Janel Landis Laravie, co-founder of Chacka Marketing, notes that one of the advantages of search marketing over other online channels like social media is that it isn't perceived as advertising, at least in the (annoying) way that other advertising is. Part of that, she explains, is because it's delivered in the context of an active attempt at problem-solving, and therefore seen as part of the solution.  I'd add that, as text next to text, it's also less visually and cognitively disruptive than TV advertising or even display advertising on social media platforms.

Fewer than one out of three mobile advertisers is making an effective use of mobile as a marketing medium, at least insofar as mobile search marketing is concerned, according to Google's Michael Slinger, who estimated that 25%-30% are "doing a good job." 

15% of all search queries for financial services are made on a mobile device, according to Google's Michael Slinger. Although he is limited to citing specific figures from specific sub-verticals, he also hinted that overall it would be safe to assume that 15% to 20% of all searches are now made on mobile devices.

Reflecting the growing importance of mobile search to consumers and also to Google's product line, the search giant is introducing a new "bid multiplying" feature for advertisers that helps them boost their mobile search marketing to reach consumers within a certain defined radius of a particular business.

Google is taking its compulsive mapping of the universe to the next level with indoor maps, which are optimized for mobile devices and are ideal for, for example, navigating malls. Slinger says the indoor maps don't carry advertising yet, but it's not hard to imagine that coming in the near future. From the user perspective, if their indoor maps can help me figure out how to get out of Las Vegas casinos, I'm sold.

Two great anecdotes from Michael Slinger of Google to start his presentation at the Search Insider Summit on Friday morning.  First: several months ago his wife took their two young children to Disneyland.  At one point she ducked into a public payphone to make a call, prompting her six-year-old to ask: "What is that? What is that thing?" because he'd never seen one used. When Slinger told a colleague the story, she responded with the second anecdote: her two and four-year-olds go up to her big-screen TV and touch the screen to try to slide-navigate because they are so used to …

Bing and Yahoo are enabling search marketers to target audiences (and "personas") according to Russ Mann, co-founder and CEO of Covario, who said he's looking forward to this as well as the rise of intent-based search marketing enabled by Adchemy.

from panelists on George Michie's panel discussion of measuring value of paid search: "I'd rather be directionally correct than precisely wrong." "I don't want to spend a nickel to figure out which pocket the dime goes in."

Search marketers should identify both primary and secondary measurement goals, according to George Popstefanov, founder of PMG, in recognition of the fact that search marketing and social media data are increasingly overlapping and interconnected.  Search marketing results are probably still going to be the primary measurement goal, but search marketers have to be aware of (and competent to measure) impacts of search on social media and vice versa.

Craig Berdie, search marketing manager for interactive marketing  for 3M corporate marketing, is looking forward to expanding the company's overseas business with SEO and SEM; Joe Byrne, director of global operations for BabyCenter, agrees that international growth is the big story of 2012.