Bill Slawski has found a Yahoo patent application published this week that provides insight into how the company evaluates search results and snippets served up to searchers. Marketers concerned about what shows up as a snippet for pages in search results when a search engine decides to use something other than your meta description, may want to spend time reading through the patent application. Slawski tells us the patent filing doesn't go into a lengthy discussion about how the search engine chooses one string of text over another. It does, however, go into detail about page titles, snippets, and ...

Readers should know when bloggers are compensated by companies with freebies, such as gift cards, trips and computers, according to Jonah Stein and Jonathan Hochman. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced blogger guidelines that require they disclose financial interests. But it's not the bloggers that need the guidelines, but the ad networks, writes Stein and Hochman. In an open letter to the networks, Stein and Hochman suggest building a rating system to share relevant click volume and user feedback. Networks have achieved the scale that makes them efficient for legitimate advertisers to reach millions of consumers - but ...

Scott reveals the consequences when someone looking for SEO services sends the same letter simultaneously to 51 SEO professionals asking for a quote; all of the SEOs are referred to by numbers. Most companies did not respond. The lesson: "show some respect," he writes. "Few things make people less receptive to you than making them feel like a number; like they have no individual value and that their skills and accomplishments are not appreciated."

Take a second look next time you think an SEO project is simple. The promise of better return on investments isn't always easy. SEO takes time to work, according to Stoney deGeyter. He writes some companies have the funds to invest, but not quite what it takes to succeed. Most projects are time-consuming, so expect delays by either the client or the SEO expert. What may seem like a small task can often become larger when properly done. Typically more issues get uncovered than originally found in the initial analysis, deGeyter writes.

Herdon Hasty attempts to compare SEO and PPC to peanut butter and jelly. SEO is the peanut butter holding together the campaign. PPC is the jelly, sweetening the deal. He suggests combining the two search advertising methods because efforts use the same concepts of headline, body copy, and landing page, and target the same customers. So, Hasty steps through the process of selecting keywords, testing and applying processes, and measuring and adjusting the campaign as criteria changes. As an SEO expert, he views SEO as the "answer to everything from 'how do I drive more traffic in a recession?' ...

In an interview with Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein, Renee Blodgett gets the lowdown on Friedkin's views on technology and social media. He says that Econsultancy has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter. The tweets are, for the most part, created from posts on the company's blog. Friedlein says Twitter drives traffic to Econsultancy.com, which is monetized via advertising and memberships. It's also used to drive inbound links to improve search rankings, and support customer service through direct connections with employees who directly respond to requests. Other social networks support the company, too. LinkedIn groups, for example, drive ...

After reading "Nudge," Will Critchlow set out to define the main themes in the book and highlight the ideas that could apply to SEO. Since many are about human weaknesses, or at least human effects, he applied some to conversion rate optimization. In this heady post, Critchlow tells us why conversion rate optimization is an important consideration when referring to traffic generated from search, since engines are not susceptible to human-based nudges. Other terms he discusses from the book include anchoring, availability representativeness, optimism and confidence, and gains vs. losses.

Framing a statement can influence how customers respond to it. "Framing," or semantics, sets the agenda, definining a "set of ideas, conditions, or assumptions to determine how something is approached, perceived or understood," according to Peter Da Vanzo. Stepping through the process to construct SEO frames that work, Da Vanzo explains if you tell a group of base jumpers 1% of all base jumpers die horrible deaths, you'll get few people signing up. Tell them, however, that 99% live and it sounds more appealing.

Mike Grehan provides a refresher on how linking data became an important strategy. He provides a brief history before diving into how the "two most important ranking algorithms," PageRank and HITS, work. Aside from the technical overview, Grehan serves up advice for getting links, developing a niche, and providing great customer service. Make a list of the "compelling reasons" why another site would link to yours. He writes that if can't get beyond why your friends and family should link to your site, rethink why you built the site in the first place.

Marty Weintraub asks Lee Odden -- described as a "thought leader" -- to describe his vision of the intersection of SEO and social media, and what successful holistic integration looks like. Weintraub also digs for the answers on Odden's search marketing core values. He asks, have they changed during the years? Other topics discussed include SEO training, as well as common client-integration barriers and what steps to take to maximize the potential for success.