Data became a hot topic Thursday. The IRS traced stolen tax data to Russian cyber criminals. Salesforce teamed with Google to bring more data to its analytics cloud. Google announced new privacy provisions for users to protect data. No wonder that the data market will skyrocket this year, taking along with it search-based data platforms and analytics, according to research.

Deep-linking will eventually allow people to search across every connected device -- not just across the Web. More than finding information within an app on a smartphone, the technology will turn the link structure into a local area network, making it possible to search and discover content across any linked device. It also will enable marketers to use the data for ad targeting. Think peer-to-peer network. Here's how.

Google's search advertising platform AdWords does not drive mobile app installs as effectively as users may expect. A recent study that evaluates performance networks and media ranks Google's advertising platform at No. 4 when it comes to volume and retention quality, behind some unlikely players.

Nearby has become the buzzword for hyperlocal search advertising. What -- and where -- is the closest Italian restaurant? How far to the next Chevron gas station? Where can I get a cup of coffee? Several companies are working to perfect local search. One in particular extended its product line with an advertising platform that gives local businesses a way to reach into mobile apps and dynamically serve advertisements.

Hello from Wyoming. I gained firsthand insight into Google's plan to give businesses in rural American towns help in setting up and running Web sites, but the Mountain View, Calif. company may be losing out to Facebook, which has attracted consumers who don't frequent the Internet, text friends to keep in touch, or use email. They do use the social site to communicate with neighbors and friends.

Search engines Google and Bing have been known to forecast trends, and the outcome of sporting events, even presidential elections, but recently a U.K.-headquartered search agency took on the challenge. Mavens of London tapped into the latest search data using Google AdWords to update its research on the changing patterns in the U.K.'s political parties. Prior to the vote, Mavens aimed to predict an accurate number of seats won by each party in the latest election.

Since product support influences sales, OwnerIQ may have some data that search marketers should see. The company's site, ManualsOnline, maintains manuals for 650,000 products from hundreds of top brands. Consumers who are looking for more information about a product but can't find that darn manual can go there. The data provides insight into what consumers search for online. The company also white labels the service, enabling more than 50 online retailers to easily add details from manuals to their product pages -- and recently revamped its mobile site to support consumers looking for manual information in the stores and on …

Facebook recently published a study in the journal "Science" exploring what Americans see in News Feed, and whether "echo chambers," defined as silos of information that people see from like-minded individuals, provide a narrow-minded view of the news. The study, Exposure to Diverse Information on Facebook, analyzes how more than 10 million Americans navigate the site to read socially shared news and entertainment. And while the study works on exploring one point, the algorithms that do the heavy lifting prove another.

Barbecues, ribs, backyards, and beach balls in the sun -- having fun with friends and family. It may sound cliched, but that's what comes to mind around Memorial Day. I'm searching for the best price on steaks, fish and chicken, places to go, and sales and bargains. So are others. In fact, the volume of searches related to Memorial Day in the past year reached more than 3 million, compared to Labor Day, which came in at 951,355. In April this year, searches rose to 4.3 million, up from nearly 2 million in March 2015.

Chinese search engine Baidu has built a "supercomputer" that it says is more powerful than a system used by Google and Microsoft. The Chinese search engine calls the computer Minwa, which it believes will raise the bar for artificial intelligence. For the nerd out there, it has 72 powerful processors, and 144 graphics processors or high-performance specialized chips typically used to support visual data.