Shoppers have tapped into search as their "lifeline" to research products before making a purchase in the store. Ninety-three percent of all buyers online or in stores use search before making a purchase, and nearly 80% rate search as a very or extremely useful tool, according to the GroupM Search study, "From Intent to In-Store: Search's Role In The New Retail Shopper Profile," released this week.

Google announced a range of storage, cloud, and App Engine services this week that should help it compete with Amazon Web services and Microsoft. The offerings focus on supporting enterprise customers on platforms, such as those that require a server host, or retailers and global advertising agencies that want space to store video clips. But a Googler's post on Google+ questions whether the Mountain View, Calif. company can succeed in supporting platforms.

Google reports Q3 2011 earnings Thursday, Oct. 13, after the bell closes daily trading on Wall Street. Analysts continue to focus on the Mountain View, Calif. company's online ad business-search, display and mobile-along with plans for Motorola Mobility Holdings, which it announced its intent to acquire in August for an estimated $12.5 billion. Quarterly results could show another up quarter.

The strategy to optimize Web site content based on the keywords people enter into search boxes on Google, Bing and Yahoo to find specific products, services or information is not new. Search engine optimization (SEO) professionals know this. Most who write content for Web sites do not. There's a disconnect between SEO professionals and content writers. Identifying the keywords can help writers connect with readers. Search marketers have known that for eons. Now a company confirms this with research to help writers connect with potential customers.

Referral marketing may begin with a small group of consumers, but in time it can snowball into a more efficient way to not only build on a company's customer base, but to gain loyal followers. Allan Grant, Curebit co-founder and CEO, believes this type of strategy can augment search engine marketing (SEM) and become more effective for the overall campaign. He said this form of customer acquisition strategy allows customers to refer friends, and in exchange, receive a discount.

Eighteen months into the emerging tablet market and Apple's iPad still holds the dominant market share, but will the tablet PC replace the laptop -- and can other brands make a dent in the market?

Remember Jeff Hirsch? He left AudienceScience, a behavioral targeting platform company, last summer and this week surfaced as CEO of Underdog Media, a 12-person shop in Santa Barbara, Calif. The tagline "performance unleashed" underscores the company's focus to support branding and direct-response efforts in an ad network model, complete with optimization, search retargeting, and dynamic creative tools.

Spending on mobile search advertising in the U.S. will not reach the billion-dollar mark until 2014, but will contribute substantially to the $1.2 billion that U.S. advertisers will spend this year, according to eMarketer.

Yahoo transitioned back to a "premier digital media company" from a search company Monday with the announcement that it would launch a joint portal with ABC News. The agreement creates a series of original Web content that taps ABC brand names Christiane Amanpour, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric. The news portal will support expanded premium ad inventory, but will the agreement lead to a bigger equity stake for ABC?