Search engine optimisation (SEO) requires "natural talent", according to Econsultancy blogger Patricio Robles.

The SEO columnist explains that it is quite possible for individuals to learn the technicalities of how to optimise their website content.

Managing a pay per click (PPC) campaign can be complex, but there are some "glaring" pitfalls that businesses can avoid, according to one sector commentator.

Melissa Mackey, in a post for Search Engine Watch, states that the first of these is poor account set-up and that setting up an account which consists of only one campaign and one ad group will damage a quality score and make the account difficult to manage.

While marketers may be familiar with concepts such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click, social media marketing and website analytics, the average computer user is unlikely to have heard of any of these practices.

Indeed, a recent video sees a man claiming to be "Scott from Google" stop people in the street to ask if they knew what a browser was, with the conclusion that only eight per cent of respondents understood what it was.

Companies have been advised to look to their on-site search function to see whether it can be improved as this could help boost user experience and also cut down the number of barriers people encounter to reach the page they want.

Rob Ousbey, in a post for SEOmoz, notes that methods of achieving this include labelling the button as Search rather than Go, using a default case-insensitive setting and giving recommendations of content if the search generates no direct results.

Businesses embarking on a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign will find that this results in a good return on investment (ROI) for them, one sector commentator has claimed.

Sam Tilston, online marketing director for Zoombits.co.uk, said the main way to get the traffic needed to sell products was through search engines and could be achieved either through SEO or a pay per click campaign.

We recently attended the excellent SEOmoz Pro Training in London which was without doubt one of the best SEO events we've been to, both in terms of the quality of the speakers and the general level of discussion.

The two key factors which are "crucial" to search engine optimisation and pay per click (PPC) are efficiency and scale, one sector commentator has claimed.

In a post for Search Engine Land, Benny Blum states that this means tuning the campaign to make it more efficient and then maintaining this efficiency while scaling the account.

Businesses embarking on a social media marketing campaign have been told that listening to their users or consumers is just as, if not more, important than doing all of the talking.

Liana Evans in a post for Search Engine Watch, notes that brands should be "humble" when using forums and social networks to spread the word of their products or services, as "no-one likes a show-off or know-it-all".

With increasing numbers of people signing up to social networking and blogging sites, one sector commentator has asked whether the "spirit" of social media marketing can be utilised for other marketing mediums.

Scott Brinker, in a post for Search Engine Land, claims that good landing pages can in turn apply many of the ideals of social media marketing to pay per click (PPC) advertising.

Google has announced that it has formed an agreement with Twitter to include the micro-blogging site's real time updates in its search updates, which may be good news in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO).

Marissa Mayer, vice-president of search products and user experience at Google, writes on the site's blog that she believes search results will "greatly benefit" from this data.

Businesses embarking on a social media marketing campaign have been advised that it is the quality rather than the quantity of links that their profile pages host which is important.

Writing for Search Engine Land, Jordan Kasteler claims that users can get too involved in how many bookmarks or votes are necessary to take the page to the popular sections of a social media site.

When looking for a specific product or service, many people may be keener to gather recommendations from contacts on social media sites than search through the pages of a search engine, it has been claimed.

In an article for ZDnet, wecando.biz states that when searching Google for a PR company in Huddersfield, the search engine generates 146,000 responses, despite the fact there are only 11 such firms in the town.

As more people get themselves online to voice their opinions thanks to the increase in popularity of blogging and social networking, reputation may become a more important aspect of search engine optimisation (SEO).

Indeed, in a post for Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge points out that it can be bad enough for a business to have a negative story about one of its products or services on the internet, but that this is worse when such content out-ranks the company's own web pages.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) can help direct search engines towards "greatness" and should not be seen as a universal scam, one sector commentator has claimed, following an article which suggested the contrary.

Derek Powazek, in a recent blog post for Powazek.com, claimed that SEO is "not a legitimate form of marketing" and that people with souls or a brain should not undertake it.

In order to produce and manage a successful social media marketing campaign there are just four steps businesses need to keep in mind, according to one sector commentator.

In a blog post for Search Engine Watch, Erik Qualman states that these are listening to consumers and conversations concerning the brand, interacting in these dialogues, reacting by altering the product or service in line with what has been learnt and selling.

The advent of social media marketing through Facebook and Twitter has cast a lifeline to many small businesses trying to stay afloat in the turbulent recession waters.

Businesses looking to increase their consumer numbers on an international basis have been advised that it is "imperative" they turn their search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts to the Chinese search engine Baidu.

Michael Bonfils, in a post for Search Engine Watch, said that the Chinese search service previously listed its paid results among its organic results, which could have been confusing, but that now its appearance was more similar to that of Google.

While social media marketing may prove useful for businesses wishing to drive visitor numbers or sales revenue, brands have also been advised to get involved in conversations around them or their products on social networks.

Jason Falls, a social media consultant and blogger on socialmediaexplorer.com, said this could help brands to find out what people - and particularly their target audience - think about them.

Steve Balmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, has claimed that search innovation has declined in the past five years, when compared with the five years before, but this may be a point businesses running a successful search engine optimisation campaign disagree with.

Commenting in an interview with Tech Crunch, he claims that search innovation is not at the stage where it was half a decade ago, however, one sector commentator has claimed his statement is a "lie" and something he must say in order to generate coverage of Microsoft's search engine Bing.

Targeting social media, and in particular twitter, has fast become this season’s must-have accessory.  Evidence of this can be found across the social networks which now play host to a graveyard of corporate Facebook & twitter pages, pages that were once in vogue, left to fallow.  Why is this happening?

In order to ensure that an internet media marketing campaign is seen by as many people as possible, it may be necessary to saturate the market, one sector commentator has claimed.

Carrie Hill, in a post for Search Engine Watch, states that online marketing is no different to other mediums, where big brands may pick advertising slots that fit around major television or sports events.

Once a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign has been launched and the meta data written, some businesses may feel at a loss as to what comes next in maintaining and increasing its success.

But Mark Jackson, in a post for Search Engine Watch, notes that one factor that should be kept a constant eye on is the O in SEO - optimisation.

When it comes to running a successful search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign, businesses which blindly follow other people's advice or rely on guess work to determine what will work best for their company risk losing out on revenue, it has been suggested.

In a guest post for SEO Book, community member Ari Ozick notes that in terms of marketing, it is more reliable to make key business decisions based on the data that has been compiled for the campaign, rather than going on advice given on independent blog posts, which may no longer be relevant.

When planning a social media marketing campaign businesses will need to consider if this will include a blog, Facebook group or Twitter, one sector commentator claims firms should also decide by who and how the scheme will be managed.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Liana Evans notes that this is because building a relationship with consumers is one of the key goals of social media marketing, with company employees forming contacts with visitors.

While Google continues to be the most popular of the search engines, one sector commentator has asked whether it may have actually created a monopoly, without meaning to.

In a blog post for Search Engine Watch, Joshua Palau states that even mentioning Google in the same sentence as the term 'monopoly' would be considered taboo and that he does not believe the search engine leader is "evil".

Yesterday (October 7th), Google co-founder Sergey Brin and chief executive officer Eric Schmidt gave a press conference in New York, where questions were raised over the quality of its search results.

Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan's later sent Mr Brin some examples of this, which included one which revealed that when searching for the term search engine, Google ranked below Dogpile, AltaVista, Ask and Lycos, despite Google being the most popular search engine.

As increasing numbers of people have got themselves internet access and with more users spending regular portions of time online, the use of search has grown significantly.

However, as businesses running search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns will be aware, individuals currently have to look through pages and pages of search results before they find what they are after.

There are five incentives for online marketing - whether used as part of a search engine optimisation or pay per click campaign - that can be used to increase user interaction and engagement, one sector commentator has claimed.

In a post for SEOmoz, Lucy Langdon states that running a website which is full of user generated content is one way to increase this engagement and that including links back to the user's own website could fuel this further still.

Businesses which run search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click marketing campaigns may well be aware of the role keyword research plays in their success, but keywords should also play a part in the architecture of a website, it has been suggested.

Writing on a post for Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge says that keyword research is a "gem" of the online era and that there has "never before" been so much information available on the thinking of consumers.

While many search engine optimisation (SEO) experts may suggest that a priority in SEO campaigns is to focus on users ahead of the search engines themselves, one sector commentator has claimed this may be misleading.

In a post for SEOmoz, Randfish notes that while SEO should begin with the user in mind, the "incredible importance" of search engine tactics cannot be ignored.

Google has continued to lead the way in search engine popularity, ahead of its competitors such as Bing and Yahoo!, but its true competition may come from social networks, including Twitter, Wikipedia and Facebook, one sector commentator has claimed.

Erik Qualman, in a post for Search Engine watch, suggested that in the future products and services will find their users via social media marketing, rather than consumers turning to search.

As social networks continue to grow in popularity - which may have led to many businesses launching a social media marketing campaign, it has been suggested that the only way such platforms can generate money themselves is by selling data.

Such is the assertion of Neil Stapley, founder of Dadooda.com - a content networking site - who said such thinking was the general consensus and that monetisation of information is the way forward for social networks.

Almost a year earlier than forecasted, online advertising spend has superseded television expenditure in the UK with paid-for search leading the way. This is the key finding of a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a useful marketing tool for businesses - and may be particularly effective when teamed with a search engine optimisation campaign - but it may also need to be integrated with offline advertising, it is suggested.

In a recent post for Search Engine Watch, Melissa Mackey there have been examples where firms have spent millions on PPC campaign, such as on an advert linked to a major sports event, but that have then failed to include their URL.