YouTube is poised to bring the key attributes of search marketing to a more traditional environment. If it succeeds, it will not only reap significant advertising revenue for itself, it will set the model for an entire media sector scrambling to find a way to replenish eroding marketer dollars and consumer engagement.

I'll take search engines over hospitals any day. I cringe at anything that has to do with hospitals, needles, blood, or doctors (my father, girlfriend's father, and numerous others excluded). Still, five years after my previous checkup, I recently decided to go for an annual physical, where the doctor convinced me to do have some basic blood work done. Last week, I called for the results, and everything was fine - almost. My triglycerides were slightly high. Where could I turn for more information?

One conclusion I've reached on the click fraud problem--the dark side of online advertising," as last week's Business Week aptly dubbed it--is that the key to fighting click fraud lies in knowing how to target your customers.

Over the past few weeks, my agency has been asked to participate in two RFPs specific to paid search and also asked to be involved in a couple of industry overview/review exercises. In each case, I've noticed a disturbing trend--the correlation of paid search management to bid technology. Bid management is a key piece--but, in my opinion, it is not the linchpin to paid search success.

People who buy radiators online are unique. For one thing, they don't really research their purchases beforehand. When your radiator blows up, you know you need a new one--fast! As John Thys, president of Radiator.com says, it's a different market. And for this market, pay-per-call is just the right thing.

Brett Tabke, who spearheads the conference PubCon and the WebmasterWorld site, shares thoughts about the search space.

So what happened to Yahoo? Last week, the online giant announced slow ad sales; Wall Street responded by forcing Yahoo stock down 11.2 percent. There's been a flurry of speculation as to what went wrong. But pointing to any one problem misses a crucial underlying issue that's giving Yahoo trouble. Simply put, Yahoo's hurting because its publisher side refuses to learn from its search side.

The debate on the branding value of pay-per-click search ads may be over before it was ever properly resolved. Google has spoken, at least indirectly, in a couple of news items from the Googleplex....

This month's column focuses on the local search category. This is a segment of search enjoying strong growth, and there is lots going on.

The fact is, the whole world is becoming digitized and indexable. It's not a new trend, it's been making inroads for the last two and a half decades, but there seems to be a tipping point of convergence that's rapidly approaching.