Web analytics specialist Omniture has released a free best practices guide to help firms improve their search marketing strategies.

Seven Advanced Steps to Effective Search Marketing is targeted at online marketers. Tips include monitoring for click fraud, selecting the right keywords and refining keyword bids.

Search engine marketing is the biggest and fastest growing field of online marketing, but many firms are still struggling to optimise their strategies, according to Omniture's vice-president of marketing in Europe, Neil Morgan.

"Working with our customers we've found a lot of room for improvement," Morgan said. "It's a new area and there isn't a lot of technology or experience in it yet."

Morgan added that a key recommendation is for firms to measure words by their conversion rate, rather than the number of clicks they get.