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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.

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 Google Webmaster Central blog announced that they have just released a new Sitemap generator that works on both Linux/Apache and Microsoft IIS Windows-based servers. The Sitemap generator is different and possibly smarter than other Sitemap tools because it uses web traffic, log files and other methods to find new or modified URLs. You can download the new tool over here.

Why go through the process of setting up a Sitemap file? Well, Google themselves said on the Sitemap Generator page, “you are more likely to get better freshness and coverage in search engines” if you submit a Sitemap to Google. Plus, there are somereports to validate that claim.

Google’s Matt Cutts posted a twenty minute video summarizing two presentations he gave last year. The video goes over what he considers to be virtual “blight,” or when a site or community becomes stale with spam. In addition, Matt shows us how to put on a “blackhat” and think like a spammer.

I get questions all the time about Google’s page rank and ” how can I get a better rank, how do I get into/out of the sandbox, does linking to a lower ranking page reduce my rank?” All very good questions and all areas that we (me and you as site owners) should pay attention to. The truth of the matter is that Google is Google and they are the true gatekeepers. What I do know from researching is that PageRank can and is tampered with, so Google uses other strategies to keep us in check. Now not all the tools and tricks of Google are public knowledge but in this post I will disclose everything I know. A lot of this post contains links and quotes from other SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) in the area of Google. Take the blue pill and let’s bend some spoons!

PageRank is not the only algorithm Google uses to determine relevancy of pages. In this article we discuss two more publicly known algorithms, Hilltop and Trust Rank. Keep reading for some enlightenment on how the world’s most popular search engine ranks web sites.

Both algorithms are quite old in the search engine arena (2005), but are still in use, as is the initial PageRank algorithm (though much tweaked over time). You need to be aware of both in order to understand search engines better.

In this article we discuss Hilltop and TrustRank, the reasons behind those algorithms, and how to optimize better with each algorithm in mind. We also link to the official white papers that cover each algorithm and useful resources so you can learn and become more effective in SEO game.

It’s Christmas Eve, and that means Santa Claus is out doing his run. But where is Santa right now? Thanks to the internet, there’s a huge number of ways to get Santa sightings. Below, a summary that covers online video sightings, Santa’s phone number (apparently he can talk while driving), email updates, tracking him via your mobile phone and yes, even getting Twitter updates: