Rand Fishkin tells marketers why today's search engine optimization requires technology and creative thinking. He provides a list of technical elements that today's SEO professionals need to know about to become more successful.

Informatica, a data integration company, received an investment from Microsoft and Salesforce Ventures of an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was "controlled" by the Permira funds and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). The acquisition is valued at approximately $5.3 billion.

Republican Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina generated the most spikes in Google Trends during Fox's "happy hour" GOP debate Thursday evening, with the exception of a huge spike in search queries after Lindsey Graham spoke about the difficult times in his life such as the death of his parents, and a willingness to give up some social security benefits to share with others. Philip Bump put the candidates' names into Google Trends, and here's what he found.

Yandex has re-launched its search app for Android offering information on weather, currency exchange rates, traffic conditions, cinema movie times, and the shortest way to the nearest bank or restaurant. The search app, which initially rolled out in 2011, supports more than 3 million weekly users.

Google said it will bring high-speed Internet connectivity to San Antonio, Texas -- joining fellow city Austin, as well as Kansas City, Provo, among others. The service offers Internet speeds about 100 times faster than average U.S. broadband services. The fast speed also comes at a competitive price. In Kansas City the high-speed service costs $80 monthly or $120 for a package that includes TV. A slower version is free.

Bing is testing serving up quotes in search results, following Google’s decision to add knowledge cards to its search results highlighting famous quotes from authors and celebrities. Rather than showing a series of quote, Bing is serving up one quote at a time, allowing searchers to click through to see more.

Google has added methods in AdWords that allow advertisers to clear various fields in Upgraded URLs, and toggle in the full-screen mode for the Scripts IDE by clicking the Expand icon on the top right corner of the editor toolbar. Anash Oommen explains in a brief post on the Ads Developer Blog.

There's been an ongoing debate for years as to why Google should acquire Twitter, but Business Insider's Jay Yarow doesn't give it much hope, even though Google continuously falters at social. He also points to a prediction made by Amir Efrati, a reporter at tech site The Information, who sent the Twitter tweet "Google's recent 10-Q would seem to make it less likely. Also Larry doesn't give a f--k about Twtr." (Wink) I guess he would know.

Microsoft has released Bing Ads for iOS worldwide. Back in April, the company announced it would release Bing Ads for iOS, with Android coming soon. Microsoft also gives us a look at the interface for Android. 

The marketing team at VMware needed to optimize their conversion funnel and Web site.  Cindy Lu, senior marketing manager at VMware, explains how her group set out to optimize content for customers after the team found several flaws through extensive testing. The multiple testing approaches increased B2B banner ad clickthrough rates by 956%.