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The Google AdSense blog has added the font selection preference for publishers. Publishers can now pick between Arial, Times, and Verdana font types and they will be present on all of their Latin-based character units.

Publishers can pick the font style two different ways within the AdSense console.

Last night I discovered reports via WebmasterWorld that shows Google testing a flavor of Google SearchWiki directly on the paid ads, also known as AdWords results.

Google Operating System reports that Google is testing a slightly tweaked user interface for their search suggestions. Google made Google Suggest the default behavior for the main search box in August of last year. Since then, it has gone unchanged.

The Product PlusBox has been a limited test since November 2007, but it seems like Google has expanded the test. I asked Google about this and they told me, it is still a limited beta, to test how effective this is as a way of engaging potential customers for advertisers.

Along with the definition of common SEO/SEM terms I am constantly being asked how to use Google Webmaster Tools. Well along with the Webmaster Tools, Google also offers the Website Optimizer; I figure why re-invinte the wheel so I found this Google produced video that explains the whole process.

These are highly debatable, but here’s my ranking:

1. Produce Remarkable, Attention Grabbing Content

Everything starts with remarkable content i.e. content worth remarking on and linking to. Do you have unique, timely content? Does you content solve a problem? Does you content provide a new insight? Does you content spark controversy? Does you content start - or contribute to - a conversation?

2. Crawlability

If your content can’t be crawled, you won’t rank. Ensure your site is easily accessible to both humans and search engine spiders.

3. Build Links

Google’s algorithm is heavily weighted towards links. Beg, buy, or earn links, and rankings follow. Get your keywords into the link text. Building links also means building relationships with people. Spend a lot of time doing this, especially in the early stages.

4. Title Tag

It is debatable how much ranking value the title tag has, both it definitely has click-thru value. Your listing fights for attention with all the other links on page. What will make people click your link?
Learn the lessons of Adwords. Match your title tag to the keyword query. Solve a users problem. Arouse curiosity.

5. On-Page Content

Forget endless on-page tweaking. Largely a waste of time. Instead, keep a few keyword phrases in mind when writing. Use semantic variations of your terms in order to help catch long tail terms. Link your page to related pages, using keyword terms in the link.

Bonus: Watch Your Competition. Do What They Do

The first five minutes of my local TV newscast last night was spent showing how much local interest there was in President Barack Obama’s inauguration. People watched on TV in schools, sports bars, department stores, dentists’ offices, nursing homes, and just about anywhere else a TV could be turned on.

Google says that interest was also reflected online. In a late-night blog post, Google shares some interesting facts and figures about inauguration-related search activity:

Google Operating System discovered a new experiment Google is running named Preferred Sites. In short, users who are in this experiment will be able to add a list of sites in their search preferences page as their “preferred sites.” Google will then use that information to show those sites in a higher ranking order in the Google results for that user, when it makes sense. Let me share some examples of how this works.

Picking the right search engine marketing (SEM) firm is hard. The quality of service and performance varies wildly, but the marketing materials often make it difficult to separate the experts from the pretenders.

And if you are a SEM you might want to read this post and try to answer these questions for yourself. Do a little research and prepare the answers and take them to your potential client. This work is what will separate you from the herd. It will also insure that once you have the new client you don’t get fired on your day off. (Sorry Art)