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Because I stayed at a Las Vegas resort hotel seven years ago, I now get its brochure every 90 days, even though my plans are to return right after I get my lobotomy.

I bought some shirts from a men's apparel Web site a year ago, and now get seasonal catalogs — along with pre-, mid- and post-season, and gift guides for the holidays, Father's Day and graduation month.

I purchased a panini (read: grilled cheese sandwich with a Ph.D.) maker for my sister from a high-end online kitchenware site last Christmas. I now get more e-mail from the site than from her, my other sister and my parents combined.

I'm not saying extrapolating desire from a single action never works. All I'm saying is that past action isn't the best indication of present interest, or the most cost-efficient one. And that's why search marketing has grown and will grow more.

Search queries record my current needs, interests and desires. Someone looking at my recent searches could know that I'm in the market now for a new mobile phone and leaning toward a Treo; that my musical tastes include Green Day and Thelonious Monk; that like a good Chicagoan I'm hunting for the perfect winter boot; and that I might be a prospect for a trip to Tuscany, or maybe just the local hardware store.

Search produces a true “database of intentions,” as John Battelle puts it in his excellent new book “The Search.” It's the best record a marketer could have of what I want when I want it, short of a real-time brain scan. And in the end, that's a more efficient way of marketing than laying an entire product line before me in the vague hope I'm interested.

If the SEM prospect confuses you, read Battelle's book, subtitled “How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture.” It's a great overview and a great read, too. Once you've got the big picture…well, “Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing for Dummies” hits the stores right after Christmas.