Have you ever been walking down the street just sort of minding your own business, staring at the cracks in the sidewalk, when you suddenly spot a fiver just laying there on the pavement? You look around to see if anyone else is watching. If anyone else has noticed the unclaimed  prize just for showing up? Then you say to heck with pride, smile gleefully to yourself, and OH YES you pick it up and put it in your pocket.

Then you quickly go buy something with it. It feels good when that happens, doesn't it? (It's okay, I won't tell your Mom you didn't give the five dollar bill to charity or the busker with the dancing monkey on the corner.)

Yes, I do have a point.

I was doing some keyword research for a client tonight. (I know, there must be something to do this late at night besides work ... but actually there's not.) I was using Google's Keyword Tool like I often do and not expecting to see anything more exciting than a cool keyword or two I hadn't thought of. (Okay, enough with the get-a-life jokes already.)

Then it happened. My five dollar bill moment happened. I clicked "Get keyword ideas."

Now, understand that I've inured myself to the highly annoying nature of those useless 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s that are supposed to enlighten me as to relevant search volumes. Honestly, tell me how rating something as vast and varied as search volumes on a scale of 4 is helpful to us nitpicky types?

Anyway, my fiver on the sidewalk of search engine marketing was NUMBERS. Yes, Google showed me numbers, glorious numbers. Not just the "1 through 4" types either. Big ones and little ones. Odd ones and even ones. It was neat. It wasn't Bob Barker calling my name or anything. But it was neat.

Then, perhaps a little too excitedly, I wondered if I had actually stumbled upon something no one else had yet. He he. Wouldn't that be something? I'd be an SEO blogging superstar.

But alas, Search Engine Roundtable, among others, beat me to it.

But not by much!