One of the many interesting tools offered by the search giant is Google Trends. It allows one to compare the number of searches on various queries. I thought it might be a useful tool for predicting the winner of American Idol tonight. The theory is that web searches reflect interest, which should translate into votes.

Unfortunately, it only has data through May 24th (Monday) at this point, so it doesn’t tell us what the interest was last night, when …

My first guest blogging was published yesterday. I discuss Conversion and Google Maps Optimization at the Conversion Scientist website.…

Most of you know that I’ve started a new internet marketing firm called ionadas local. It provides search and social media services to local businesses. These will tend to be smaller businesses than the national brands I’ve worked with in the past.

As part of the ionadas local website, I have created the ionadas local Marketing Blog. It will address marketing news, trends and techniques for the geographically focused company.

If you have any feedback about the company, …

Some of you have already heard, but effective immediately, I am taking a sabbatical from Apogee Search.

The economic seas for the last year or so have been quite rough, and the Apogee Search ship was buffeted just like everyone else. Going into this recession, the search marketing industry was rather arrogant. “We’re the trackable part of marketing,” we all said. “No one is going to cut back on us.”

Marketing geeks (like me!) should be sure not to miss my article in MarketingProfs, Seven Tips for Marketing Events With Paid Search. It was published today.

In the article, I explain how to get the most out of using paid search to promote events. Due to the time-sensitive (and time-limited) nature of events, they do require special consideration.

I hope you find the article helpful!…

The Thursday (2nd day) keynote for PubCon South 2009 was given by Matt Cutts, head of the quality assurance team at Google. He was introduced by Brett Tabke.

Before launching into his usual Q&A, he introduced us all to Google Friend Connect API.

PubCon last week was a fantastic show. It had the strongest, most useful content of any search show I’ve been to in the last few years. The attendees were numerous and enthusiastic.

One area was curiously weak, however: the exhibitor floor.

There were less than fifty exhibitors for the entire show. Most of these were search engines, publishers, and advertising networks.

Where were the search agencies? Kudos to Bruce Clay Inc. for stepping up in a big way, but where …

The final session of PubCon last week was the Search Engine Smackdown, with representatives of each engine giving a “State of the Engine” address, and then answering questions as a group. On the panel were Matt Cutts of Google, Sean Suchter of Yahoo, and Nathan Buggia of Microsoft Live Search. It was moderated by Brett Tabke.

Rather than a smackdown, it came across more like a pillow fight. Matt’s 2009 trends were interesting, however:

• Blackhat moves toward the outright illegal:

…

The final round of Interactive Site Reviews at PubCon included a panel from the search engines themselves. It was moderated by Greg Boser and included Matt Cutts of Google, Nathan Buggia of Microsoft Live Search, and Tony Adam of Yahoo Media.

Instead of taking notes, I decided to shoot pictures instead.

If you know of good coverage of this event, drop me an email or add it to the comments of this post.…

Here are a few links to coverage of my sessions at PubCon:

Universal and Personal Search – This Changes Everything

• Kooshy
• Search Engine War
• TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog
• Trinitude Network

Brand Reputation

• SEO Roundtable
• Bruce Clay Inc.
• Online Marketing Blog
• WebPro Business

…