Mobile makes Google more valuable than Microsoft, according to Marcus Wohlsen. When markets closed Monday, industry watchers didn't waste time sharing that Google's stock shares finally put the company's value higher than Microsoft -- $249.1 billion vs. $247.2 billion, respectively. This milestone comes despite Microsoft’s healthy performance during the past year. Shares rose nearly 20%, even after reporting its first-ever quarterly loss since going public.

In a report published to Google's Economic Impact site, the company estimates it generated $80 billion for American businesses in 2012, up 25% from the previous year. The measurements come from revenue received from AdWords on Google.com search results in 2011, dollars paid to AdSense partners, and in-kind donations made to nonprofits through its Google Grants program.

A Pew research report cites 28% of all Internet use coming from a mobile phone, so Tom Pick aggregates a set of on-page, technical and link-building techniques for marketers as a guide to optimize a mobile Web site for search. One of the most simple tactics to remember: specific search phrases people use on mobile devices are different than those they may use from a desktop. Capitalize on it.

Ryan Kim tells us Foursquare’s CEO and co-founder Dennis Crowley is building a revenue model around local search and location-based services through an ad product called promoted updates. Kim writes that with promoted updates the company can leverage its Explore technology that makes recommendations. About 20 businesses, such as Gap, Old Navy, Hilton, and Hertz, will test the feature that serves up promoted updates from nearby businesses based on data.  

Russia's search engine Yandex Monday launched its own Internet browswer to compete with rivals Google and Bing for market share in the country. The browser integrates antivirus technology from Russian security company Kaspersky Lab. The browser uses the WebKit engine and the user interface is based on the open-source Chromium code.

Local Corp. released a free local search app for iPhone and Android that offers "smart suggestions" based on the time of day, location and current weather of consumers using the app, such as finding a movie theater. This latest move marks Local’s expansion into the U.S. mobile advertising market, which should reach $2.7 billion this year, according to BIA/Kelsey. The app allows consumers to search using keyword, location, category and voice search, and personalized home page, with local maps and weather information, and more.