Alan Bleiweiss challenges shoot-for-the-moon motivational theory -- the one that tells us if the plan falls short at least you will land among the stars. He suggests shooting for another galaxy, and provides examples using search marketing techniques. It's all about the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model (LDA), which Bleiweiss explains.

Did the Google Keyword Tool break? That's what marketers thought when last week Google quietly updated the numbers in the keyword tool, which generated numerous reports of huge drops in search traffic, according to Gary-Adam Shannon. He suggests marketers check their numbers.

An interesting Newsweek piece written in 1995 on why the Internet will fail surfaced recently. The article describes visionaries who see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms These visionaries also speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Sound familiar? The Next Web provides interesting commentary on the long-lost piece.

Google has updated and simplified its privacy policies in order o make policies "more transparent and understandable." Mike Yang, Associate General Counsel, explains the updates and additions that take effect on Oct. 1.

Vasilis Vryniotis tells us how to optimize title tags to improve click-through rates. He also discusses what he calls one of the most controversial topics -- whether SEO professionals should use the company's brand name in the HTML titles. He suggests making the titles brief, less than 65-70 characters, and descriptive, and provides tips on using heat maps and tools.

Attribution or media mix models for search marketing? asks Kevin Lee. He points to an SES New York keynote where Avinash Kaushik explains the "lunacy" of some attribution models, and why it's important to monitor landing page bounce rates. The bottom line: Forget attribution modeling and embrace econometric media mix models.

Companies looking to hire local SEO experts might want to take some advice from Andrew Shotland. He has put together 13 questions to ask a consultant before hiring her/him. Shotland also suggests making sure the company doing the hiring maintains control of access for accounts like Google Place Page -- which can save the hiring firm headaches if it parts from the SEO expert in the future.

Andy Beard explains how Google is experimenting with 20 search results per page, though the default historically has been 10, and why the search engine might want to make the change. While he concludes the change is significant, it could cost Google revenue because no ads exist below the fold.

Mark Thompson confirms something many small businesses know: The competitive landscape has gotten much more saturated and there are bidding wars between advertisers to push their ads towards the top. Those bidding wars can push small advertisers right out of the running for ad placement. So he lists best practices to increase return on investment, along with a few alternatives paid search marketers at small companies with tight budgets might want to try.

Finding and building Web site links can prove tedious for SEO professionals. Rand Fishkin details four link-building tactics not talked about too much in SEO circles. Among them: testimonials. Fishkin believes these are a great way to build rapport with a contact, but be sincere: Don't recommend a product or a service you wouldn't suggest to a friend.