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:

• Does Google Allow Good Google Bombs?
  To some, it appears that Google has painted itself into a corner with its reliance on linking for its ranking algorithm. The lines between legitimate SEO, paid links, and Google bombs are becoming increasingly blurred.
• New Google Webmaster Tool Aids Robots.txt Creation
  For the coding-challenged, creating a robots.txt file for instructing search engine spiders on the preferred way to crawl your site has not always been easy. Thankfully, Google has created a robots.txt generator as part of its Webmaster Tools.
• Wordtracker Enhance Their Free Trial Offer
  The keyword research tool providers are offering a 1-week trial of their entire service and have released an accompanying 7 day video tutorial on how to get the best out of your Wordtracker account.
• SEW Experts: Social Media: One Size Does NOT Fit All
  Spending time on linkbait or viral ideas can drive traffic to a site. However, if the same attention isn't given to preparing what to do with the traffic, the only remaining value is links, many of which don't pass juice.
• SEW Experts: What Matters Most to Travel Search Marketers in 2008?
  Now that we're nearly through the first quarter, it's time to check in on the accuracy of the many predictions for the future of search.
• SEW Experts: The SEO Copywriter: Wordsmithing the Web
  Combining both technological know-how and a strong command of the written word, agency SEO copywriters are the front-line troops of any SEO initiative.

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SES NYC is fast approaching. My session with Chris Boggs and Lee Odden titled Beyond Linkbait will cover some interesting ideas. I spoke to Chris today to get his take on the idea of going beyond linkbait. One topic he's covering is reciprocal links - good or bad? If done properly, they can still be a good SEO tactic, says Chris. They need to happen naturally and be relevant. He has some great ideas on how to make these links work for SEO and offers examples of what a bad reciprocal link and a good reciprocal link would be. Chris plans to share a case study about creating content for YouTube or other social media sites that is not intended to produce links directly. "We built a peice of content around a game on a client's site with the intention of building buzz and getting bloggers to write it about it and then link to the client’s site where the game is hosted," explained Chris. They've had over 25 000 views on YouTube and a flood of links and traffic to the client's site. Sounds like a hard act to follow! My case study is about The Bounce Test videos and how we took this content and turned it into a serious women's health issue backed by research that got coverage from influential bloggers and mainstream media sites. See you in New York on the 20th March .

Specifically, linkbait is used to attract visitors to your website whether through interest, anger or knowledge seeking. Linkbait is conte...