How NOT to do search

I liked this post for the real life example (poor Nike!) it offers.

AND it's got a great link to this SEO tool to help with keyword research.

Anyway - the mistakes big brands make with search are (according to writer Wil Reynolds, and detailed in his article):

1. Missing out on the long tail: Search daddy Danny Sullivan says: "Typically, big brands want to target the big unbranded terms like "tennis rackets," "golf clubs," or "running shoes." I do recommend that they target such terms as a way to position their brand in the minds of people who are searching. But they often miss terms like "golf club reviews" or "women's trail running shoes." Typically, these long-tail terms are the ones that convert best.

2. All-Flash sites with no alternative.

3. Not reinforcing search query results on landing page.

4. Not developing a descriptive meta description tag.

5. Making things 'cool' rather than easy to find.

6. Driving a user with a very specific query to the homepage - a waste of pay-per-click budgets

7. News flash—you can't pay to be No. 1 on Google anymore. An algorithm that decides how well your landing page matches with the user's search mission will affect where you rank (along with your cost per click, and other factors). Yahoo is apparently going this route as well.

8. Flash sites adversely impact natural search rankings

9. Flash sites do poorly on froogle

10. Great tools are a mistake without investment to drive traffic to them