When it comes to targeting campaigns, Google introduced changes to v201109, an API that supports upgrades to targeting and reporting in AdWords. Kevin Winter takes us through the upgrade, explains the differences of the old version versus the new, and includes a table in the post containing a comparison between the old CampaignTargets and their respective Criterion, as well as whether they are Targetable-only, Excludable-only or both.

Yep, they're here -- the holidays. The days that fall during the two to three months at the end of the year between Halloween and New Year's. David provides tips on preparing for seasonal spikes in Web site traffic, aside from the typical keyword research and the tasks of modifying ad copy and tweaking account structure. He also discusses perfecting the landing page -- you know, the page that most consumers land on after clicking on a paid-search ad. Among the tips, he suggests double-checking color schemes for the season, positioning products correctly on the page, and clearly marking special …

Kevin Lee presents an argument for paid search vs. paid social campaigns. He tells us about social media fatigue, ideas on harvesting demand rather than creating influence, and why "Likes" remain a terrible success metric. One of the more interesting -- but obvious -- points made is that marketers target social media ads based on profiles, not behavior, so the likelihood remains high that social site members will see the ad repeatedly, which can eat away at the budget and cost brands more than the conversion. 

GroupM's search team discusses in detail whether Google's shift in ad position will boost paid-search ad prices. Earlier this month, Google said it would begin serving up some sponsored ads at the bottom of the search page results. Search marketers believe the change will have an impact on cost and return on investments. The post highlights some examples and points to Google's original post, eye-tracking studies, and possible repercussions for brands. 

Don't overwhelm site visitors with information on landing pages. Sherice Jacob serves up 10 tips on building landing pages to generate converting leads. Jacob provides "proven lead generation boosters" that increase conversions and the site’s trust factor and authority to support query rankings in search engine results. The 10 tips include information on testing, white space, and the power of words.

Google released Ripples for Google+ a couple of weeks ago, but until business pages launched on the social site, not many people paid much attention. The tool allows marketers to see the consequences of a post or action on Google+, such as who shared what and when. Cassey Hen takes marketers through the set up, details its use, and shows us how to use the tool. 

Yes -- apparently, Web pages have an invisible fold similar to the actual fold in a folded physical newspaper. John Rampton overheard Google's Web spam team guru Matt Cutts say during the keynote at PubCon that the search engine may penalize Web sites for having too many ads, but he points to a link from Google on the AdSense Help page that explains ad placement. He recaps Cutts' keynote and the Google exec's reaction to Leo Laporte's keynote, which asserts that SEO will be dead in six months. 

Ads have become the gasoline running much of the Web, but search engine optimization professionals need to integrate them in a supporting role, not the main focus, according to Cyrus Shepard. He takes us through ads as a ranking factor, demonstrating how they can have a slightly negative influence on the ranking of a Web page when compared with the number of AdSense ads. He also presents Web page layouts that could improve rankings when using ads on that page.    

Boston Celtics Director Of Interactive Media Peter Stringer shares his opinion on Google+ and how brand pages might or might not become beneficial to the team. While he points to his initial thoughts on the site and how it has changed since then, Stringer also explains the team's strategy for organic search results and ticket sales, Facebook's offers and expectations, and what both sites in combination could do for a brand.

Garrett French discusses Wordtracker and link-building techniques with Ken McGaffin in hopes of learning "relational-style" tips for "bizdev" tools. He believes the practice of link-building directly relates to finding business development opportunities. The questions range from defining the strategy to developing link-building processes to methods of spotting business development opportunities.