for a previous time period. Sort the data by your chosen success metric (cost-per-conversion, CTR, etc) and then port it to a new Excel spreadsheet. Now comes the keyword-based trimming. "Only use the keywords that converted from the previous time period," Sandler says. "This is effectively cutting away all the excessive 'no results' keyword spending." Bundle the keywords into ad groups, craft fresh copy for each--with two ads per group so that you can split a/b test. One …

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 …

"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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

New research from iCrossing finds that only about half of all search marketers integrate their client's search campaigns with offline channels. When they do, about a third of them cross-promote with direct mail or print (magazines and newspapers), and only about 12% tap broadcast mediums like TV or radio. The biggest factor hindering multi-channel campaigns is a lack of budget, as 20% of the survey respondents said that was the cause. Other factors include a lack of human resources (15%) and personnel silos--11% of respondents said that they their organization had separate people managing search and offline channels. …