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Here’s the best example of misleading statistics we’ve seen, outside of the ads skewering the mythical Cable Corp: “DirecTV - Cable Corp Inc. - Statistics” directed by Christopher Guest) “Whip up some numbers that make it look like we have, like, I don’t know, a thousand HD channels.”

Today the WSJ blogged about the hardest jobs to fill based on an annual employment survey conducted by temp firm Manpower Inc. We all agree with the famous German ad shown here, “Life is too short to be in the wrong job.”

Not surprisingly, the very temp-to-perm jobs Manpower specializes in ended up high on the Top 10 list of the 42,500 global companies surveyed.

Based on the response to SEW Experts columnists Ron Jones (SEM.edu), Fionn Downhill, and William Flaiz, we know better.

In fact, rather than linking to all their columns about learning SEM or how to attract and hire talent, I asked John Skroly, vice president of business development for Onward Search what jobs Fortune 500 companies and top search marketing firms can’t easily fill.

Here’s what Skroly had to say:

Based on feedback from clients this is what we are finding:

1) Qualified Web Analytics professionals – Omniture, Web Trends etc
2) Organic SEO experts with e-commerce experience from top tier IR’s (Internet retailers)
3) Paid Search with vertical experience

So what gives?

Manpower asked companies, “What is the one job you are having most difficulty filling due to a lack of available talent?” The categories were so broad they practically broke down into the age-old categories of white collar and blue collar:

1. Skilled Manual Trades (carpenters, welders and plumbers)
2. Sales Representatives
3. Technicians (production/operations, engineering and maintenance)
4. Engineers
5. Management/Executives
6. Laborers
7. Secretaries, PAs, Administrative Assistants & Office Support Staff
8. Drivers
9. Accounting & Finance Staff
10. IT Staff (primarily programmers/developers)

Do those jobs sound like the future of the American economy?

Has that been your experience? Discuss your career here.

Don’t Get Bamboozled! We’ve all heard anecdotes regarding the unfortunate results of under-qualified or downright deceptive SEM vendors. Common disasters include set-it-and-forget-it PPC campaigns that suddenly blow through obscene amounts of Content Match cash, organic prominence destroyed by Universal Search, PageRank decimated by obsolete link-farm schemes, declining sales, embarrassing lack of conversion, and other ancient or self-destructive tactics.

The good news is that there’s an increasing number of wonderful service providers out there to be discovered. Remember that you may be looking for multiple specialists, as opposed to a single full-service agency.

Search is complicated, increasingly specialized, and there are challenges to vetting prospective SEM agencies. In light of demand, good search marketing firms are rare, and finding a vendor perfectly suited to your needs requires legwork, research, and persistence. Here is a one page questionnaire for initial screenings:

Dear [Prospective SEM Vendor],
Thank you for entering into a dialog with us as we vet potential SEM vendors for [Name of Company]. In order to keep the process as streamlined as possible, please take a few minutes to respond to this questionnaire. Our goal is to not waste your time.

The answers can be as detailed or short as you deem appropriate. We look forward to the process of getting to know your company better. We’re happy to read articles on-topic originating from your agency, if you provide the URL in any question’s answer. Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Pay Per Click
1. Is anyone in your firm AdWords Qualified or a Yahoo Ambassador?
2. Does your agency have a designated Google or Yahoo rep?
3. What is your agency’s revenue model for PPC: percentage of spend, percentage of revenue, monthly fee, hybrid?
4. Do you have a monthly PPC minimum spend or fee?
5. What method does your firm use to manage PPC: by hand, by automation (what tool), hybrid?
6. Do you use our credit card, your agency’s or another method? How will you invoice us?
7. What reports do you typically send clients and at what interval?
8. What PPC channels are you experienced with (Google, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, etc…)?
9. How does your agency measure PPC conversion and ROI?
10. Is it in your vocabulary to do multivariate landing page/ad message testing?
11. How much PPC spend-cash do you handle annually?
12. Please submit 2 short PPC case studies highlighting success.
13. Please submit 1 short PPC case study highlighting failure.
14. Please submit 2 PPC client-references.

Organic Optimization
1. What link-building tactics and methods will be employed?
2. Does your agency have a content creation practice, or will you guide us in building out our content?
3. How do you measure organic prominence in light of Personalized Search?
4. What keyword research tools are used?
5. How does your agency measure organic conversion and ROI?
6. What methods are used to mine competitive intelligence about our competitors?
7. What is the billing model for organic-related services? (retainer, hourly, flat monthly fee, etc…)
8. Do you test organic landing page performance with PPC?
9. What steps do you take to insulate clients from becoming too dependent on Google?
10. Please submit 2 short organic case studies highlighting success.
11. Please submit 1 short organic optimization case study highlighting failure.
12. Please submit 2 organic optimization client-references.

Social Media
1. What channels are you currently active in for clients? (StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, etc…)
2. Give examples of how channels might be used to bolster the overall SEM effort?
3. What reputation monitoring tools will be used?
4. What is the frequency and substance of your reputation reporting?
5. What is your experience with open source blogging software like WordPress?
6. What are your typical non-blogging uses of blog-style software?
7. Please submit 2 short social media case studies highlighting success.
8. Please submit 1 short social media case study highlighting failure.

General Vendor Qualifications:
1. How many full-time employees in the agency? What are their roles?
2. What SEM conferences did you attend in the past year, and which do you plan to attend this year? (SES, PubCon, SMX, etc.)
3. What SEM conferences will your staff speak at this year?
4. What trade publications, online or paper, do you write for and on what topics?
5. Please submit 3 links to articles you or your employees have written.
6. What forums is your agency "known" in? (SEW, Sphinn, Cre8asite, etc.)
7. Links to your profile pages please
8. Traditional affiliations (BBB, Chambers of Commerce, etc…)
9. SEMPO member?
10. Does your agency have in-house programmers and designers or do you outsource?
11. If outsourcing, what are your partner-vendors’ URLs?
12. What analytics other than Google Analytics are used?
13. Is there an in-house method to measure offline conversions (phone, etc.)
14. What experience does your agency have in local/mobile?

The "correct" answers to a few of these questions will be unique to your application and may be a little out of your personal expertise, one tactic I suggest is to research the questions raised yourself, or even hire a consultant to help you vet potential firms. Typically you’ll spend $350+ per hour for help in the evaluation process, an expense you’ll find well worth it. Even if you’re not totally familiar with the rationale behind the above questions, the SEM firm you’re querying will respect the thumbnail-depth of your evaluation process.

Also, you might eliminate questions that don’t apply to your company’s specific marketing application or outside of your comfort zone. Any agency that’s worth its salt will welcome the opportunity to participate in a focused vetting process.

ComScore did what Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and Digg only dreamed of.

ComScore killed the search engine star.

ComScore data on Google paid clicks rocked the world this week. The proprietary comScore qSearch report was analyzed to death by Wall St. analysts and media pundits. Data: summarized and judged; Google, convicted, flogged and sentenced to an early demise.

It wasn’t hit and run, though: comScore’s SVP of Media and Search, James Lamberti, and CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Magid Abraham delve deep into the data to correct the rush to judgment in the marketplace. It’s a must-read. Great analysis; surprisingly lifeless title: “Why Google’s surprising paid click data are less surprising.”

It should’ve been “Data doesn’t kill Google, people do.”

QSearch showed a 7 percent decline in January ‘08 vs. December ‘07. Paid click annual growth? Flat for Google.

Month-over-month the number of paid clicks per search on Google dropped by 8 percent (December ‘07 to January ‘08). Consumers clicking less on search ads? Maybe. A weaker buying appetite?

Google’s share price took a hit and rebounded. Reports of Google’s early demise? Greatly exaggerated. That doesn’t mean the momentum-driven Google shares won’t take a hit if Google fails to impress the Street this quarter.

Wall St. analysts - looking for clues where Google gives no guidance - had accomplices: mainstream media and bloggers hoping for a Google stumble.

No one wants to miss the Hindenburg. The only problem? The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly when Google news goes viral.

The Google backlash reared its ugly head and this time it wasn’t just Valleywag.

LendingTree whose multimillion dollar paid search campaigns are managed by search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, made public its new online marketing strategy: cutting back on PPC or paid search.

LendingTree spokesperson Allison Vail was quoted in CNET News.com by Stefanie Olsen.

“With the Fed changes in January, we were driving natural traffic. It’s smarter for us,” said Vail.

Our readers know it’s always smart to optimize for natural search. I’m not sure anecdotal evidence from a financial services pure play in the throes of a global subprime mortgage crisis proves paid search revenues are declining.

Statistics from search marketing firms, though, would lend credence to the argument.

For average CPC (Cost Per Click) by industry vertical (Financial Services, Mortgage, Credit, Auto), click here.

Efficient Frontier Chairman Ellen Siminoff, chairman told CNET that paid search advertising spendi in financial services has typically risen between 30 percent and 50 percent annually.

So far this year it’s either flat or down for some companies. credit and mortgage advertisers raised their spending by 24 percent, but this year, their spending has risen only 3 percent year over year, according to Efficient Frontier data.

Coming soon: Efficient Frontier / Search Engine Watch Average CPC data for February.

Be the first investment banker or hedge fund manager on your block to see the stats.

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

• SEO for Reputation Management
  One way to combat the threat of negative branding is through a reputation management strategy, which can begin with search engine optimization (SEO).
• Google Bar Codes and Three Martini Lunches
  Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature.
• Balogh Named New Yahoo CTO
  Aristotle “Ari” Balogh, 43, was named CTO for Yahoo today.
• Marchex to Distribute Ads from Superpages Advertisers
  Advertisers who buy placements on Idearc’s Superpages.com local search site will now be able to get the added distribution over Marchex’s network of more than 200,000 vertically-focused local sites, as well as more than 50 partner ad networks and vertical sites.
• Measuring PR in cold, hard cash
  Counting press clips has been a bogus PR metric for more than 20 years. So, what are the right PR metrics in the age of search engines?
• SEMPO Nominees for Board of Directors
  The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization has announced the nominees for its 2008 board of directors.
• SEW Experts: The Future of Search: All the Media That’s Fit to Be Googled
  The battle between search engines and human beings has moved to a new stage where online advertising and search ads are overtaking the search engine.
• SEW Experts: Online Retail SEO: Holiday Shopping Seasonality
  The Q4 holiday season makes or breaks the success of online retail. Yet many companies don’t realize how important the holidays are for SEO.
• SEW Experts: SEO Millionaire: Who Wants to Be One? - Part 2
  Last week, we challenged SEOs to identify which of the big three travel sites has a canonical issue. Now we give you the answer.
• Search not understood and used in PR campaigns
  PR experts recognize that social media has changed the practice of PR. Search, however, is not part of the PR lexicon yet.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Google is now the network that connects the social graph of the advertising industry. From global AAAAs to interactive agencies to SEM firms and SEO consultants, there are less than six degrees of separation. Last night was deja vu all over again, reminding me of AdWords early days when Google just wanted parity with Overture (Yahoo Search Marketing) in corporate search budgets.

Peter Grill, Mimeo.com vp of marketing AKA The Rogue Marketer emceed the panel and mentioned that Mimeo is now a client of Efficient Frontier.

Two of the leading authorities on search marketing joined me last night at Google: SES Chair Kevin Ryan and SEW Forums Editor Frank Watson, AKA aussiewebmaster. Frank’s take on Google products and Google exec panelists differs from mine.

Ryan, Watson and I were in the distinct minority based on folks I chatted with and questions from the floor. (Exceptions: Sendtec and Dani of DaniWeb.com IT forum) More proof? Witness upcoming Ad Club of NY events: Magazine Day Forum and Radio Forum 2008.

Search marketing firms have a tremendous competitive advantage over traditional ad agencies. Managing campaigns based on ROI is second nature. Analytics and technology platforms, a necessity. They understand the dynamics of online auctions and advertising exchanges.

If Google is Goliath, ad agencies would be foolish to think of themselves as David.

Google’s success in moving beyond the “self-serve” model will depend on the buy-in not only of global ad agencies like Publicis Groupe, but the AAAA clients who drive their decisions. For years in SEM, Google has had a vertical industry focus with corporate clients, providing consulting to executives who make agency decisions. Google’s vertical sales team will win the day.

Last night at Googleplex East, Google execs outlined the future of Google TV, Google Audio, and Google Print Ads in an Ad Club of New York Meetup. In my Search Engine WarGames column, “ Future of Search: All the Media That’s Fit To Be Googled ,” Google shares how you can produce ads on Google TV, when you can buy a spot on “WWE RAW,” and why Google Print Ads 2D Barcodes won’t fly.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Want a snapshot of the day’s search marketing news? Here we’ve collected today’s top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:
From the SEW Blog:

SEMPO State of the Search Marketing Industry Survey Now OpenSEMPO is once again gathering feedback from search marketers for its annual State [...]

Search marketing firms and in-house teams often have a hard time finding qualified PPC employees. Now Google may change all that by challenging students all over the world to compete with others in an AdWords marketing competition, indoctrinating college students to the PPC culture and boosting SME participation in local search.
Professors and over 8000 students [...]