Analyzing search logs from two different commercial search engines, Microsoft researchers found that results repeated in about 40% of multi-query search sessions and users engage differently with repeats than with results shown for the first time. Not a difficult concept to follow.

An interesting conversation with SocialCode CEO and founder Laura O'Shaughnessy led us to speculate on a real-time ad-targeting model for Facebook based on hashtags.

Search marketers lean on programmatic display buying more often these days. Perhaps it reminds them of search engine marketing. It turns out that U.S. marketing budgets rose 130% in Q2 for programmatic display buying. There's a new attribution model I'll highlight tomorrow that could give some insight into why.

Letters have been sent by the Federal Trade Commission to more than 20 search engine companies making clear that they must distinguish paid from unpaid listings. The update to the 2002 published guidance urges companies to make a strong distinction for all forms of advertising, including product listing ads and search in Facebook or other social sites.

Social media posts and search queries follow similar patterns during real-time events, but activities connected to the former tend to lead the latter by as much as 4.3 hours, providing enough time for search engines to index and process relevant content, according to Microsoft Research and Stanford University researchers. It turns out that lag in time benefits search marketers because it gives people the opportunity to process the event before taking action or interacting with the related content.

June, July and August are known for vacations, outdoor activities -- and, yes, weddings -- but marketers need to capitalize on the seasons, whether summer, fall, winter or spring. Events that occur during certain months can support marketing strategies for related industries, too. Here's why.

The top Google listing in organic search results receives 32.5% of the traffic, compared with 17.6% for the second positio and 11.4% for No. 3, according to a report. The traffic drops from there.

Search engines remain the top tool for finding search engines, but a new strategy has emerged based on discovery, according to research from Forrester Research. In fact, 54% of U.S. online adults found Web sites through organic search queries -- up from 50% in the prior year, but down from 61% in 2010. Paid-search ads also continue to grow in popularity to bridge the link between engines and Web sites.

Local search continues to be the focus of engines looking to capture market share. Blekko and Yandex launched mobile browsing features Tuesday that serve up information on nearby businesses.

Google scientists believe hot air balloons can lead to a truly connected worldwide Web. The latest project from X lab, which brought us projects like Google Glass, uses balloons to connect people to the Internet without access. The company said the balloons are not visible without a telescope in the sky. They would fly in the stratosphere, higher than commercial airplanes.