Google just bought Paris-based Moodstocks -- a startup that specializes in machine learning technology and image recognition features. Within Google, the plan is to build a better image recognition tool that users can access on their phones, Venture Beat reports. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Google has increased the number of queries receiving a Google Quick Answer box -- rising to more than 30% in May 2016, up from just over 20% in December 2014, according to Jim Yu, citing data from Stone Temple Consulting. The information in answer boxes is pulled from content on high-ranking Web sites that Google trusts to provide users with the correct answers to search queries that typically begin with "what is" or "how to." Yu tells marketers how Quick Answers impact brands. He explains how Adobe benefited from a 17% incremental lift on topics in which it secured the answer …

Google owns nearly two-thirds of desktop search market share in the U.S., but what about the other 33%, asks Masha Maksimava. She breaks out the numbers and reminds marketers that Bing and Yahoo combined own about 79% of automotive-related searches in the U.S. The two also own about 80% of telecom and 79% of education searches. Don't forget the 71% of travel searches. Maksimava writes that Bing traffic converts better than Google's. Yahoo and Bing have roughly a 20% conversion rate, while Google's is 16.5%. Maksimava shows marketers how to get the most from the two networks that for some reason trail …

The Supreme Court of India has concluded that the search engines of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have violated Indian laws by hosting advertisements for tools, kits and clinics that help determine the sex of a fetus. India made prenatal sex determination illegal in 1994 to prevent sex-selective abortions. Samanwaya Rautray explains.

Although any major change to site URLs is risky, Pete Meyers tells marketers that considering broader business case, costs, and benefits can help sell the switch to HTTPS, which Google admitted to being a ranking signal in August 2014. He presents data that shows the spike in ranking and changes in algorithm updates Google has made in the past few years to achieve that increase. What does it mean? Meyers runs through the data and predicts the industry could see another HTTPS algorithm update in the next six to 12 months.

The 2016 Call Intelligence Index from Invoca analyzed 58 million calls across 40 industries and found that digital channels drove 92% of phone calls to businesses in 2015, up from 84% of calls in the prior year.. Mobile search drove 48% of the calls, followed by desktop search with 17%. Six of the top 10 call sources were digital marketing channels.

Some 77% of companies are planning to increase content marketing budgets in 2016. The Future of Content Marketing report from Econsultancy, published with Oracle Marketing Cloud, examines how content marketing has changed and how brands need to alter their approach. The report details data-driven content, automation, multichannel, measurement and social. 

It's official. Google will name the next Android operating system "Nougat." It's much better to stay with something sweet than name it "Nachos" or "Noodles," according to onlookers. Google had asked Android developers at the last i/o meeting for their suggestions. The name had to start with the letter "N."

Vodofone and easyJet are evaluating business practices and whether the companies should relocated some jobs, but Eric Schmidt, Alphabet's executive chairman, told an audience at the Viva Technology conference in Paris that he doesn’t foresee Brexit affecting the company's business in serious way, such as forcing the executive staff to move employees from Britain to countries still in the European Union, CNBC reports. His concerns were more around the EU's push to create its "digital single market," where the laws of the member states all work together.

Rand Fishkin finds ways to help marketers translate marketing jargon into financial metrics and data that C-suite executives with the purse strings will understand. He explains that simple changes in how search marketers communicate their company's goals and objectives will lead to success.