Relevancy and like-minded individuals go hand-in-hand in any business. Quora founder Adam D'Angelo left Facebook in 2009 on that premise to start the business. Zach Bulygo tells us how the question-and-answer platform fosters engagement and time on site, relevancy, and onboarding.

For those who don't have experience with Google Webmaster Tools, this guide takes us through features of the tool, and provides insight into the actionable data marketers can find. Simon Heseltine's detailed post goes into detail on features and processes like verification, dashboard, messages, settings, sitelinks, crawling errors, blocked URLs, and more. He tells us the tools are a way for Google to communicate with webmasters, and this helps to identify issues with a company's Web site, such as whether it has been infected with malware.

Install a search engine on a company's server, use a free or hosted third-party hosted search engine service, or tap into the major search engine tools like Google or Vertical Search Works. Daniel Burstein takes us through a variety of options for Web sites looking to embed a site search engine on their Web site. He takes the findings from research that the tech team at MECLABS explored after considering how to improve search on the MarketingSherpa site. For each option, he tells us about the advantages, such as customizable page results and no third-party advertisements, as well as disadvantages …

This year's Association of National Advertisers survey of U.S. marketers found that 90% include social networks in their marketing strategies, up from 89% in 2011. While this percentage contines to rise, growth has plateaued and shifted to other new digital media platforms, according to eMarketer. The budgets are being invested in mobile and video, but also organic search engine optimization.

Search marketers may not find comfort in Facebook's ability to monitize the advertising on its social network. Matt Kapko points to a study from TBG Digital that found Facebook's cost-per-click prices have begun to rise, surpassing $1 for the first time in the United States, where CPMs jumped 25% in the last quarter. "The Facebook mobile ads also performed much better than Twitter ads, said TBG, which recently measured 24 million Twitter ad impressions," he wrote.

Easy open tabs for Google Sitelinks? Google has been testing tabs that aims to help searchers find content buried in a site. From the tab searchers can click once, rather than three times to find what they seek. In one example from Modesto Siotos, results from a query for Major League Baseball serves up Sitelink tabs for Top Links, Schedule, Stats, MLB.TV, Shop, Video, Fantasy, and Mobile. In a long post, he dives into a variety of industries and tells us how each can benefit from this change.

Automation tools can make a job easier, but marketers need to learn how to streamline processes to work more efficiently. Kayla Kurtz suggests making a to-do list, preparing an Excel spreadsheet to create internal and client reports, and populate a list of keywords. She also tells us how to make an email calendar work to send reminders for deadlines and recurring tasks or meetings.

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has secured more than $1 million in funding to launch a research project that will evaluate the return on investment mobile contributes to marketing. Called SMoX.me, Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness, the research will test marketing campaigns to determine the economic value of channel investments.

QR Codes have not fulfilled their promise to connect brands with large audiences, according to a new eMarketer report that states "one and done users do not create a mass audience." eMarketer estimates the percentage of smartphone users who will scan a mobile barcode will edge up from 25% to 27% within 1.5 to 2 years, as the use of the phones in the U.S. by adults rises from 43.9% in 2011 to 58.3% by 2014. The research points to findings from Mobio that suggest 60% of North American consumers who scanned QR Codes in Q3 2011 did so just once.   …

Marketers know tech users live a fragmented lifestyle, but Murthy Nukala illustrates how he uses his iPad-plus-keyboard in meetings, laptop-plus-docking station at the desk, and iPhone on the go. It demonstrates how online behavior, once centered on one device, has become more fragmented across three or more. With all this fragmentation, Nukala describes how companies will monetize the Web in 2020.