Although they spend millions of dollars on paid search, Fortune 500 companies are largely invisible in natural search: Collectively, the Fortune 500 spent an average $3.4 million per day on 97,559 keywords during the fourth quarter of 2009, yet only for 25% of those keywords Fortune 500 companies rank in ... more

In a recent Search Engine Land article, Andrew Goodman predicts that the biggest risk in 2010-2011 for search marketers may lie in working with outdated assumptions about the size and potential of target markets and the paid-search channel. As a remedy, he suggests five investment or expansion "risks" that could ... more

Most editors and reporters depend on social media as a source: 55% of print and Web journalists say social media is important or somewhat important for reporting and producing the stories they write, according to a survey conducted by George Washington University and Cision. more

Despite the tough economic environment and unprecedented challenges to the industry, consumers' use of digital media climbed to new heights in 2009 as the Internet continued to evolve as an integral component of Americans' personal and professional lives, according to data from comScore. more

An estimated 10.3 billion online searches were conducted in the US in January, and Google Search accounted for 6.8 billion of them, or 66.3%, according to Nielsen. Yahoo Search, Bing, and AOL Search received 14.5%, 10.9%, and 2.5% of searches, respectively. more

Before you start soliciting links and becoming active in online communities, it's best to first ensure that your site's content, structure, and design are in peak condition, Virginia Nussey advises in a recent post at the Bruce Clay blog: "Before you can expect a site to develop inbound links, you have ... more

The Great Recession has certainly not spared nonprofit organizations. With contributions down an average of nine percent, many charitable organizations have been forced to cut services. Some even face closure. Fortunately, though, the news is not all bad. "With the right marketing mix, savvy nonprofits are able to leverage social-media marketing ... more

Google accounted for 71.49% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ended Jan. 31, while Yahoo Search, Bing, and Ask.com received 14.57%, 9.37%, and 2.64%, respectively, according to Experian Hitwise. more

"They say an Internet year is … equivalent to seven normal years," says Kevin Gibbon in a post at SEOptimise—meaning that we can witness seven real-world-years' worth of change in one year online. To help search marketers keep up, Gibbon offers seven ways to stay on top of the competition in the ... more

Across all major search engines, the top 10 search terms containing "Haiti relief" accounted for nearly half of the 679 search terms containing "Haiti relief," which itself was the top term, accounting for 12.16% of searches for the four weeks ended January 23, 2010, according to Hitwise Search Intelligence. more

In the world of B2B marketing, what would you say your customers want most from you? Some of the obvious things are quality products, great service, reasonable prices, and solutions that increase profits. But what would they really want if they could have anything from you? How about more customers? more

We recently encouraged businesses to expand their local search horizons and add more local flavor to their national search campaigns. Now, in a post at the Content Rich blog, Jon Wuebben offers more arguments for growing local roots in your search campaigns.  Wuebben quotes Neg Norton, president of the Yellow Pages Association, who ... more

What do bartenders and websites have in common? Both need to be optimized to succeed. So says Jill Whalen in an amusing article at Search Engine Land. She demonstrates how the rules of optimization may dually apply to 'tenders and 'sites alike: Rule #1: Optimization shouldn't turn people off.  ... more

Google is a powerhouse of information on a range of human behaviors, emotions, and opinions, and it offers insight into what people might care the most about concerning a given topic, according to a post by Duke and MIT professor Dan Ariely on his blog, PredictablyIrrational.com. more

Traffic to retail websites grew in December as the online holiday shopping season reached a crescendo—while consumers' holiday festivities generated a surge in traffic to flowers/gifts/greetings and e-card sites, according to comScore. In addition, traffic to shipping sites reached a 2009 high as consumers rushed to ensure timely delivery of ... more

In view of improved expectations of economic recovery, the US advertising market is forecast to fall just 0.1% this year, according to a revised forecast from MAGNA. The reassessment is a slight improvement from MAGNA's forecast issued in December 2009, which projected a 1.3% decline in ad spending. more

More than four out of ten (44%) of visitors to Google News scan headlines without accessing newspapers' individual sites, including many "power news users" who consult news sources as least twice a day, according to new study from Outsell. more

Your own keyword analytics data is the most valuable marketing asset of your company, says WordStream’s Larry Kim in an article at MarketingProfs. The data contained in the keyword report from your Web-analytics application—which tells you how people are finding your site through paid and organic search—comprise a far more effective ... more

Google continued to dominate search, accounting for 72.3% of all US searches in the four weeks ended January 2, 2010, up 1% from a month earlier, according to Experian Hitwise. Yahoo followed with 14.8% of searches, Bing with 8.9%, and Ask.com with 2.5%. more

Paid-search spending worldwide by US-based high-tech and consumer-electronics advertisers grew 16.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009 over third-quarter levels, after having grown 7.7% in the third quarter, according to a study from Covario. more

Over one-half of surveyed consumers across 11 countries used their mobile phones during the 2009 holiday shopping season for in-store activities such as comparison-shopping and getting peer feedback, product information, and coupons, according to a study from Motorola. more

By using new campaign-management techniques, smart marketers can gain a sizable and lasting advantage over the competition in the auction for keywords—ensuring their ads show up high in search results without dampening ROI. more

How does an SMB owner run a business day to day, do his/her own marketing and promotion, and make sure the biz keeps going and growing? Just maybe, SEO+Sex=Success! more

As Max Starkov writes in an article at Hotel Interactive, the hotel industry is the perfect candidate for managing customer relations via mobile devices. "Using the mobile space to provide intelligent, unobtrusive and highly personalized services convinces customers that this is their service," says Starkov. And one of the hot tools ... more

Display advertising is forecast to grow 13% in 2010 after a dismal performance in 2009 (down approximately 5% in the US), while US search advertising is forecast to grow 13%, up significantly from 2009's roughly flat year, according to research from JP Morgan. more