Search Engine Marketing

The way we communicate is moving-literally. Smart phones are outselling PCs, and tablet sales are expected to outpace desktop sales by 2013. But although the screens may be smaller, the possibilities for engagement are larger than ever.

You'll find the following covered in this handy whitepaper:

- What Does Mocial Mean for Marketers?
- Determining Your Mocial Strategy and Goals
- Growing Your Email Database Through Social and Mobile
- Making Email More Social
- Extending the Reach of Social and Mobile
- Deploying Integrated Programs Across Email, Social and Mobile

Valentine's Day was marred for many by failed or faulty delivery of bouquets to loved ones and many consumers and retailers had things to say about it. Google was asked to comment and it replied by email: "Google allows advertisers to bid on competitor keywords as well as to use competitor terms in the ad text itself as long as advertisers do not make any false or inaccurate claims in their ads."

If your latest Google search was faster and provided fresh, current results, it's because Google recently updated their search algorithm to reward newsworthy, updated information — and discourage reworked, repetitive, stagnant or multilinked sites to nowhere, sites that copy content from other websites or are just not very useful.

Retailers and consumer product goods companies continue to invest in online and mobile technologies that attract consumers shopping online and in stores, but those plunking down the bucks for innovation might be driving up paid search ad keywords for all.

Time to sharpen those pencils: now that the back-to-school season is winding down and students are back at their desks, we thought we’d take a look at some popular searches from the last few weeks. Students across the U.S. are hitting the books — although, as we found, not all their back-to-school searches are academically inclined.

Searchandise Commerce, a provider of site monetization and retail search media solutions, announced the results of its ongoing click distribution study. Based on click data collected over the past 2 years, Searchandise concludes that over two-thirds of clicks occur in the top 20 search and browse results on retail sites.

In June, BIGresearch reported that 89.9 percent of Americans with jobs don't expect to see a pay increase in 2012. As a result, people plan to continue their belt-tightening habits: 58.9 percent plan to spend less on clothing, 53.1 percent plan to comparison shop and 50 percent plan to stay on a strict budget. So, how can you grow your holiday sales while consumers are reducing their spending habits?

Advertisers often wonder whether search ads cannibalize their organic traffic. In other words, if search ads were paused, would clicks on organic results increase? Would they make up for the loss in paid traffic? Google statisticians recently ran over 400 studies on paused accounts to answer this question.

While search volume for "back-to-school shopping" heated up directly following July 4, more than a week earlier than in 2010, PM Digital President Suzy Sandberg said she sees marketers becoming more aggressive with keywords such as "sales," "discounts" and "free shipping."

Amazon's website visits top a new report from Experian Hitwise that shows search terms for the custom category "Retail 500," ranked by largest increase for the week ending July 23 vs. the week ending July 16.