It was a long weekend up here in Canada, so today I'm spending mostly on catching up on work. TO keep you all pre-occupied, though, I've collected a few interesting leads. First, there are reasons why Google needs to be more realistic about paid links. Second, an SEOers insight into why one service sucks reveals some basic but important SEO tips. Google and StumbleUpon are also compared for both user and marketing purposes. Finally, there a half-decent RSS tutorial that you might want to bookmark nfor the next time you're trying to explain this technology to someone. Enjoy...

PPC Blog
Paid Links - If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them -- The PPC Blogger takes a no-nonsense look at how paid links are still prevalent, and why Google needs to adjust the way it deals with them:

So while Google are preaching for everyone to halt buying paid links (unless of course they are paid links through pay per click) and those selling links to add ‘no follow’, they are still ranking those sites buying links at the top of the SERPS. Until the time comes that Google can find a way to devalue or restrict the impact of these types of paid links, it will simply not stop. Why should a site decide against paying for a link for search ranking value when there competitors are all so clearly reaping the benefits from doing so?

Gray Wolf's SEO Blog
Why Website Grader is a Bad Idea -- Although Michael is picking on a particular service in this post, the criticisms he makes have some SEO currency that you shouldn't pass up on checking out:

Ok let’s get the easy stuff out of the way, am I mad because I scored low or something like that … hardly this blog got a 98. Am I taking a swipe at a competing product that I or one of my friends is offering … nope. This is a bad product because it tricks people into thinking things are “OK” when in reality they aren’t...

Pronet Advertising
StumbleUpon: The Antithesis of Google? -- By comparing the respective business models of Google and StumbleUpon, Muhammad offers some interesting insights into online marketing trends in general:

Ultimately, the people behind StumbleUpon have managed to create a service that is incredibly sticky (in terms of people enjoy using it daily and for hours) and a great marketing platform at the same time. The service avoids the pitfalls of other services like Digg by avoiding ads and directly marketing content to the users. The fact that you can even rate the marketed content makes sure that this will also improve over time.

10e20
A Beginner’s Guide to RSS and Google Reader -- Reminiscent of the RSS in Plain English video, Adam offers a tutorial that's enough to get anyone to incorporate RSS into their surfing habits:

An RSS Reader is a simple and easy way to read your favorite news site or blogs. Instead of going out to these site to read the most recent stories or posts, the newest stuff comes to you, all in one simple page. Even more convenient is having a Reader which is online, reaching it from any place in the world.