Like a soap opera, things are heating up between Microsoft and Yahoo, complete with threats, machinations, and denials. As things stand right now, I see five possible outcomes.
1) Nothing happens.Very unlikely. Yahoo’s numbers aren’t there right now, and an attempt to stay the course would create considerable unrest amongst Yahoo shareholders.
2) Microsoft purchases Yahoo in […]

Much has been made about yesterday’s forecast of the SEM Industry. Long story short: things are pretty good, or in the words of Larry David: “Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.” According to Radar Research and SEMPO the SEM industry was projected to grow to an $11.6 billion industry in 2007, […]

The Paid Search world was in a tizzy last week over the announcement of Google’s beta testing for its new Automatic Matching (AM) feature for AdWords. Below is Google’s explanation of the tools’ functions, and just for fun, see if you can guess what two words triggered the uproar.
“Automatic Matching automatically extends your campaign’s reach […]

After more and more evidence that an economic downturn is coming, marketing departments and firms everywhere are bracing for a hit. Marketing has historically been on the receiving end of lay offs once a recession kicks in, but will this ring true for those in search engine marketing? Withstanding the dot com bust, SEM has […]

Recently Yahoo enlisted the help of Mike Moran author of Do it Wrong Quickly to do an extremely poignant blog about the most common pitfalls of SEM. These ideas are perfectly on target. Yahoo is suggesting not to target by position, not to focus on clicks, and giving advice about quality landing pages. Maybe it’s […]

The search engines provide a number of methods to control the advertising spend rate of your paid search campaigns. The most commonly used tool search engines offer is the bid limit. Assuming you have accurate data on the conversion rates of your keywords and know how much a lead or sale is worth, this is […]

In a courageous show of unity against the oppression of Base 10 numbering systems, here is our list of a dozen predictions for the search engine marketing industry this year.
1. Management tools become the cost of having a seat at the paid search table, rather than a competitive advantage.
In past years, advertisers in competitive spaces […]

Dart throwing, names in a hat, coin tosses, and binge drinking are all accepted formulas for devising a list of keywords for an SEM campaign. There is however differences in creating paid search keywords versus natural search keywords.
The main difference paid search keywords have in comparison to natural search is the breadth of generated […]

While the majority of other blogs would have you read the top trends of 2007 I’ve decided to bring you the trends that are either in limbo awaiting their fate, or have moved from limbo to a fiery eternity. What happened? Where did these trends go wrong? Could we have seen this coming? Is there […]

There is no real science to paid search copy, especially during the holidays. It’s more of an art form than anything; at least that’s what I tell family members that think they’re better than me. The following are a few things that I have noticed help a paid search ad’s position and clickthrough rate during […]