Aaron Goldman did the SEM world a big service when he discussed the degree to which the “buzz” of search industry insiders swings wildly from conference to conference. It seems that the ostensible leaders of this industry either have the attention span of gnats, or are so enormously influenced by the obsessions of the day that they are incapable of agreeing on a consistent agenda. This is especially remarkable, given that the agenda of marketers — the people who pay Google’s bills — is as consistent from year to year as the Rock of Gibraltar, and can best be summed up by the question “How the heck can I stay in business when the search engines are sucking out all of my profit?”