by Jennifer Laycock (SEM Bootcamp articles are no-frills content designed to bring small business owners up to speed on the concepts and techniques needed to market their businesses online.) One of the questions I hear over and over again when I teach a search marketing boot camp is "How do search engines know which of my words are my keywords." These folks believe Google has a "list" of keywords and they come to your site hunting for them.

Can you handle more than 3,600 hours of Games of the XXIX Olympiad ? You don't even have to cut caffeine and get pedicures, as some Olympiad hopefuls have done . Instead, oil up the remote control and the mouse, and try these sit-down techniques instead. Learn your numbers . Not just the stats: XXIX means 29, but 8/8/8 means luck tripled in Chinese (the number 8 is a homonyn for the word "prosperity"). Practice staring . Don't miss the action.

The popular conception of search marketing from a sales objective is a customer on a search result page clicking your link (paid or organic) and following it to an online point of purchase. There ain't nothing wrong with that, as Amazon.com and eBay can attest. Brick and mortar stores have also used this model to grow an online component to their offline biz as well (Barnes and Noble is an example of this).

Though I use Google Maps frequently, I don't pay it a whole lot of attention in Google Watch because I, like so many others have come to take it for granted as a utility just like the phone book or any old directory. Well, today this old directory Google Maps got a jolt of fresh blood with the beta of Walking Directions. And I'm excited about it. We all know driving and walking in cities can be two different experiences.

Brace yourselves??"Maverick may be returning to the Top Gun academy. According to sources who aren't named (always a red flag), Tom Cruise is considering a sequel to the?action flick that co-starred Tom "Viper" Skerritt, Anthony "Goose" Edwards, Val "Ice Man" Kilmer, and lots of other alpha-males with cryptic call signs like Merlin, Hollywood, Slider, and Jester. Several articles picked up on the rumors and ran with 'em. Philly.

In case you missed the adCenter API Version 5.1 Update Webcast last week, you can listen and view it anytime online. Download the Live Meeting recording from the following zip file: http://adcentercommunity.com/videos/API_Live_Meeting_July_15.zip For best viewing experience, use Microsoft Office Live Meeting High\-Fidelity Presentation format including video playback. Download size will be larger and may take longer time to download.

Wow. I feel like Google really hears me. First, they make Gmail's contact system less invasive , and now they add walking directions to Google Maps ! I do a small dance of happiness! Now, I know there are those of you wondering why this even matters, what difference walking directions makes. Or, as one commenter put it : Walking directions? Whatever happened to just showing up, facing your body in the direction you wanted to go, and walking? Of course,

Oh my goodness, it's . . . you know. At OMMA Behavioral yesterday, Ignited's David Martin struck upon the perfect slogan for the behavioral advertising industry, and I quote: "It's Only Going To Get Creepier." Excellent. Government regulatory agencies, consumers and advertising clients alike flock to behavioral. Is it just me, or does the question " Are Google Maps good or evil? " seem kind of . . . stupid? There were maps before, people.

We're not sure what the long-term implications of the Yahoo-Yang-Icahn settlement will be. In the short term, though, the agreement that ended the impending proxy fight appears to have inspired Jerry Yang to use capital letters in his memos to employees. Here's the full text of Jerry Yang's take on the Icahn affair. Today, Yahoo! moves past a distracting proxy contest. This morning we announced a settlement with Carl Icahn which will enable Yahoo!

Yahoo Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results • Revenues were $1,798 million for the second quarter of 2008, a 6 percent increase compared to $1,698 million for the same period of 2007. • Marketing services revenues were $1,587 million for the second quarter of 2008, a 7 percent increase compared to $1,486 million for the same period of 2007. "Yahoo!