Google analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik gave a unique reason for supporting Barack Obama for United States president. "He does multivariate testing," Kaushik said, while speaking at Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA, on a panel discussing Google Analytics and Website Optimizer.

Google rolled out new features today for Website Optimizer , a tool that helps digital marketers and others test and improve the performance of Web pages. Tom Leung, business product manager for Google Website Optimizer, described the changes today at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA. Using Website Optimizer, businesses or individuals can set up different versions of a Web page and test the performance of each. Using one of the new features,

Anyone attending the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA, couldn't help but notice the long line of people waiting to get Bryan Eisenberg to sign the new book he co-authored called, "Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer." He was accompanied by Brett Crosby, group manager of Google Analytics and the co-founder of Urchin Software. Brett wrote the book's forward. Bryan, co-founder of interactive marketing optimization firm Future Now,

This morning I got an e-mail newsletter from Bed Bath & Beyond titled "Products for Independent Living by Moen." The contents were a bit unexpected. Certainly BB&B doesn't take the time to get to know me. For starters, it's mapped my nearest store in New Jersey instead of Manhattan, but I'll forgive that. The products it's advertising included bath products such as handrails, chairs, and grips for elderly and handicapped individuals.

Yesterday's Search Engine Strategies session on universal and blended search provided search engine marketers with updates on newer features offered by Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask.com, and smaller engines such as BooRah and Cooliris. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there - with five simultaneous sessions to choose from at one time, it's impossible to be in more than one place at one time. You know the drill.

Lori Raimondo, VP of marketing for New York City's Times Square Alliance, will make a cross-country road trip to promote a cause. This weekend, I ran into Lori in a San Francisco restaurant a day or two before she was about to begin the Key to the Cure Road Trip , an initiative sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue to fight women's cancers. She'll be driving in style, too, traveling in a white Mercedes-Benz. In a blog,

Facebook and at least seven advertisers are being sued for an unpopular ad targeting program. Advertisers named in the federal lawsuit include Blockbuster, Fandango, and Zappos. The ad targeting initiative, known as Beacon, was rolled out in November 2007, but overhauled a month later after privacy and consumer advocates cried foul. Facebook subsequently gave people more control over what online activities are visible to friends. A copy of the lawsuit, published by wired.com,

ClickZ's editorial team is moving to a new office in Manhattan's financial district. Effective today, we'll be joining other Incisive Media's properties including law.com in lower Manhattan. If you're into updating your address book, here's where to send snail mail for ClickZ's editors: 120 Broadway, 6th floor, New York, NY 10271-1101. If you want to track down a ClickZ editor, drop us a line .

It's the digital equivalent of making lemonade out of lemons. CBS, Universal Music, and other media companies are viewing pirated material on YouTube as an advertising opportunity, nytimes.com reports this weekend. These and other media companies are selling ads against the content - even while a copyright lawsuit against Google's YouTube winds its way through the courts.

Mary Bowling, a senior SEO professional at Blizzard Internet Marketing, joins ClickZ as an Expert, offering insights into local and mobile search in a column every other week. Blizzard's a full-service online agency that specializes in the travel and hospitality industries. And travel is very location specific, thus putting Mary at the forefront of trends involving local search.

What's up with the FeedBurner ad network? Some signs point to kaput. Word has it Google, which bought FeedBurner last year, will officially make the switch to AdSense network ads. As noted by the RSS feed firm in May, "we'll be rolling out AdSense for feeds to a small group of publishers, in anticipation of a full launch to all FeedBurner and AdSense publishers 'coming soon'." And who knew "chocolaty goodness" was a side effect of Google integration? The May post continued,

ComScore said today it changed the way it's reporting on ad networks, effective with the August 2008 data. You'll get a chance to see the changes when they are released in mid-September. Where previously comScore only provided data on unique audience, the new reporting will provide two sets of data measures: "potential reach" and "actual reach.

Peter Krasilovsky at Kelsey Group reports that Chris Jennewein - former VP of Internet operations at Union-Tribune Publishing Co., where he led Web projects like its SignOn San Diego-associated radio site - will be joining another online local media guru, Rob Curley at Greenspun Media Group. Greenspun publishes the Las Vegas Sun. Jennewein was laid off from his San Diego gig in May, along with two close interactive colleagues, Ron James and Jim Drummond.

ShopWiki may be the best shopping search engine you don't know about. Because it's crawler-based, it doesn't rely on managed XML feeds as do its better-known competitors over at Yahoo, Google, Shopping.com and the plethora of other comparison shopping engines. And because it searches the whole Web, CEO Rory Cumming says it delivers the lowest price about 80 percent of the time. I caught up with Rory yesterday. He came on board last Fall, along with a fresh infusion of funding.

R/GA set up R/GA Brand Design, to address the shift of branding in the digital age. The new division takes into account early consumer impressions, if not first impressions, including when a prospective customer lands on a Web site to find out more about a brand or product. "As brand-consumer relationships shift to the digital sphere, the responsibility of brand perception is shifting to digital agencies," R/GA said in a statement.

Google is "deeply committed" to privacy and security of its users, but not to deep-packet inspection. Read its responses to a recent House Subcommittee inquiry and you'll soon realize the company didn't exactly find them all pertinent to its business. While the questions asked by the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee deal with online ad practices and consumer data privacy, the main focus is "deep-packet inspection.

In response to last week's request by the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee , Yahoo has announced opt-out capability for behavioral targeting. In a letter to Subcommittee Members , the company said it "will offer consumers even greater choice by allowing consumers to decline customized advertising)8( on Yahoo.com. This is in addition to our existing opt-out when Yahoo! serves customized advertising on third party networks.

The Florida AG strikes again. This time Sunshine State Attorney General Bill McCollum has darkened the day for MobileFunster, a company that does business as FunMobile and sells mobile content like ringtones and wallpapers. After penalizing ad networks like Azoogle and telecom AT&T Mobility for their alleged roles in enabling deceptive ads for "free" mobile content and other items, the AG's CyberFraud Task Force has gone after its first mobile content provider.

Got a favorite marketing tool or service that gives you an edge? We'd like hear about it and spread the word. Nominate your favorite for a ClickZ Marketing Excellence Award. We're interested in hearing how the tool or service helps you achieve success goals and execute campaigns better than before - and makes your tough job just a little bit easier. See the entry rules and send in your nomination before the August 14 deadline.

AOL told investors yesterday during its earnings call that Tacoda and Quigo are now fully Integrated in Platform A and can be used across all of AOL and third party network inventory )read: Advertising.com(. Whether that integration will assist AOL's Platform A in garnering more premium, guaranteed ad dollars is another thing. The company experienced a drop in display ad revenues of 14 percent in Q2 from Q2 2007. Apparently they sold more ad units, but at lower CPMs.