Cyclical Web traffic can have a major impact on trend comparisons across months of data, according to Daniel O'Neil, who provides an example from a Pure Visibility client. He emphasizes that "even with the introduction of advanced segmentation, motion charts, and other awesome features there are real-time traffic patterns that can create major errors in your analytics reporting if you don't account for them." Through graphs and charts, O'Neil compares traffic pattern and suggests week-to-week rather than month-to-month comparisons. The calendar function in Google Analytics makes this much easier to explain to clients, and you should see a …

Mark Johnson has taken issue with an article referring to SEO as "snake oil," and wants to know how the columnist decided SEO doesn't work. Johnson doesn't name the magazine or the columnist, but a search on the quote he provides returns an article from John Dvorak at PC magazine. (Thank goodness for SEO.) In fact, Dvorak incorrectly tried one aspect of SEO -- optimizing URL structures -- according to Johnson. "He screwed it up and then blames our industry?" he writes. He then calls on his fellow SEO experts to show the PC reporter how it's …

If you own a new business trying to get noticed by search engines, you might find it helpful to learn about a tool called GetListed.org. The site identifies if your company has a local listing in Google, Yahoo, Live Search and Best of the Web. Using an example of a new Web site, Rebecca explains how to use the tool. She also details a few other nice touches on Get Listed, such as a feature showing ways to rank higher in the local search engines and a great source center featuring local search marketing advice, information and tips.

Google Map users know that when they click on the small dots it gives them useful information about specific places in the area. Arnold Zafra tells us that today the new layer for local search results is available on maps.google.com, but Google plans to bring this function to other services as well. Zafra points to a few good examples on Google's Official Lat Long Blog. For instance, you might find a new coffee shop just around the corner from your house in Seattle that didn't make it to the first page of a search query, because Seattle has …

Setting realistic goals and monitoring the correct metrics to pull together a successful SEO campaign might become more difficult than expected if you don't set and manage clients' expectations, explains Julie Shumaker, who offers the "magic formula for success." If the phrase "What do you mean, we aren't on page one of Google?" rings all too familiar, you might want to heed Shumaker's recommendations. "A myriad of elements affect position with the search engines, and moving toward those top listings takes time and effort," she writes. "You understand this, but do your stakeholders? Although SEO is an effective …

Matt McGee shares some stats he picked up at the SMX West conference in Santa Clara, Calif., recently. In one session, Eli Goodman from comScore, Jon Stewart from Nielsen Online, and Bill Tancer from Hitwise examined search engine data. McGee points to Tancer's numbers as eye-opening. This data showed that the long tail is getting longer: one- and two-word queries are on the decline, while four- and five-word queries are rising. McGee provides a chart for you to visualize the trend, and tells us what this means for searchers.

Forget about measuring hit rates on your Web site. It's the bounce rates you want to monitor, according to Avinash Kaushik, who steps you through the process on how to get that information from Google Analytics. While hit rates show you how many visitors came to your site, bounce rates measures "how many of those people were unimpressed and left your site without taking any action," not even a click, he writes. Kaushik demonstrates how to determine which search engines and Web sites are sending you visitors with high bounce rates. Then you can figure out if you …

Stoney deGeyter believes that knowing your competitors' SEO strategy is nearly as important as knowing your own -- so he provides tips on analyzing your competition. You want to learn from them but not mimic them, building your own strategy based on that knowledge. There are three types of competitors you should review: "those naturally ranked in the search results, those dominating the paid ad results and those that are offline but targeting your same audience," deGeyter writes. He suggests tools to help identify the SEO techniques of each of the three competitive types.

At OMMA Social I spoke with a marketing director who claims to tweet on Twitter several hours daily to feed her followers. But Shimon Sandler says you can naturally attract supporters by using the social network tool just a few minutes each day. Sandler provides reasons for using Twitter, setting up an account, using the tool, and promoting your profile. In the "How to" section of the post, he goes through seven steps to becoming successful on Twitter, from making sure to tweet useful information worth sharing, to being consistent.

Do you need a fixed search budget? Maybe not, according to George Michie. Many of his clients view search as a direct marketing channel with well-understood ROI expectations. How much they spend is a function of market opportunity, not boardroom decisions. After all, writes Michie, "Why would a company keep spending money when the ROI turns south? 'By golly, we're going to spend this last $10K even if it doesn't generate a sale!'" On the other hand, "Why would a company stop spending money when the ROI is good? 'I know that every time I give you $10 …