While many marketers believe the first three ad positions in a search result are the only links clicked on, Jeremy Decker tells us that those appearing in the No. 4 position still gain clicks -- and often at a much lower cost per click compared with higher positions. He believes these lower positions often convert better because the top positions can attract a lot of "tyre kickers" -- people who really aren’t interested in making a purchase, but rather just clicked the first Google listing they saw. Decker suggests targeting specific long-tail keywords of three or more words that describe the …

A long list of companies have been complaining that Google used its search-engine dominance to hurt competitors, which could prompt the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to bring about an antitrust case, according to Reuters. The news agency cites several unnamed sources as saying that rivals in travel, shopping and entertainment have accused Google unfairly -- giving their Web sites low-quality rankings in search results, which forces the company listings to fall deeper on page one or more.

Rae Hoffman gives us tips on finding a niche in affliate marketing. She suggests that when deciding on a niche, start with a narrow focus with the ability to expand. For example, someone wanting to start a recipe site might want to focus on low carb or single portion recipes. Then expand on that single portion to include a party of four, six or eight. Rather than having the site vistor guess, the recipe could offer specifics. She also reminds us to verify multiple revenue streams from the niche topic, not just one. 

Kevin Lee tells us why marketers should build a Google+ page and then link that page to their AdWords account, in addition to having Google+ implemented on a Web site. He starts by explaining how Social Extension works alone and in conjunction with Google+ pages for business. Then he provides five reasons to use Google+ to socialize paid-search ads. One reason -- and this occurs on Bing with Facebook's Like -- Google +1's serve up in organic search listings.

Rand Fishkin analyzes the future of on-page optimization and tells us how to move beyond the keywords to drive traffic. He says "old-school SEO" still matters, but there are many new developments, and Fishkin fills us in on best practices. People abandon Web site pages more quickly now than in the past. He suggests that marketers must overlap the search intent -- what users want -- with the page content purpose to help brands avoid missing the mark with site visitors. Fishkin guides us through the process and offers tips on improving this type of optimization.

Google points to a social game called Taapi that allows households to sign up. A global team of players rush to turn off lights through a platform connected to the Internet. The mobile gaming platform is available via iOS for iPhones, iPods and iPads, and Android, and the Web awards players points for being the first to shut off unused lights. People block off time in a platform that allows people playing the game from around the world to turn off their lights. Taapi creates local WiFi communication between sockets and bulbs by using a hub that connects to the router. The …

Google explaned its Street View image collection doubling the number of special collections and updating more than 250,000 miles of roads worldwide. The coverage increases in Macau, Singapore, Sweden, the U.S., Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Canada. The company also launched special collections in South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico, among others. 

A techie teen won $60,000 from Google after finding flaws in the engine's Chrome browser. Pinkie Pie -- one winner's alias, a popular My Little Pony character -- won the prize during a hacker conference Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur. In August, Google said it would give up to $2 million in prizes to engineers who could find holes in their platform. 

Think about localizing organic search results for desktop and mobile devices. Matt Green serves up link-building tactics to best serve local SEO efforts. He suggests adding value to the communities; making sure to link to the site's root domain, G+ Local landing page URL, and G+ Local page; and anchoring links in “location + keyword” text to maximize the positive impact from each link, specifically for localized organic search results.

Phone numbers on Facebook are not as private as many think, according to Naked Security, a Sophos site. A hole in Facebook's security allows people to type a phone number into the search box to perform a reverse look-up. The results can provide the name of the owner. Altering privacy settings ensure that phone numbers are only visible to the person who owns them. Naked Security takes us through the process of securing the phone number, with suggestions such as always being careful about what is shared.