Having tools to visualize data is an important part of paid-search marketing. Melissa Mackey tells us how to develop charts with both x and y axes, decide which chart style to use for specific campaigns, and determine the numerical value to use to begin the chart. Each chart can tell a different story, provide insights, and help secure budgets for future projects. She tells us the importance of taking the time to craft an informative chart by using the correct visualization tools and data, and then combine them with solid analysis.

Google is more popular than Apple or Facebook, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll. Despite continued privacy concerns, only 9% of poll respondents held an unfavorable view of Google, while 10% had no opinion. Apple came in close behind with 74% favorable rating, but 13% held a negative view.

A mobile app update on the Hipmunk mobile platform aims to make it easy to integrate Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple iCal appointments with flight and hotel searches, according to Sarah Kessler. The scheduler alerts users when appointments conflict with flights. Kessler tells us that when booking travel plans, the update eliminates toggling between calendar and Hipmunk. There are several missing features, she writes. Kessler suggests a way to add a travel companion's schedule to search results, for example, and offers up other suggestions.

Google CEO Larry Page's 2012 update on the company's investors' page calls out all of last year's changes -- the good, the bad, and the different ideas, such as self-driving cars. The co-founder explains the reasons for slashing many of the company's products, integrating social signals with search, expanding with the acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and understanding the relationship between all Google products and the company's long-term focus. 

Drew Bowling points to a cartoon in The New Yorker that ran in 1993, featuring a dog sitting in front of a computer and looking over to his friend saying: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Interesting analogy. With that image, Bowling describes what he believes could be a compromise based on recent events, media articles, and the introduction of privacy bills.

Aaron Wall asks whether search engines should have an option to preferentially promote their own services in their engine's search results. Nearly two-thirds of those taking the survey said the search engines should not. Of those 65 years and older, more want greater editorial objectivity, whereas those ages 14 to 24 are fine with search engines preferentially promoting their own services. The survey also analyzes age, income and region.

Erik Freeman sits down with The Search Agency to discuss recent changes to Google's linking algorithm and the future of search engine optimization and brand-building. While the two talk about a variety of topics, the most insight comes from the discussion of link strategies and what it means to "over-optimize" a site.

Nasdaq won Facebook's listing on the exchange, trading under the symbol of FB, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familar with the matter." Reports suggest the company will go public in May and raise about $10 billion. Facebook's choice of Nasdaq was earlier reported by CNBC and The New York Times, according to the report.

Will Oremus describes how Google autocompletes us. He writes that last month Google made its first attempt at applying Web-based, contextual spell-checking to a word-processing program and wonders whether spelling and grammar will become a lost art, similar to the ability to add, multiply or divide numbers in our head, or even on a piece of paper. Will spelling become more optional, he wonders, drawing a parallel to arithmetic. The heady problem lies in artificial intelligence. Oremus tells us why.

Google plans to crack down on sites that take search engine optimization to extremes -- but what does that mean and how do SEO experts know when they have gone too far? Cyrus Shepard analyzes what happens when SEO techniques stop delivering value, and provides tips that identify when marketers should switch strategies.