Google co-founder Sergey Brin posted the 2008 founders' letter on the main company blog this week, just in time for the annual stockholders' meeting. Search, ads, books, geographic information and YouTube are among the topics he highlights. Despite the global economic recession, Brin appears optimistic about Google's ability to innovate. Search remains at the core of Google's business, he says. During the past year the company made 359 changes to Web search, nearly one per day. Innovations have led to auto-suggest and voice-activated features, but Brin believes in the next decade "our searches and results will look very …

Wiep Knol takes us through the alphabet with tips on link-building -- from award Web sites to "Ztrategy -- Yeah, I know, I kinda cheated on this one, but having a well thought through ztrategy is so important that I couldn't leave it out." Also included: offline media. Yes, most people don't think about offline media such as TV and radio when building link campaigns, he writes. But offline sources create tons of links indirectly daily.

Marketers must understand the impact that data has on media buys before allocating dollars. Data can help determine credit for the last click. "Even though only one click can be the last touch point, this may not relieve you of the legal obligation to pay more than one vendor," Kevin Lee writes. "If your PPC search campaign was the last touch point but you're paying others as well, you may be tempted to reduce your PPC budget or attribution." Pool the data, don't rely on siloed collection systems and insist on rewarding a click regardless of whether it was, …

After responses to Oprah's KFC giveaway caused a traffic jam on Twitter, Tad Chef lost faith. Not all posts lead to good press, Chef writes. Some bad press points to the "hypocrisy" of Winfrey working with PETA one day and giving away chicken on the next. Chef also points to the overwhelming response KFC restaurants received as another downfall from the giveaway. The chain couldn't cope with the high demand or simply was unprepared or unwilling to offer enough free food. What lesson does this scenario emphasize? Chef runs down his suggestions in the post.

Yahoo is testing a program with a few select advertisers that displays favicons next to the URL in its sponsored results. The icons allow Web users to quickly identify sites at a glance. They show up on the browser next to the address window when you're on a page. The favicons could help boost click-throughs and improve quality scores, according to Jeff Sweat. He writes that brands can't sign up for the service yet, but those bidding on their own domain name and with a favicon.ico file on their site might be eligible to participate.

Dancho Danchev writes that researchers from security firm PandaLabs have uncovered a malicious search engine ring running a blackhat SEO campaign. The links lead to malware serving sites. Three search engines have been in operation since January. Danchev writes that two of those engines had already passed the 250,000 unique visitors benchmark in March.

Google will make $60 million annually directing people to the Forbes Web site, writes Stephen Shankland, citing Forbes.com CEO Jim Spanfeller. Windfalls similar to this one have news agencies steaming. Marissa Mayer addressed these criticisms Wednesday in testimony before a Senate hearing on the future of journalism. Mayer's defense: Google adds value to journalism; directing people to news Web sites shouldn't be overlooked as a valuable service. Mayer believes both journalists and readers benefit from Google services. For example, the Los Angeles Times Web site last year followed the Southern California wildfires using Google Maps. The post …

Forums have become a great way to get a new site indexed on Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other search engines. Brandon Leibowitz suggests finding a "high-traffic forum" indexed frequently and placing a link to the new site in a post or a signature. It's a great alternative to paying directory listing fees or waiting for the company to list. For those who want to tap into SEO, make sure the forum doesn't use nofollow tags. Posting in a forum related to products or services sold through your Web site will make links more valuable. Leibowitz provides a list …

SEMPO Institute has announced an educational partnership with Yellowbook to provide distance learning education for its media consultant sales team. Greg Sterling writes that the deal appears to help Yellowbook's sales force educate and sell search engine marketing products to local advertisers and small businesses. Sterling notes all major U.S. yellow pages publishers including Yellowbook, newspapers, Yodle and ReachLocal have been marketing and selling simplified versions of SEM offerings for several years. Most are Google resellers.

SEO by the Sea William Slawski has spotted a patent filed by Microsoft on "predicting when someone might switch from one search engine to another." The research in white papers published by Microsoft covers predicting search engine switching, and enhancing Web search by promoting the use of multiple engines.