Marketers attempting to connect with football fans might want to take notice. Google search queries make it clear that despite the NFL lockout, in the U.S. pro games and "nfl" are consistently top queries, compared with all of "college football." That's not to suggest college football isn't popular, according to Jim Lecinski. He runs down search stats from across the country, providing insight into states and teams with the most searches for specific keywords and times. He also reminds marketers that this has become a good time for consumer package goods companies to publish recipes because football, family, friends and …

Google collaborated with the 9/11 Memorial team to develop a Web site honoring victims, survivors and onlookers of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that shook the world more than 10 years ago. The Make History site allows anyone to upload and share photos and videos in a geographical context. It pieces together the history of 9/11 one photo or video at a time. Andy Berndt also tells us about other related YouTube sites and tools built in response to the events on that day.

Dell is rumored to have a partnership deal in the works with Chinese search engine Baidu, according to Becca Lipman. Dell plans to release mobile phones and tablets into the Chinese market as early as November, but it has not been confirmed whether Baidu will become the default search engine. As Lipman points out, a close relationship for Dell with Baidu could produce closer ties with China's government, and a stake in market share cam mean a relatively smooth entry into the market.

Marketers can help search engines find and rank blog posts. Sue Reynolds provides advice on getting content found and indexed. The tips range from WordPress plug-ins to header tags to images. For example, when adding photos or graphics to blog posts, be sure to fill in the Title and Alternate Text field in the image options section. Reynolds says this not only helps search engines identify images, but helps those using a screen reader understand the visual elements of the posts.

As search engines and algorithms evolve, Dan Deceuster contemplates future ranking factors and how they could influence search engine optimization. Based on experience, he categorizes the future in Six V(s) --value, validity, variety, vision, volume, visitors -- and explains each one. He also explores how social will influence rankings, and then makes six predictions on changes to rankings and the immediate future of search that include how link metrics of anchor text and placement on the page will receive much less weight in the algorithm, and user data will become incorporated into the algorithm.

Stoney deGeyter created a bill of rights for SEO in an effort to provide clarity between SEOs and their clients. The post covers everything from receiving and collecting payments to services outside the contractual agreement to reporting and canceled service fees. Following these rules could help SEO professionals work smarter and retain margins.

Through several Twitter tweets declaring he would make the top Yahoo CEO, rapper Snoop Dogg showed off his ability to create inspiring marketing messages. Miranda Miller runs through a few Snoop key phrases and tells us why he would make a good candidate. For example, "The City Is In Good Hands -- If we can trust him with an entire city, Yahoo's totally safe," and "Lay Low -- His ability to do so might be a welcome respite from Bartz's in-your-face communication style."

Along with live paid-search ads in AdWords, Google has begun to review paused ads, too. All ads are reviewed by Google before going live on the search engine, so Kayla Stockert suggests ways that marketers can prepare the ads in advance. Stockert details the reasoning behind this strategy and how it can help streamline paid-search campaigns. The change in Google procedure makes managing AdWords accounts easier because it shortens any delay in getting ads approved through Google, despite their status.

Optimizing landing pages to increase return on investment takes time and patience. The strategy to drive consistent messages relies on it. Relevancy, trust and ability to understand user intent are three of the five key ways John Lynch suggests marketers can improve return on investment through keyword optimization. Improving conversion rates from Web site traffic to landing pages can have dramatic results in the overall health of a company and the campaigns -- even at 0.5-1 percent, he explains.

Tina Kelleher tips off marketers on how to keep ads visible as holiday online traffic heats up. Competition could send paid-search ad positions falling. She lays out several red flags and describes possible resolution strategies. For example, for low conversion rates Kelleher suggests that we use dynamic text in ad title, text, and display URL; revise landing pages to align with keywords and ad copy; and bid higher on the keywords that perform the best.