Last week, I asked the question, "Is the word 'search' the right label for what we do on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other engines?" When Internet search debuted in the early 90s, it was probably pretty accurate. But today, the concept may have passed the label by. And, if that is true, then the same is probably true for "search marketing."

At SES San Francisco in the summer of 2010, I was on a panel where we discussed the topic of real-time search, representing the marketing and publishing point of view. My other co-panelists were all from the top real-time engines: Dylan Casey from Google, Tobias Pegg from One Riot, and Paul Yiu from Bing. They all made a statement that came off as something of a whisper in a world where news travels around the globe in a matter of minutes; but that statement would become the first confirmation of the largely growing influence of social relevance on traditional Web …

Most websites have forms for one use or another, from enewsletter signups to use as a filtering device. There's a few important things you need to think about to ensure that your forms work well for both organic and paid search.

Google bought Zagat Guides last week. If you're as old as me, you've probably purchased more than a few of these pocket-sized guides and kept them in your briefcase or glove compartment over the years. Zagat could have been yet another one of those old-timey publications that got wiped out by the Internet - but it wasn't.

Carol Bartz was ousted as Yahoo's CEO this week. Many in the industry are asking, "What took so long?" In reality the decline of Yahoo's business pre-dated Bartz's tenure at Yahoo but she did little to stem the tide. What can Yahoo do to right the ship -- and what can search marketers learn from Yahoo's trials?

I served for six years as a director of the Search Engine Marketers Professional Organization. Every six months or so, we'd get together to talk about the future of the organization. As you can imagine, the future of an organization catering to industry professionals is inextricably linked to the future of the industry itself. So, our conversations weren't so much about the future of SEMPO as they were about the future of search -- and by extension, the future of search marketing.

After spending nearly five years in the agency world and being a part of 50+ formal RFPs, it was clear to me that the client/agency RFP process was broken. From what I've seen and heard, not much has changed over the past couple years. Until the RFP process is overhauled, clients and agencies are left doing the same old song and dance. So, if you're on the agency side of the aisle, here are 10 ways you can stand out from your competitors in a pitch -- followed by 10 sure ways to flame out and lose the business.

I regularly debate with myself whether or not the incumbent has the advantage or is cursed. For a client, change is a hard thing and the agency would have to give the client a really strong reason to want to take on the work and risk involved to change. But then again, there are a lot of forces working against the incumbent.

As promised, this week I'll be doing a quick review of Steven Levy's book "In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives." As a tech journalist, Levy had a perspective on Google that few others have enjoyed. Given the intimate viewpoint afforded Levy, I couldn't help coming away somewhat disappointed with the end result.