Google condones burying content by manipulating search, according to Rhea Drysdale. She tells us how Google views online reputation management based on a variety of factors, including the Webmaster Central blog post. Drysdale explains that it's in Google's best interest to encourage brands to to promote positive messages, and provides tips on how to do so: by creating lots of Web sites for the brand, publishing positive reviews and putting good news in front of bad.

Duncan Parry explains five ways marketers can help or hinder the efforts by paid search campaign professionals. Start with education and communicating changes, whether small or large, because all can have an impact on the campaign. Parry also suggests going beyond the click, automating processes, and helping others stay informed by providing reports. Search engine ranking positions are based on achieving targets, not building egos, he writes.

Ann Smarty gives us three ways to search for selected text in Firefox. With a variety of screen shots to provide a visual representation of the process, Smarty walks through Selected Search, RCSearch, and Sachio Search -- a FireFox add-on that lets users add search engines to their FireFox context menus.

Chris Lake suggests creating "1% clubs" of your customers -- segmenting them by value or engagement. "Monitor these groups, treat them differently, experiment, and learn from them," he writes. For example, figure out the 1% most engaged ("useful for product development, crowdsourcing and cheerleading") and the 1% most unprofitable Then there's the 1% most price insensitive: "not necessarily the most valuable, or the most frequent buyers, but those customers who think nothing of splashing out on the best products. Segment these customers. Create dedicated marketing campaigns for them. Try to figure out how to make them purchase more often."

Here's Peter Da Vanzo on what SEO is: "Ever had trouble explaining to people what you do? I've worked out a succinct answer that is easy for non-technical people to understand. When people ask me what I do, I tell them 'I'm a drug dealer.'" More seriously, he tries to sort out SEO's meaning by looking at its history.

Jennifer Horowitz gives us a blueprint for SEO, social media, PPC and banner ads to drive traffic to Web sites, and also explains what to do when the traffic gets there. For one, she suggests making sure to clearly tell readers about the site's content in headlines that grab their attention.

Rand Fishkin discusses two useful metrics to accurately determine the cause of rise or falls in traffic. Among those metrics: the number of pages receiving at least one visit from search engines. He explains how the metrics can provide a deeper level of understanding through standard analytics packages like Google Analytics.

Nora Flansburg explains that budgeting and bidding details in Microsoft Advertising adCenter differs from those in Yahoo Search Marketing, taking a deep dive into the feature to help prepare for the transition. She points to recent budget improvements in adCenter that track spend in real time, which aims to help the tendency to overspend, and runs through tips for Yahoo advertises to put the transition in perspective.

Eric Enge gives examples of changes in your Web site that could affect the way a search engines treats it. Yes, that means the engines could stop indexing content. He runs through URL structure, content, domain and other possibilities that could alter the way engines index the site, and suggests SEO professionals consider how inbound link profiles tweak the way engines view Web sites.

JJ Bannasch tells us six often abused paid search metrics. He explains that paid search experts have an array of data points, which experts should use data to tell a story. But increasing impressions will not guarantee better campaign results and, over time, could lower campaign quality and traction, he writes.