The pay-per-click (PPC) model marketers have come to rely on in paid search ads has moved into social media and other forms of advertising. The model began migrating to other media early last year. Robin Neifield explains how this bid auction model can drive display media through ad exchanges, demand-side platforms, and social media advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn. It's an integrated approach that pulls together a company's strategy across traditional and display-based ad campaigns.

Google Boost Ads, an advertising solution aimed at helping local businesses connect with potential customers, now appear on Google mobile search results pages for Android and iPhone devices. The search engine announced the offering for traditional search in October. Now, Kiley McEvoy tells us about the ad platform for mobile.

Links can determine a Web site's credibility and ranking in search engine results listings. Finding potential link partners, however, isn't always easy for SEO experts. Jennifer Van Iderstyne shares a few ideas on finding and approaching sources to "ask, beg, or barter for links." She explains one of her favorite ways to search for link targets: by "following other links, or as I like to call it, searching down the Rabbit Hole. You never know where you're going to land next or what you're going to find when you get there."

Microsoft introduced Monday a landing page with images representing 20 recent top searches, as "a fresh way to enter the image search experience." It provides a quick snapshot of some popular searches on Bing related to a specific topic. One click narrows the image search to find specific content or discover more.

YouTube will broadcast the State of the Union address, and on Thursday will give viewers a chance to ask the president questions. Olivia Ma tells us how it works. She writes: "grab a video camera, cellphone, or webcam and record a question as the ideas strike you." A playlist of submitted questions is on the site for those who need a little inspiration.

Google gave the exiting CEO Eric Schmidt "a $100 million equity award," according to The Wall Street Journal Schmidt owns 9.2 million shares valued at nearly $5.8 billion, representing 9.6% of the company's voting power, notes the WSJ citing a company filing.

Spam has become a major sore spot for Google. Matt Cutts explains the steps Google will take to target content farms generating low-quality content. He believes the company has done a good job beating back Web spam and even illegal and sneakier tactics by spammers. Cutts provides some promises on how Google will fight back to reduce the influence of content farms in search rankings, as well as how it alters its search algorithm to give searchers better results.

A patent application describes what Google and (Bill Slawski) call "plusbox," a feature in queries that enables the search engine to return more results hidden in a link. He tells us why Google might want to present results this way and the technology behind the feature. The patent tells us Google might show two or more results based on numerous factors. Slawski includes a list of those factors, why each are important, and how they link to personalized search.

Can you over-optimize a Web page? Wayne Barker tells us how this can lead to a "spammy looking" site. Aside from going over the top with keywords in title tags and meta descriptions, the list of mistakes small businesses can make range from getting trapped inside industry jargon to cutting corners. Although Barker's a little light on details, it's a good reminder to small businesses on what not to do.

Joseph Kerschbaum tells us Automated Rules lets marketers schedule automatic adjustments to AdWords accounts by setting automated rules at a few levels in the campaign. He explains why the feature is powerful, provides screen shots to step through the process of setting up a campaign, and adds a few tips at the end to tie together the process.