Businesses planning a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign may be interested to hear an exploit has been discovered which allows Google's new and previously unrevealed search site to be seen.

Gadget site Gizmodo discovered the exploit, although the page had previously been closed under a limited trial.

Consumers are increasingly likely to share their brand, service or product experiences with friends and colleagues through a social networking site, it has been asserted, which may mean social media marketing proves valuable.

A recent survey conducted by LexisNexis revealed that 57 per cent of respondents claim they are now more likely to voice their opinion online than they were last year.

Businesses which have so far avoided social media marketing, preferring to stick to methods such as search engine optimisation and pay per click, may wish to change their way of thinking.

While some brands could think that the typical Facebook user is not their target audience, this could be a mistake, with research by Experian Hitwise recently revealing that the site accounts for one in every seven pages viewed by UK internet users.

Businesses may have been putting off creating a new website or revamping an old one, deeming it to be low down their list of priorities, however, according to one sector commentator, if they wish to succeed in search engine optimisation (SEO), this thinking may have to change.

Carrie Hill, in a post for Search Engine Watch, says Google is working on a new ranking factor - page speed versus the speed of a site - but outdated websites may not be running as fast as they could, which may put them at a disadvantage.

Social media marketing appears to be a growing trend in online brand promotion, with many businesses now considering it as a way of boosting sales, but one sector commentator has stated that companies should first ask themselves why they wish to launch such a campaign.

Liana Evans, in a post for Search Engine Watch, notes that there are many forms of social media marketing out there - from Facebook fan pages to Wikis and blogs to Twitter updates - and companies should choose one which best suits their objectives.

Link building has been called the most important component of search engine optimisation (SEO), by one sector commentator, who also stated that it can be the most difficult and time-consuming factor as well.

Mark Jackson, in a post for Search Engine Watch, said that a "firm foundation" of quality links can help businesses achieve their SEO objectives.

The BBC is set to begin producing headlines which put the news corporation in a better position for gaining traffic through search engine optimisation (SEO), it has been revealed.

In an official BBC blog, it was detailed that headlines are set to become longer to fit in more keywords and will now be created in two formats - with the main one on the front page and one other for the article itself.

Website analytics is an important consideration in measuring the success of contemporary online marketing campaigns - which may include search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click or social media marketing - one sector commentator has claimed.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Ron Jones asserts: "Analytics paints a picture of user behaviour where true success determines if visitors achieved what they came to the site to do. This is an important consideration in today's world of institution control shifting more towards individual voices."

Email could be dead within the next ten years as a result of the rise in popularity of social media marketing, it has been claimed.

According to a new study by TalkTalk and the University of Kent, over the next decade, the dominant communication tool will emerge as social networks and a combination of instant messaging systems.

Businesses contemplating starting a blog in order to boost the traffic arriving at their site through search engine optimisation (SEO) may be having difficulty deciding whether to opt for full or partial text.

Randfish, in a blog post for SEOmoz, explains that partial text means that subscribers or readers can read some of the post but have to click-through to the website to read the rest, which he notes "really annoys" some people.

In what has been billed as the “biggest change” to the Internet “since it was invented 40 years ago”, net regulator Icann has invited countries to apply for “internationalised domain names” in the non-Latin characters.

Leading search marketing specialist, home james, has been appointed by Leeds University Business School to raise the profile of the school, following on from the re-launch of the new Business School brand.

Businesses embarking on a pay per click (PPC) campaign who are aware of the role that search distribution partners play in such schemes can find that they are able to provide a "great deal" of value, one sector commentator asserts.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Jason Tabeling states that major search engines tend to partner themselves with websites which do not have a "robust search engine technology" but continue to attract high volumes of traffic.

Search engine optimisation can be given a boost by integrating video content into a marketing campaign, one sector commentator has claimed.

Rachel Hawkes, account director at media consultancy Elemental, said that videos can drive more traffic to sites through organic rankings and should not only be present on one page of the site, but multiple pages.

With Google Caffeine expected to give the world’s leading search engine a shot of speed and accuracy in the New Year it appears that speed could become a feature of SEO rankings!

After claiming it was more interested in creating content which would be suitable for its loyal readership, rather than concentrating on search engine optimisation (SEO), the Mirror's gossip pages are reported to have had a turnaround.

According to the Econsultancy blog, the 3am site now crams its HTML title full of keywords in order to gain higher Google rankings.

Once websites pages have been utilised for search engine optimisation (SEO) results, it is time for businesses to move on, rather than constantly "tweaking" the content, headings and title tags, one sector commentator urges.

Writing in a post for Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge explains that such practices are important, but at the right place and time, with such work being carried out up-front, rather than becoming an obsession for marketers.

When it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO) in modern search engines, the differences are relatively minor, although they used to be more significant, one sector commentator has claimed.

Chris Bellamy, co-founder of firstfound.co.uk, said that generally speaking, businesses were most likely to be targeting Google in their SEO campaign as this is where the bulk of their traffic would be coming from.

Companies have been advised that building links to boost their search engine optimisation does not have to be an expensive process, but a procedure they could achieve on a budget.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Justilien Gaspard explains that companies may wish to all other businesses they feel could benefit from their services and offer a free product or service for them once a week for a month in order to spread word of mouth.

Businesses which focus on utilising their websites by making them expansive resources for industry content could be improving their search engine optimisation (SEO), after one sector commentator claimed that Google "loves" larger websites.

Sam Tilston, online marketing director for zoombits.co.uk, said the more products and pages on a website, the better, so that each page on the site proves useful to someone.

Utilising search engine optimisation (SEO) is both the fastest and most economical way for businesses marketing to "dominate" Google, one sector commentator has claimed.

Gareth Owen, who provides website optimisation to some of the world's top marketers and who is set to hold a free webinar on the subject, says some of the simplest search engine marketing techniques can also be the most powerful.

One sector commentator has detailed how the process of link building has changed over the years he has been working on search engine optimisation.

Randfish, in a post for SEOmoz, explains that when he first started out, link building was a matter of looking through search engines for anything that was competition and led to directories or link lists before buying this advertising but he became increasingly focussed on white hat links.

Good Social Media Optimisation (SMO) should be about personalised content and meaningful interaction.

Google may have been a useful marketing tool for businesses over the past number of years in terms of search engine optimisation but it could now also be utilised for mobile advertising.

Earlier in the week, the search engine group announced in its blog that it has acquired AdMob, a mobile advertising provider, meaning it now has the ability to advertise via its own web search and AdMob's specialities of in-app advertisements.

The net of opportunities for mobile advertising looks set to grow after Google bought AdMob, one of the leading mobile advert companies.

Businesses have been advised to expand their marketing ambitions internationally, which may include them upping their search engine optimisation efforts to move a campaign away from just local search.

In a post for search Engine Watch, Michael Bonfils notes that global trade is a "bandwagon you can't afford to miss".

Businesses that have not yet begun their marketing campaign for Christmas have been advised that now is the time to get stuck into search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click.

In an article for Search Engine Watch, Carrie Hill says that although now will be a late start, there are still things companies can do to boost sales over the short term.

MySpace is proving to be losing some of the popularity it once held as its competitors attract more users, one sector commentator has claimed, in news which businesses may wish to keep in mind for their social media marketing campaigns.

Neil Stapley, founder of Daddoda.com, says that it is Facebook which is now the social network "of choice" and that the effects of this site and other competitors entering MySpace's sector may have been underestimated.

We all know that online ad spend has recently outstripped TV for the first time but where’s it all going?Before I answer that, here are some of the stats.

Businesses have been advised to use the local language for the region they hope to target when embarking on a social media marketing campaign in order to get the best results.

Tim Gibbon, co-founder and editor of the Social Media Portal, says that sites such as Twitter have increasing global appeal and it is likely there are going to be a number of languages appearing across popular search threads.

Embarking on a social media marketing campaign by beginning a blog, a social networking fan page or a Twitter account can help to boost search engine optimisation, it has been claimed.

But Search Engine Watch's Liana Evans warns that if the content of such pages is not seen as valuable then visitors will stop coming back and that additional search engine ranking will be lost.

Tweet this, tweet that, poke me, follow me, be my friend, be my fan, addthis, addthat, digg it, dug it, sphinn it, spun it.  What on earth have we stumbled upon!

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) has become even more important over the last 18 months and the announcement last week that Google will launch its social search means this landscape will change at an even faster pace over the next 12 months.

It used to be relatively simply for businesses and individuals to comment on blogs and include a link to their own site which could prove useful in terms of driving traffic and boosting search engine optimisation, one commentator has claimed.

However, Sage Lewis, in a post for Search Engine Watch, notes that these days, with people increasingly savvy about what constitutes spam, many bloggers have taken action to make it more difficult to post links on their content.

Over the past couple of weeks Google have conducted some studies with major international brands, Heineken and Levi’s, to investigate the value of paid for search to branding. The findings of both studies returned positive results that indicate paid for search can considerably boost brand awareness as well as increasing sales.

Marketers working on a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign may be aware of the importance of achieving high search engine rankings for their content, as most searchers are likely to click on the top result.

However, Peter D, in a post for SEO Book, states that this is only half the battle won as users may always scan the rest of the results and choose something more suitable from further down the rankings.

Increase your standout in an ever-competitive PPC landscape

There are many organisations in the UK which are taking steps towards or considering banning the use of social networks in the workplace, but could this be counterproductive in terms of social media marketing.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Erik Qualman compares the trend to the Kevin Bacon movie Footloose - in which rock music and dancing is banned in one town - and suggests people will one day look back on banning social media as "rather silly".

When embarking on a new website development project, businesses have been advised by one sector commentator to start by considering the role search engine optimisation (SEO) will play.

In a post for Search Engine Watch, Eric Enge said that focussing on the wrong aspects of the project will lead to less than optimised results and that SEO should be considered before the first line of code is written.

Google is one of many search engines but it continues to prove the most popular, as businesses with successful search engine optimisation campaigns may be aware.

However, could it soon be set to become the only search portal from which all web traffic leaves?

Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the new buzz topic in the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) field and companies considering a campaign utilising this shouldn’t stop at just using Twitter and Facebook.

While some businesses may launch a social media marketing campaign on Facebook or Twitter simply because of the popularity of the sites, the scheme must still be measured, it has been claimed.

Peter D, in an article for SEO Book, explains that essentially, social media marketing does not differ greatly from other types of advertising in that it should be accountable and ultimately demonstrate value.

The launch of Google Social Search and the forthcoming integration of live Tweets from micro-blogging website Twitter into Google are going to change the search engine optimisation (SEO) sector, it has been claimed.

PR firm Punch Communications has suggested that once Twitter's real-time updates have been integrated into Google's search results, more businesses were going to be prompted into considering a social media marketing campaign and communicating more with their customers.