Duane Forrester gives us 18 fundamental things webmasters need to know about search engine optimization when it comes to optimizing on Bing and Yahoo. While the list does not cover it all, marketers will find tips on crawlability, site structure, on-page factors and more. Forrester also lists things to avoid, such as cloaking, link buying, like farms, link farms, and three-way linking, among others.

Looking at enhanced cost per clicks in AdWords, Jessica Niver explains how to gain and use metrics from the platform so Google doesn't take the campaign's entire budget without giving back enough return for the investment. She directs us to the Conversion Optimizer tool to explain why campaigns must reach a certain threshold before marketers can use it, and suggests that the more consistent and historical conversion data the campaign provides, the better this tool will perform.

ESPN worked with Google to create a series of sports-related microdata that include athletes, teams, leagues, and games, making it easy for fans to find data in searches. The idea is to apply meaning to the code in content using microdata to create a better search experience, according to Chris Jason. The two companies are working to standardize the data process. In a guest post on Google, he describes how structured HTML5 tags and properties in a Web page help people find information about sports-related topics.

Geno Prussakov outlines best practices when it comes to affiliate program management. He explains how to work effectively through symmetric communication, parse responsibilities for the relationship into three groups, and give rather than take or communicate rather than broadcast. Effective communication should include feedback as part of the process. Prussakov tells us how.

Google announced earlier this month that their algorithm known as "Panda" had been rolled out for all languages. The change is said to impact between 6% and 9% of user queries, down from the 12% seen in the initial Panda update in February. Google had said in a blog post that "most users will see less than a 1% change." It turns out that wasn't exactly true. Mike Pantoliano explains the change to organic search traffic, and points to a bug in the original rollout of this change and how it makes a difference.

Bill Slawski tells us about a Google patent granted last week that explains how a crawler decides whether it should re-index a Web page after finding a small change in the content. The patent also describes how Google might check for changes on a page, comparing a newer version with an older one. Slawski describes the focus of the patent, what makes sense, and why a patent like this one might become important to ecommerce stores that want to display links to specials or featured content on pages.

For search marketers integrating social into their strategy, Ron Jones introduces us to the correct tools and tells us five ways to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing. He does it through awareness and exposure, influence, engagement, and action. Jones explains the nuances of each strategy; when to find measurement tools from Lithium, Radian6, and Trackur; and how to best use them.

Tina Kelleher explains how to prepare for the next release of Microsoft adCenter. She suggests updating browsers to the latest Firefox or Explorer because earlier browsers may not be compatible with the next release. The adCenter Web interface may not work properly in the Web browser for those using IE6, IE7, FF4, FF3.6, as well as Google Chrome 11 or Chrome 12.

Numbers don't lie. They reflect either a positive or negative outcome. But calculating raw data and turning it into "actionable numbers" is not always easy. People make mistakes. So Will Critchlow offers up some tips on how to use statistics reliably. Some results may not be obvious, so along with some examples he provides a list of outcomes that marketers should keep in mind.

Not all marketers know the worth of customers. Here's a case study on one way to analyze an acquisition strategy and estimate marketing costs to calculate the lifetime value of a customer. The value is the projected revenue a customer will generate during their lifetime. Knowing this can help plan marketing budgets.