• Free Google Wallet Will Convert Consumers On Bank Debit Card Charges
    Bank of America, the bank that continues to lose billions after acquiring the failing Countrywide mortgage broker, will begin charging customers $5 monthly for any amount of combined debit card purchases made in one month. The move should overjoy Google and other mobile commerce platform providers willing to provide transactions for free.
  • What Search Marketers Should Know About Display Brand Building
    Branding strategies have become as diverse as coffee drinks at Starbucks. Those new to the coffeehouse menu can stand at the counter for what seems like an hour debating on whether to purchase a soy latte, a cappuccino, or an iced coffee with non-fat milk. Some search marketers also might feel that way when trying to expand search campaigns into social or display.
  • Google+ Membership Skyrockets, Adds Privacy Setting
    Google has opened the doors to Google+, allowing anyone to fill out a profile and join the site. The move promoted a surge in traffic to the three-month-old site. Recent numbers from Experian Hitwise suggest that those attracted to either Google or social media continue to flock through the door.
  • Hire An 'Ethical' Hacker?
    Years ago when writing for a magazine focused on software developers, reporters would joke about how companies should hire an ethical hacker to find vulnerabilities, or entry points in application, through code. Software and Web developers are typically too close to the code they wrote to find hacker vulnerabilities, though they do well at finding and fixing flaws.
  • How Bing Could Stop Bleeding Billions
    The secret doesn't reside in out-googling Google, but taking advantage of its innovative tools and tying the results to search marketing. Microsoft showed off its video talent in HTML5 last week in a rare display of animation on the Bing home search page. While company engineers showcase plenty of talent tied to the latest Web tools, their marketing initiative lacks incentive to connect advertising with search queries.
  • Microsoft Bing Deals Takes Twist, Intros Punchcard Loyalty For Daily Coupons
    Microsoft launched Bing Deals Friday for PC and mobile devices, aggregating more than 200,000 deals across the United States. The search engine pulls in top deals from local and national stores such as Best Buy, Nordstrom and Zappos, as well as Groupon, LivingSocial, and Tippr, among others -- giving consumers the ability to browse the best deals and visually search through results.
  • Google Search Petition Addresses Bigger Agency Problems
    Search engine marketers are a vocal group. There's nothing wrong with that. They understand the nuance to bring attention to a cause or a campaign. So when Paul Burani, partner at Web Liquid Group, heard that Google decided to shut down Google Sets on Sept. 5 from Google Labs, he refused to accept the decision and go home. Instead, Burani started an online petition to bring the tool back.
  • How Orabrush Went From YouTube To 3,500 Wal-Mart Stores
    Orabrush, which makes a soft, pointed bristle brush that helps people reach back into the mouth to scrape and remove bacteria from the tongue to help cure bad breath, began running paid-search ads on google.com early in the summer. Company marketers started with a few basic terms and keywords that convert well, such as words related to bad breath, kissing and oral hygiene.
  • When SEM Platforms Rebrand As DMS
    In an interesting rebranding move by some search engine marketing companies, I've been asked to refer to them as "digital marketing software" companies, rather than "search engine marketing" platform providers. It's an offshoot from the partnerships and collaboration among tech platform providers across the industry.
  • Google Banks On Wallet
    Google is updating the Wallet Web site to highlight stores and features that offer the company's latest mobile payment service. Expected to launch Monday (or sometime soon), according to reports, the service will initially have support from about one million payment readers and software designed by ViVOtech, which processes transactions based on near field communication (NFC) technology and over-the-air (OTA) technologies to securely provision credit, debit, prepaid, coupon and other types of accounts to mobile phones.
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