As Stoney deGeyter suggests, there are many ways to say the same thing, and those who have performed keyword research know people search for the same things using different phrases and terminology. So, he p serves up some advice on optimizing similar keywords, reducing site clutter and become more selective when optimizing phrases.

The holidays and competitive landscape have SEO professionals scrambling to optimize sites and campaigns. Zeke Camusio gives us nine "sure-fire" SEO tips, from stealing competitors' keywords to advice on what to do if Google penalizes your Web site. One interesting piece of advice explains using Google Suggest to get tips on both obvious and non-obvious keywords.

Google rolled out on Wednesday a new interface for all AdSense publishers in more than 30 languages and in each of the more than 200 countries where the tool is available. The AdSense interface is how publishers set up, manage, optimize and see reports on the ads on their sites. Jonathan Bellack tells us Google overhauled the interface based on direct feedback from publishers, making it easier to use. He explains what's now available.

David Harry compares each chapter in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" to SEO optimization. For example, in the first chapter Sun Tzu wrote "The art of war is of vital importance to the state." Harry explains that SEOs must understand how to fight in the search engine results pages before realizing success. So, prior to the launch of the campaign, SEOs must prepare teams, resources, and research to set things in motion.

"In Central America, problems with Google Maps turn into international incidents. As in, Nicaragua invades Costa Rica," Christopher Dawson writes. Seriously, according to MSNBC, a "'bug in Google' inspired [Nicaraguan] troops to enter an area near the long-contested border, remove Costa Rica's flag and raise its own." Other, perhaps less consequential glitches include missing merchant reviews in Google Places. "So at what point does Google become liable when its services are imperfect?" he asks.

The ability to target ads to a specific audience segment remains one of Facebook's strengths for marketers. So, Jen give us some tips on getting started with a successful Facebook campaigns by digging into the dashboard, designing an ad, targeting the audience, and considering campaign pricing and scheduling.

Brandon Huck tells us how to use query string parameters to track customer information in Microsoft Advertising adCenter. He starts by explaining query strings and how they are used to capture valuable information before jumping into the methods for adding the parameters to a destination URL. An outline of topics and screen shots walk us through the process.

Gary Arndt tries to make the case that social is a better investment than SEO. He believes the increasing pollution of search engines spewing content from farms, Google's love of big brands and big media, and the increasing amount of work required to rank for the growing length of keyword phrases no longer makes SEO worth the effort for most bloggers. It's all about Google-proofing, he explains, and cautions not to allow fortunes to rise and fall based on how Google decides to rank your site.

Stephen Chapman points to a video on how Google indexes and serves up query results that Matt Cutts produced and posted in March 2010. He explains that the video confirms several signals that Google takes into consideration when ranking results. He also outlines several factors marketers can easily control that will make a big difference for how Web site pages rank.

With the holidays approachin,g online businesses want to lock down email campaigns, paid search ads, home page banners, SEO fixes and last-minute site updates. Linda Bustos gives us content examples in a retail scorecard that might help organize last minute changes, including general Web site design and usability, cart summary, checkout, post checkout, to help get SEO experts on track.