Cara Pettersen and Ben Goodsell tell us about a Google bug that serves up ads and previews the wrong landing page in the search results. The two also recap search engine optimization updates and improvements that occurred in 2011. The tweaks range from Google GWT search query scripts to rich snippets spam to SEOMoz's historical link data. They outline the enhancements in a brief description. 

Rand Fishkin continues the holiday spirit with this year's special edition of Whitebeard, not "board," Friday. He serves up eight tips that will encourage marketers to get into the holiday spirit -- eight things that marketers can give away that can help earn links and mentions. He combines holiday symbols of both Christmas and Hanukkah to emphasize the idea behind the post. Fishkin originally started with 12 things to give away for the holidays, but reduced the number to eight because the tips would not all fit on the whiteboard.

Do you ever wonder about the biggest mistake SEOs make? Hoping that people can learn from others' mistakes, Rae Hoffman-Dolan, also known as Sugarrae, compiled a list of answers to that question from a series of SEO gurus like Rand Fishkin, Michael Martin, and Brad Geddes. All of the dozen experts answered the question "What is the number one mistake you see new consultants in the search engine marketing space make when attempting to build their consulting business?" The answers might surprise you.

The word "entrepreneur" might conjure up a variety of images, but one thing these folks all have in common remains the need to innovate and try new things. They see a problem and want to solve it when a readily available solution cannot be found. For those who are thinking about starting a new search business in 2012 or for those who just want to research new ideas, Kristi Hines has put together a list of 101 resouces for entrepeneurs.

Internet users spent the last year searching for information on Facebook, according to Experian Hitwise. The research firm reports the word "Facebook" as the Web's most popular search term, accounting for 3.1% of all searches. Add in related query terms and the social network accounted for four of the year’s Top 10 searches. New terms also entered the fray -- terms like addicting games, amazon.com, cnn, chase online, hotmail, and Twitter. Hitwise also provides a list of the most-visited Web sites in 2011.

For those teaching at a college, Google offers up a three-week online marketing challenge. Teams of professors and their students must develop and run paid-search campaigns through AdWords for real businesses or nonprofits. Each team must provide a written summary of their experience and provide campaign reports. Google employees and independent academics will judge the contest based on the reports and performance of the campaigns.

Think of it as a goodwill deed in time for the holidays. Mozilla said it would keep Google as the default search engine for its Firefox browswer. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Rachel King wrote that Mozilla, a non-profit, relied too heavily on Google search revenue in 2010. The Firefox search box generated between 85% and 90% of Mozilla's revenue in recent years, with Google contributing about 84% of Mozilla's $123 million last year, according to King. 

Marketers need to understand a variety of signals from data to become successful in search engine marketing. Alex Cohen tells us about 43 signals that answer six fundamental questions. He not only lists the signals, but defines each. Take "flat fee pricing," for example. Cohen explains how some ad formats, such as Media Ads, charge a flat fee for interactions. He also tells us why it's important to pay attention to behavioral and social interactions, along with when the target audience searches and on what types of devices. 

Face it. Customer support drives paid search and search engine optimization marketing service. Many people think of customer service in terms of retail stores or online, but SEMs still need to meet customer needs. The tips provided here support the need to think more about serving the customer. But while the customer always comes first, he/she may not always be correct. So to educate consumers, take the time to explain why the paid-search campaign must support specific keywords that may cost an arm and a leg. The infograph reflects customer service support for consumers, but it can also easily apply …

No one disputes the ability by Google executives to create buzz. Sometimes there is one sneeze and the world jumps. Such is the case of Andy Rubin's post on Google+ telling us: "There are now over 700,000 Android devices activated every day." That sentence, posted earlier this week, was shared more than 1,904 times across the social network and generated more than 100 news articles about the event. (Add one more to the list.)