Jonathan disagrees with Nic Abramovic's post on automated bidding tools, which he calls "uninformed and in places insulting." He writes that a balanced view would have made Abramovic's opinions more credible. Abramovic "bangs" on rules-based systems, widely known for their inefficiencies, according to Jonathan. Yet Abromovic doesn't attack them because of their inefficiency, but rather on perceived short-comings that could affect any system, adds Jonathan.

June numbers from RKG suggest a recovery is underway, albeit slow moving, according to George Michie. He has been tracking results for about 20 large retail accounts during the past year. These companies spend more than $50,000 monthly and haven't radically changed their marketing efficiency goals during that time. Michie writes that May was the first month this year he saw a year-over-year improvement for medium-size companies. "Huge standard deviation, naturally, but coming from a first quarter in the neighborhood of 20% in PPC sales and costs, this was a pretty big deal ... we hoped," he wrote.

Just about every SEM professional uses Excel, but most use it differently. Certain rules apply to every user, though, such as saving your work, and formatting documents at the end of the process, according to Josh Dreller. Dreller also provides tips on creating tab colors, tabbing to the next line, printing column and row headers, and turning off annoying hyperlinks. A keyboard cheat sheet provides shortcuts on inserting the date, rows, extending the selection to the next blank cell, and more.

Rick DeJarnette looks at ways to optimize the architecture of Web site content to improve SEO. Among them: setting up content pages similar to an org chart; using tags to highlight keywords in body text; and ensuring text is not shown via scripts, Flash or images. DeJarnette also serves up tips for using header tags, and tells SEO professionals to nix the hidden text and links, including text and links formatted in the same font color as the Web site's background or in the tiniest possible font sizes. Google will penalize the site for using these spam techniques.

What if Google begins offering PPC ads in movie theaters to geographically target a specific demographic based on location and movie genre? SEM Geek presents this hypothetical scenario, explaining how the advertising model would work, from targeting and calculating volume, to monetizing and tracking conversions. After all, consumers in movie theaters are a captive audience. The ads on the screen are a familiar way to view advertisements for the local restaurant, as well as preview upcoming movies. SEM Geek also points to the fact that movie-goers have begun to see more television show advertisements during the past …

Every wonder if Microsoft plans to release a Bing toolbar? Bing Principle Group Manager Rajesh Srivastava talks with Ann Smarty about a variety of topics, including choosing the name, algorithms, leveraging social media to communicate with webmasters, and plans for a toolbar. Srivastava says the plan is to post regular blogs on a community site, whose interactive forum provides a place for professionals to discuss topic related to SEO, SEM and site architecture. Social networks allow the Bing team to communicate about updates to Bing on Facebook and tweet updates on Twitter, where the team monitors and responds to …

Garret French provides tips for those looking for better performance from SEO projects in international markets. His lengthy post covers in detail topics such as identifying international SERP competitors, prospecting and qualifying international link opportunities, and acquiring international links. When identifying international SERP competitors, for example, French recommends looking for local news sites and local blogs with potential comment opportunities. Some cities are more likely than others to provide link opportunities, depending on how many media creators live there.

Chrome OS could become a major source for paid search traffic, according to Kevin Lee. Marketers may want to consider their search campaign for Chrome OS now, as Google readies to take operating system to the open source community. The OS will rely on cloud computing and seems likely it will tap into Google's search bar to let users jump from computing activities to Google search, according to Kevin Lee. Lee reminds us that the best paid search campaigns take into account where traffic originates, who searches from Yahoo or Google, and what kind of search traffic arrives …

Similar to "sex, a good meal or even a good TV show, each blog post must be enough to leave people happy but wanting more at that same time," writes Stoney deGeyter. It's all about integrating keywords, proof reading, no keyword stuffing, and being honest by posting needs, values and desires into the blog posts, he says. By creating blog content that appeals to readers, marketers increase Web site hits through keyword search engine optimization. It seems like a no-brainer, but it's important to remember keywords should fit naturally into the article, become part of the topic, the …

David Harry shares thoughts on "social search": "So WTF is going on with all of this? Has last year's catch phrase 'social search' become this year's, 'real-time search'?" Listing five types of search engines, Harry serves up details on a framework for a social search engine, some of which he calls mere "social aggregators." Harry believes it's important to go beyond the catch phrases to define "social engine."In his view, that's one that identifies like-minded user types, or at least connects the dots, within a social network to better produce relevant results. It would need to have a …