Bethany Bey shares three valuable paid-search metrics based on two questions. No. 1: If you could only check three metrics in your PPC account, which three metrics would you choose? No. 2: What PPC metric do you think is bogus, overrated or a waste of time? The questions, asked by WordStream folks during a visit to a Hanapin office, prompted several responses from the search marketing firms' experts. In addition to Bey, Jessica and Dave share their thoughts.

Guillaume Bouchard lists the four Ps of search engine optimization. In addition to listing proactive, persistence, perseverance, and patience, he provides actionable tips for each. For example, he explains that being proactive becomes fundamentally essential because of the lag in time between doing the work and seeing the results. Similar to most accomplishments in life and work, we must plan ahead, prepare for uncertainty, and factor in the long-term effects for each activity.

Marketers using AdWords may want to explore the feature Top of Page Estimate, which now can become a column in the dashboard. Top of Page, along with First Page Bid Estimate, provide insight into opportunities to optimization campaigns. Just as important, it can tell marketers how AdWords calculates these estimates and offer alternatives other than continually raising bids, explains Jessica Cates. She takes us through each strategy and serves up tips on improving rankings.

Rather than trying to manipulate prospective buyers, Bnonn Tennant provides four key elements to marketing without the hard sell. He suggests leaving behind the "persuasive" techniques and removing the "pompous" talk, exchanging them for "plain English" and earning trust to connect better with consumers. Tennant takes us through a strategy that he believes improves clarity in ad copy, provides information to help consumers make educated decisions, and points more toward the concept of recommendation from friends rather than hype from strangers.

How does a search engine measure the quality of search results? Bill Slawski tells us about a Yahoo patent, describing a machine learning approach to determining the effectiveness of different successful search queries metrics. He points to the inventor's LinkedIn profile to analyze the patent, and compares his experience with the approach taken in the "search success metrics" patent.

While most comments on review sites appear to be constructive, Neil Patel tells us how to handle negative comments and those that seem a little farfetched. He calls them "additional problems to accentuate" a point. Or what about those from a competitor who claims to be a customer? Patel provides a list of tips to keep in mind, such as "no customer is your enemy," and always "offer to right the wrong."

Next month, Google will bring the +1 button to AdSense and display ads in the Google ad network. One click will give consumers the ability to recommend an ad, making it appear to their social connections similar to the way articles appear in search results. The button will begin to appear on AdSense for content and AdSense for mobile content display ad formats such as image, animated gif, and Flash ads. Google has also made an opt-out button available.

In a play on the game of football, Bill Hartzer explains the penalties of search engine optimization and what to do if Google calls foul. Hartzer takes us through the top two basic penalties to consider: Algorithmic and Manual. Marketers will consider most of what he runs through to be common sense, but the insight provides a good refresher for those who need a reminder of the processes.

Avoid optimizing SEO campaigns in a vacuum of search engine algorithms, social media and on-page optimization strategies, and consider a more fundamental approach to begin. Stoney deGeyter provides seven steps to keep in mind that should materialize into successful SEO campaigns. For example, rather than focus on limitations, start with strengths and find people who can compensate for weaknesses.

Joy Barberio provides a list of changes to paid search that have been made since earlier this year. She explains each of the improvements and provides screen shots making it easier to visualize the change. Google, for example, pulled text from the landing page into the paid-search ad copy. The feature makes it more important for marketers to be concise and optimize copy on each page.