I kind of feel like a kid who stayed home while the rest of his friends headed off to summer camp at Lake Winnigapahaha. I just know they're having more fun than I am. To really drive it home, my friend Ken Fadner, the publisher of MediaPost, sent me a picture the other day of the launch of the Search Insider Summit on wonderful Captiva Island. "Missing you" was Ken's postscript. Awww... I miss you too, Ken!

If you want to see the conflux of many different search and social elements come together online, just visit a popular discussion forum, wiki, or answer site. There is an interesting dynamic that occurs to help grow these entities in an almost organic way.

Last week I posted some tips for optimizing your content for SEO. This week, however, I'll address something much more serious that you need to watch out for in the "post-Panda" world: ensuring that Google understands you are the original author of that content.

Two weeks ago I wrote about semantic search, and how Google in particular has begun dissecting the intent behind symptom-related queries. "Google's symptom search is a clear indication of the times in which we live. People get sick, and then turn to Google for answers. The biggest issue I see with symptom search, though, is the potential to minimize a patient's self-discovery process.

If a marketer from Mars landed on earth today, read through the last 12 months of tech news, and was asked to come to a conclusion about the largest drivers of inbound traffic to web sites based on the frequency of coverage, his answer would probably contain the words "Pinterest," "Twitter," and "Facebook," and organic search would not even be on his radar. However, marketers are not from Mars, and are supposed to care about "data." They are highly familiar with the statistics that point to search's place at the top of the purchase funnel, So why has the media …

There has been a lot of digital ink spilled over the recent changes to Google's algorithm and what it means for the SEO industry. This is not the first time the death knell has been rung for SEO. It seems to have more lives than your average barnyard cat. But there's no doubt that Google's recent changes throws a rather large wrench in the industry as a whole. In my view, that's a good thing.

Next week, at theSearch Insider Summit, in addition to my day job as resident buzz-tracker, I'll be donning a polyester suit and hosting the first-ever game of Search Insider Feud.

Content has always been essential for SEO, but in today's marketing world, providing useful, meaningful content has become key to lead generation and lead nurturing. Search provides a way to drive new leads by making that valuable content visible. Furthermore, with recent algorithm updates, Google has noticeably placed renewed emphasis on unique, relevant, and timely content. Clearly there's a marriage between SEO and content marketing. But how can you effectively enhance the SEO and content relationship? Here are some of my tips for content marketing optimization for SEO.

By now you've likely heard of this social networking website called Pinterest. You may even be among the roughly 35 million active users of Pinterest. The newest social media darling is still riding a wave of new registrants, high on-site engagement, and plenty of media buzz. Pinterest.com has become the fastest-growing website of all time, a fact that's mind-blowing given users must await an invitation to even join. But despite all these "facts" and rational arguments over why I too should join, I've resisted. Being a search marketer means that I'm rarely persuaded without data; I need hard evidence that …

On Feb. 13, Google updated its algorithm to help simplify searches for conditions related to certain health symptoms. In the truest sense, this appears to be an algorithm change that increases the efficiencies of the SERP. For brands, the question is: What impact will Google's "compression" have on its search advertising? Will Pharma brands maintain the same level of visibility, in both paid and organic search, for symptom-related terms as they did before? What can they do to maximize the change?