"ECommerce solution providers advertise optimised platforms and Clients demand search engine friendly sites; do both mean the same thing? Rarely." That's how James Gurd begins his piece on 20 elements companies should include in any RFT when considering a new eCommerce platform. And while the checklist doesn't "bespoke areas of Web site optimization," he writes, it will provide a starting point to discuss SEO requirements.

Kevin Lee analyzes Steve Ballmer's interview by Danny Sullivan at SMX West this week. He explains Ballmer's views on data and signals, how much future search must mature to become more useful, and aspirations for the future on mobile, as well as social and real-time search. Unfortunately, Lee points out, paid search advertisers must wait until Yahoo's integration with Bing. "Microsoft clearly still believes Google continues to abuse some market power," he writes.

Yahoo launched Thursday free offline tools that make it easier for marketers to analyze campaign performance and test ads quickly, to free up time for other tasks. The site offers tips to get started, case studies and webinars.

Dan Friedman tells us about new tools for brand advertisers for ads running on the Google Content Network. For example, one filters out what Friedman calls below the fold inventory. It provides the ability to show ads only in places that appear on the user's screen when the page loads, without requiring them to scroll down.

Andrew Gridwood suggests against turning affiliate links into SEO-friendly links. Why? Search engines don't want to let commercial links influence the search rankings, but it appears that Google recognizes well-known affiliate tracking domains and treats them accordingly.

Jason Tabeling believes that marketers who haven't established quality score credit with MSN when Yahoo search merges with Bing will find themselves and their company Web sites at a disadvantage. He acknowledges that it's still too early to determine how this merger will impact the search landscape, but warns marketers to start planning and testing systems. So he provides some tips on Yahoo's partner network, and suggestions for marketers buying ads on Yahoo Search to make the transition easier.

Google has released a Labs project for handsets running Android 2.0 or later versions that let people search, you got it, by gestures. Think QR code. The application, only available in the United States, aims to tap into the intuitive nature of search. Nexus One and Droid owners can search contacts, bookmarks and applications by drawing letters on the touchscreen.

Think "marathon" instead of "sprint" when designing a paid search campaign. Jenny tells us this analyze-adapt-get-results, analyze-adapt-get results process requires the correct tools. So she discusses iSpionage, a keyword research tool. Yes, it's a shameless sponsored post, but there's lots of good information here about the tool's features. Also, while at the PPC Hero site, browse the new format. PPC Hero got a facelift.

Google isn't getting into the SEO business, but folks at the search engine want to work smarter. So the company launched a project that would look at 100 different Google products, measuring them across a dozen common optimization categories. The findings should provide a few tips on what search engines look for to index and rank.

Harry Gold lists a few tactics he relies on to improve ad impressions generated without buying them, or at least list-buying them at a very low cost to add value to the campaign. He tells us why value-added placements and offline to online value placements can become very important to the overall campaign, and also describes the steps needed to make these strategies work.