Trust in paid online and mobile ads has remained relatively consistent since 2013. Some 48% of respondents to a global survey from Nielsen say they completely or somewhat trust online video advertisements, but ads served in search engine results fell 1% to 47% in the past two years.

Remember the Gmail address you gave the clerk during checkout when making a purchase at Anthropologie, Bloomingdale's, or Williams-Sonoma? What about when financial institutions like Bank of America ask whether you want an email, printed receipt or both after each transaction? The reasoning for why you gave up that personal piece of information made you feel green. Not printing a receipt saves one more tree branch. Rids the world of one more piece of paper to decompose in a compost pile. Ah, but Google and brands had something else in mind.

Retailers are hiring for the holidays, but how many actually take paid-search practitioners into consideration when determining the cost? Not many, likely. What does it cost a company to hire talent?

Some 44% of travelers search the Web to get product information and reviews on their smartphone, whereas 35% do the same on their tablets, according to a white paper. I start travel searches on my laptop and transition to a smartphone when on the road, making purchases on the iPhone when necessary. The white paper takes marketers through cross-media campaigns.

What ranks a business higher in organic local search results, and what are the negative ranking factors that drive down results? One thing is certain -- behavioral signals continue to increase in importance on mobile. Mobile signals now make up 9.5% of the algorithm across the local query results in 2015, up from 6.9% during the same time last year, according to research released Thursday.

Generating high-quality leads for 59% of B2B marketers participating in a recent survey remains the No. 1 challenge many B2B marketers face. The challenge will prompt about 68% to make lead quality as their No. 1 priority this year, followed by increasing lead volume at 55%, and measuring the impact at 41%. A study analyzes the challenges, strategies, and tools they use.

While standing in the checkout line at Whole Foods last week I overheard a conversation between the woman in front of me and the gentleman clerk at the cash register. "I sometimes get emails from grocery stores for discounts on products that I always use, but I don't understand how they know I need these items," she says to the store clerk. He replies, "You don't know the half of it."

Radio and broadcast television still have value in reaching consumers, especially when paired with search engine marketing. I can think of several successful campaigns combining TV and search, such as Geico, Whirlpool and Maytag, and Dish Networks. These brands continue to create some of my favorites.

Consumers will engage more with image-based shopping advertisements this holiday season, encouraging marketers to invest at least 30% of all retail paid-search spend on image ads, according to one prediction.

Images in search engine query results will teach marketers to change their thinking that only the No. 1 position in search results returns higher clicks and conversions. When a search includes an image, it captures far more user attention.