Evidently, article marketing has become a highly debated topic, according to Andy Beard. He's out to prove wrong the assertion, made without testing, that the practice is pointless. Beard explains how he tested this claim, provides screen shot examples, and interestingly leads readers to a further discussion on Google Buzz.

If you're like Allison Schwam, you, too, probably wake up and check your Google AdWords account first thing in the morning, similar to the way a day stock trader might check her stock portfolio. She tells us how AdWords allows her to prioritize work and identify trends, as well as fit fun outdoor activities into her day. You see, Schwam lives in Park City, Utah. Recently, the resort town got 12 inches of fresh snow overnight. But unlike Schwam, you probably don't check your AdWords account and then go out for a snow ski run.

Over-optimizing a Web site could lead Google to drop it in search engine rankings, according to Eric Enge. Since engines rely on a variety of signals to rank Web sites, he believes that "unnatural behavior" of any kind can lead to engines identifying sites as "over-optimized." Enge provides examples that may cause a Web site to drop in query rankings, such as pages that have identical page titles and H1 headings.

Google Monday launched Google Public Data Explorer, an experimental new product in Google Labs that boils down complex data into much more intuitive animated charts, simple for people to create and share by embedding on Web sites or blogs. Jurgen Schwarzler tells us the tool is aimed at helping people comprehend data and statistics through visualizations. It lets you mash up data using line graphs, bar graphs, maps and bubble charts. The visualizations are dynamic, so they change over time.

For at least five years, I've been asking search engines and telecommunication-related companies that build set-top boxes when search features comparable to those on PCs will come to the TV. Finally, the Wall Street Journal reports Google is testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network. It was just a matter of time. Yahoo has had an agreement to put widgets on TVs with some television manufacturers for more than a year, but think of the possibilities -- and headaches -- SEO and paid search on TV brings. What happened to IBM and Microsoft? Some of the folks in …

Now that social signals from Twitter and Facebook have become more important to search engines, use them to identify when keywords trip the "Query Deserves Freshness" switch, suggests Rand Fiskin. For those who don't recognize the lingo, Fishkin refers to hot trending topics. Fishkin shows you how to identify the trends and suggests when to post a blog or content related to the topic.

Did Wayne Sutton snap a picture of Steve Jobs at the Oscars Sunday night? The first Apple iPad ad ran Oscar night, and Caroline McCarthy tells us Jobs has every right to attend Hollywood's big night. Aside from making deals to sell, rent and download movies in iTunes with most of the studios attending the star-studded event, Apple will likely have extensive negotiations with studios to get the content on the iPad, too. Jobs also acquired animation studio Pixar in 1986 before selling it to Disney about 20 years later. From the clip of the iPad commercial on YouTube, it …

Rick DeJarnette goes into detail on how to optimize Web content for Silverlight. He explains many things you can do to help search engine bots find, learn and index content supported by Silverlight. Bots cannot read Silverlight content the way people can, so make sure to include metadata in your site pages. He also provides extensive details on the correct technology required to test the pages.

Microsoft's search engine may trail Google in searches, but when it comes to Fans on Facebook, the Redmond, Wash., company ranks No. 1. Christopher Heine writes that if Microsoft planned to gain a bigger presence on the social network through Facebook Connect when it signed FarmVille to MSN Games, then the deal paid dividends in just 19.5 hours. It's all about getting people to experience Bing, Heine writes, citing a Microsoft spokesperson.

Virginia Nussey gives us a rundown of an analytics action plan for PPC and SEO. The advice is from a session at last week's SMX West conference. She defines "user engagement," and lays out analytics planning strategies described by panelists. The long post also offers search key performance indicator examples and auditing techniques.