Judging by the buzz on my Twitter, Facebook and Google+ networks, Siri is kind of a big deal. If it's a huge hit with users, it's because it is very nearly flawless (at least by current standards). While Google's Android operating system also offers voice command, it isn't as robust -- or fun -- as Siri yet. You can expect Google to improve over time, which only means voice commands will only become more ubiquitous. It's clear one of the key uses of Siri will be for search. When thinking about all the ways you optimize for search, voice should …

There are many macro-trends affecting search marketers today -- but none so impactful as the socialization of search. When you mention the word "social," Facebook immediately comes to mind. While Facebook has created a platform that is important for brand marketers and is working (successfully) to find its place with performance marketers, Google has always faced the opposite dilemma. The perfect engine that is Google is by definition successful when it quickly delivers relevant results to get users off its Web site. How do you create a social network around that? Enter Google+.

Yesterday was not a good day. It was a day that made me wish I had never gone into this business -- a day that made me long for a warm beach and a mai tai. I've been doing search for a long time. And I have to be honest, some days it feels like a thousand leeches are sucking the blood out of me. Given that, it was impossible to muster up much enthusiasm for the roll out of Google+ Business Pages or the raging controversy of Facebook's "LikeGate." Really? Are those the most important things to litter our …

Just in case you haven't heard by now, Google has launched its pages for Businesses, a complementary offering to Google+ personal profiles. Janet Driscoll Miller covered some of the basics in yesterday's Search Insider, so I will cover some of the implications of Business pages, and what they mean to your content strategy, search strategy, and social engagement strategy.

To the delight of many search marketers, Google finally launched the much anticipated Google+ Profiles for businesses yesterday. And while the Google+ Pages don't have all of the functionality yet of Facebook Pages, you should still consider creating one now.

My friend Mikey and I were recently driving through our hometown, past a long row of new big-box retail locations that have recently sprung up. I, somewhat exasperatedly, said, "Who the hell is going to buy all this stuff?" Our town's population is only 120,000 but we seem to have a huge overcapacity of retail space, with more going up all the time, . Mikey replied, "Well, the town isn't getting any smaller and people need to shop somewhere." That, and a recent article by MediaPost reporter Laurie Sullivan, got me thinking. Do we? I mean, do we need to …

Well it's November, and you know what that means... next month is the Search Insider Summit! Oh, yeah, and there are a few holidays, too. The time to prepare is now. For SIS, that means getting your liver acclimated for the high altitudes. For the holidays, that means getting the right people and tools in place to maximize SEM performance. Today, I'll share some holiday season best practices. But, first, some lessons from the 2010 holidays. As for lessons from the last SIS, let's just say I won't be rapping this time around... unless MC Hammer accepts my challenge!

Two weeks ago, Google began blocking referrers from organic search under the auspices of protecting users and their personal information. Regardless of Google's intent, the change poses some significant challenges for SEOs.