Navy Federal Credit Union's search strategy has been to emphasize fee-free checking and savings accounts, but the debacle with Bank of America and other large financial institutions has opened the door to more loudly tout its philosophy through paid-search ads.

Retailers and consumer product goods companies continue to invest in online and mobile technology that attract consumers shopping online and in stores -- but those plunking down the bucks for innovation might be driving up paid-search ad keywords for all.

October saw strong year-over-year growth for revenue, orders, clicks and conversions. Searches and purchases via desktops and mobile devices continue to rise, but retailers could miss the boat if execs remain close-minded or slow-moving when it comes to adopting emerging technologies that help consumers find information or buy products, especially if store clerks become busy and overwhelmed during the holiday rush.

Smartphone users augment in-store shopping with mobile devices. I do. A Ralphs grocery store promotion touting 30% off wine, beer and liquor got me to pull out my iPhone while in the store to search the Internet for phone numbers of local retailers, checking prices at Bevmo and Sam's Club for a bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne. I found a store that discounted this product about $10.

Video search engine blinkx will acquire digital marketing agency Prime Visibility Media Group (PVMG) for $36 million in cash. The company plans to partially fund the acquisition by placing new stock shares. PVMG's platform, which gets about 1.5 billion queries and generates about 14 ad interactions each day, will support the ability for blinkx to deliver videos in search results. The company serves a network of more than 600 advertisers and 350 publishers.

The underlying customer data running across social, mobile, search and connected TVs will make a crucial impact in marketing campaigns when it comes to optimizing conversions. For advertisers, data still remains in a raw state. Many online industry execs don't quite understand the impact earned and learned from these bits and bytes.

Type in the word "relevancy" linked to the name "Google" in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database, and click on the "search" button. Or clearly pronounce the words in a voice-assisted search tool and the two queries will likely return a completely different set of results.

Microsoft has introduced a feature that allows marketers to bring the Google AdWords campaign data directly into adCenter. The feature, found in version 8.1 of the adCenter desktop app, begins with clicking the Import button and making a selection from the menu. Importing data requires an AdWords user name, password and customer identification number.

Simpli.fi released an offering in its demand-side platform (DSP) that allows advertisers to target ads based on "instant recency" that company CEO Frost Prioleau defines as the period of time that ads serve on a Web page following a click on a search result. This change allows marketers to immediately target searchers the instant they land on a page selected from their search results. It unravels one of the biggest mysteries that arises when using search data to instantly target ads to consumers searching across the Web, which DSP companies like DataXu continually try to solve.

Devin Graham began making YouTube videos as a hobby several years ago. Now he has turned his passion into a business. The most recent video, "Smashing Pumpkins In Slow Motion," garnered nearly 300,000 views since it was uploaded on Oct. 26. A favorite video, "Human Slingshot" -- made for Vooray, an active apparel line -- became one of the first to test product placement. It gained 2.5 million hits in the past year.