We often take the mainstream press to task for not understanding the value of search engine marketing and search engine optimization . So it's a welcome change when a national columnist gets it right. Today Steven Strauss in TheStreet.com wrote a column titled, "Get on Google's Good Side with SEO." With Matt Cutts' recent endorsement of "white hat" SEO, it's great to see small business embrace search engine optimization. Strauss writes,

In the latest installment from Google about search quality , the topic du jour is user intent. Google Fellow Amit Singhal is at the helm of the Official Google blog again and wrote about efforts Google makes to help searchers find what they're looking for. Singhal writes, "Search in the last decade has moved from give me what I said to give me what I want ." I guess that depends on who you ask. Perhaps the search engines have approached it this way,

Efficient Frontier has released search advertising market data for the second quarter of 2008, and it showed Google growing 2% over Q2 2007. For every new dollar spent on search ads in 2008 over 2007, Google received $1.10, while Yahoo lost $0.09 and Microsoft lost $0.01. As a result, Google enjoyed 77.4% of total search engine spending in Q2 2008, while Yahoo fell 2% to 17.8% and Microsoft came in at 4.8%.

In a letter that is likely to believed by almost no one, Yahoo regurgitated much of the same old statements about Microsoft and Carl Icahn - and then slipped in something about selling the entire company for $33 a share. Of course, that's only "if Microsoft will negotiate a transaction that delivers certainty of value and certainty of closing. This is the simplest, most straightforward way to maximize value for you.

Online reputation management just became much more crucial. Google has enabled reviews and ratings for businesses, restaurants, etc via mobile. Now people don't have to wait until they get home )and have time to cool down on the way?( to write a review after a negative )or perceived negative( experience. On the flip side, you could encourage your customers to write a review if they had a positive experience.

Canadian Business Magazine has an excellent Q&A with Google's Tim Armstrong. Here are some choice excerpts that show where Google's headed and why. Canadian Business : What are some other emerging trends you're seeing in Internet advertising? Tim Armstrong : Social networking will be a big part of online advertising in the future. There's also going to be a lot more analytics beneath Internet advertising.

Beginning tomorrow )July 17(, GoDaddy will offer .me domains in open registration. The registrar and hosting provider hopes that people will sign up for two reasons: 1. to have their own name as their domain and 2. to have more control over their email address. "'I want my name as a domain name' is something I hear often from Internet users," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "DotME not only gives everyone a chance to register their own name,

Google recently announced Ad Planner , its new media measurement tool. The tool is designed to help media buyers in their ad campaign spend planning. Though the tool is currently in private-beta, anyone is welcome to attend two upcoming webinars introducing the tool. Both webinars are free of charge. You must register to attend, so check out the links and info below: July 16, 2008 )TODAY!

Currently being tested by over 20 companies, DoubleClick has an electronic propsal exchange platform in the works. In a 2007 survey, 70% of DoubleClick's ad agency clients said that a publisher's use of an automated proposal tool would have a positively impact on their decision to send that publisher an RFP )Request for Proposal(.

Microsoft has released an update to its servers and new enterprise search features are included in the mix. The update )which is a series of three bundles( affects: Office SharePoint Server 2007 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Search Server 2008 Search Server 2008 Express Office Project Server 2007 and Office Project Professional 2007 The new enterprise search features include: A federated search capability,

A new report from AdGooroo shows that, generally speaking, for short keywords it's not profitable to bid your way into the high positions. These types of keywords actually lose money in the first and second positions, but longer keywords can do well near the top. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, " When Being First Isn't Worth It ," Eric Enge shows that by testing this idea on your campaigns, you stand to create more profitable PPC campaigns.

And you may ask yourself, 'how did we get here?' Today's search landscape is a result of Yahoo trying to integrate large acquisitions too fast, while Google focused on core disciplines, small complimentary acquisitions, and smart build-outs. In today's Searching for Meaning column, " Google's Path to Domination ," Kevin Ryan points out that today, Microsoft is trying to do the same thing Yahoo failed at five years ago. Think it'll work this time?

AOL is feeling the urge to merge and soon. Time Warner is reportedly seeking a deal with Microsoft prior to the fast-approaching August 1 Yahoo shareholders meeting. The deal would merge AOL with Yahoo's search business, and owned by Microsoft. Time Warner would take a minority stake in the newly formed company. AOL has shifted its focus from dial-up internet service to online advertising. Previously,

Yesteday, I reported that YouTube user viewing histories would not longer be handed over to Viacom by Google per an agreement by the two. I also wrote that User IDs, IP addresses, and Visitor IDs would still be handed over. What yours truly completely missed )i am afterall, only human( is that even that data will be scrambled. Here's the legalese: When producing data from the Logging Database pursuant to the Order,

According to Nielsen Online , the MSNBC Digital Network )msnbc.com( was the number one Current Events and Global News site in June, attracting 37.6 million unique visitors that month. The MSNBC Digital Network's surge in unique visitors is a 29 percent increase above its 2007 average. Yahoo! News ranked #2, with 35.0 million unique visitors and the CNN Digital Network ranked #3, with 33.4 million unique users, according to Nielsen Online.

Google grabbed 69.17 percent of all U.S. searches for the four weeks ending June 28, 2008, Hitwise announced today. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 19.62, 5.46 and 4.17 percent respectively. The remaining 42 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.70 percent of U.S. searches. Note: Data is based on four week rolling periods )ending 5/31/ 2007, 4/26/08, 5/26/2007 from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users.

Last week the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on online advertising and privacy . Today, the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and House get in on the action as it relates to the recent Yahoo-Google deal. The Senate hearing began at 10:30 am, but is largely eclipsed by a speech by the President as well as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's umteenth appearance on Capitol Hill. You can watch it live by clicking on "Live Webcast" here .

Despite a court order requiring Google to hand over YouTube user viewing histories , Viacom and Google have come to an agreement where that data will be left out of the user log handover. Viacom will still receive user ID, user IP addresses, and visitor ID data. Viacom has been going after Google for the copyright material found on YouTube , something many predicted would happen once the Mountain View-based search giant acquired the popular online video site.

Google is extending the Webmaster Tools Access Provider Program to include more hosting providers. Originally, the pilot program was a partnership with GoDaddy. Now other hosting providers can apply for qualification in order to offer the same services to their customers. The program allows hosting providers to offer Google's Webmaster Tools directly through their account management panels.

Twing.com , a new search engine dedicated to finding information within forums and communities, today announced it has launched new features that can help brand managers gain insight into product and company discussions. "Our Saved Search and Buzz Graph products were created for our users," said General Manager Kevin Shea in a statement. "And they also have a lot of value for anyone tracking brand conversations.