by Vera H-C Chan Don't blame the economy. The instinct to heal thyself is an ancient impulse. People have been seeking online advice for spring ailments like sunburn or rolling around in Toxicodendron radicans (that's poison ivy to you and me). For whatever reason, seeking toothache remedies were a big thing this same time last year. The need to sort out delicate gastric imbalances in the privacy of one's home, though, has reappeared right on schedule. Below,

Judging by the reactions of many, Microsoft has come off as trying a bit too hard to transform its new search brand into an overnight success. The flashy TV spots, homepage takeovers, and product placement deals do come off as strenuous, coming as they do all at once. But you have to give the company credit for playing around with creative formats that haven't been tried yet - at least on behalf of a search engine. Case in point: tonight's Bing-a-thon,

So much of what I discover on a given day in the search marketing industry is via Twitter. When I find interesting and occasionally hot stories I note them on our @stepforth account and/or my @rossdunn account. Since our blog often suffers from my Twitter distractions I felt I had better provide a summary on the busy days. Thus, welcome to our very first Tweet Update for June 5th, 2009: Did Bing Just Leapfrog Yahoo Search?

There is no question it's been a rough go for the industry lately and we've had to show moderation at Cannes this year, but I still feel strongly that the IAF and our sponsorship bring together the top talent in the industry for an important get together at this point in Digital Advertising's journey. I was reminded recently of words from Bill Gates during a going away speech last June.

by Mike Krumboltz The sentencing of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp for a mysterious " grave crime " has inspired a slew of searches. One of the most popular queries: " What is a labor camp? " There is no doubt that Ling and Lee will face an incredibly difficult ordeal. But what, specifically, will their prison be like? Details from the notoriously mum North Korea are scant. However, an article from the Los Angeles Times ,

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Bubonic plague (Searches increased by 3,584%). New Mexico reported the first death of the year. The disease is not contagious, but is usually transmitted through infected rodents and fleas . Breakfast casserole recipes (+3,169%). The breakfast of champions. Acapulco (+545%). 18 were killed in a shootout between a drug gang and Mexican soldiers near resort beach hotels . Roger Federer (+501%).

Over the next few weeks, Yahoo! Search will be at Search Engine Strategies (SES) in Toronto and the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose, CA. Come by and hear more about what we have up our sleeves. SES Toronto Monday, June 8 2:30pm-3:45pm Panel: Universal and Blended Search: Comprehensive Visibility Challenges Nick Cox , Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Search Semantic Technology Conference Wednesday,

Microsoft's Bing search engine has a neat REST API . You need to register an AppId, and then you can grab the XML, JSON and more like this: http://api.search.live.net/json.aspx?Appid=YOUR-APP-ID& query=hello&sources=web&market=en-us Here's a couple of things you can do: get web results; get video results; get image results; integrate ads; use a spellchecker; grab news results, and more. [Via DeWitt .

SEO best practices can get confusing if you don't understand the terms, or if you do understand and you employ incorrectly. Of course, it can be confusing even if you do everything right. Let's take a look at keyword stuffing, for instance. It seems like a pretty straightforward concept and in many ways it is.

If you want to test Google Apps Script but don't have a Google Apps account, you can now apply for a test login . In the form, enter your name, your email address, and the domain tryscript.com . The Google Docs product manager Jonathan Rochelle says , "I will try to respond to each valid respondent on Monday - 8 June - for as many people as I can allow on that domain..." Once you do have access you'll get an email. For your first script,