Google, which launched Academy for Ads, and NetElixir, which launched Ask the Experts, have decided to teach search newbies a thing or two. Both have launched separate educational programs to help those just starting out in search advertising or marketing, as well as those who need a refresher on advanced skills.

Target, Wal-Mart, and JC Penney in aggregate spent more than $33 million in paid-search ads and another $9 million on product listing ads between October and December 2015. Also on that list of heavy spenders are Macy's, Best Buy, Kohl's, Sears, Zappos, Apple, and Nordstrom.

Gary Illyes, who works on ranking and various SEO policies and processes at Google, confirmed that the real-time spam algorithm Penguin 4.0 has completely rolled out. The algorithm was introduced by Google in April 2012 to deal with link quality.

Finding a Halloween costume for the kids seems like the least important event as we head into what feels like the most volatile U.S. presidential election year in history. Nonetheless, here's a little Halloween paid-search trivia to briefly take your mind off politics.

Search marketers know how to read between the lines connecting keywords with interests, but when it comes to specific categories, it may prove a bit more difficult to make that connection. While machine learning can aid in the quest to increase the accuracy of targeted ads.

Google has hired a team of writers from Pixar and The Onion who helped make Google Assistant, which powers its Home device, sound more human.

The amount of content and the demand for attention from brands continues to rise. The biggest issue is that just 5% of that branded content garners 90% of total consumer engagements.

Google dominates the first-page U.S. search layout with Knowledge Graph, Carousels, Shopping Ads, Map and other media that continue to impact brand. A study released Thursday provides marketers with tips and alternative strategies to target content.

Bing's strategy to get more advertisers to run paid-search and shopping campaigns across its network of sites seems to be working. The search engine has been running a page on its domain asking advertisers what type of functions they want to see next. Marketers suggest the feature and others vote on it.

Search experts try to answer questions like "which page do you think ranks better in search engine query results" or "what change in the copy or extra link can cause an actual reordering of a specific ranking." Interesting questions, indeed, but here's what happens when non-SEO experts also try to answer those questions.