Once the "Wild West of the digital marketing frontier," marketers have become less afraid of mobile search and it shows in the lower cost per click and rising Alphabet profits.

Facebook will put a stronger emphasis on search services as it looks to earn a profit by connecting consumers with businesses and publishers.

Looking for a hotspot? Google Maps now highlights the service in a Web and app redesign that emphasizes key information and areas of interest at a glance.

SteelHouse, an advertising software company, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the Central District of California federal court accusing Criteo, a Paris-based retargeting company, of false advertising, intentional interference with contract, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and unfair competition.

When Verizon and Yahoo finally announced Monday morning they had made a deal, many of the secrets advertisers had been waiting to learn escaped like a tightly wound jack-in-the-box being released for the very first time. For example, with the leftover assets, the company will change its name at the close of the sale to Verizon.

"Hi, my name is [fill in the blank], and I now work at Verizon," said a Yahoo executive.

Publishers looking to increase traffic from search engines, specifically Google, should be very happy. SimilarWeb released numbers related to the top 20 media sites that saw an increase in site visits from organic search traffic in June. For some it looks pretty darn good.

Microsoft reported Tuesday that search revenue from Bing, excluding traffic acquisition costs, grew 16% -- driven by higher revenue per search and search query volume.

With the new hire, Paramount plans to launch a brand strategy division. Mall will report to Megan Colligan, Paramount's worldwide president of marketing and distribution, according to reports.

Searches and purchases on mobile devices continue to climb, per Google, but only about half of the devices in an Internet-connected home are mobile. While smartphones make up 37% of connected devices in the home, desktops comprise 28%; and tablets, 17%, according to the data.