On its Public Policy Blog, Google responded to a series of claims Microsoft made about the company and its new privacy policy, and search marketers might want take note as this back-and-forth could be a power play for users in light of the search giant's controversial updates. Brafton highlighted the adjustments to Google's privacy policy recently. Essentially, Google has unified ... [more]

A report from Sophos Security found that 51.29 percent of 4,110 Facebook users included in a recent poll said Timeline "worries" them. This contrasts starkly with the 7.96 percent that said they genuinely like the new default profile setting, and social media marketers will have to wait and see whether Timeline concerns drive social users away from the site. Facebook Timeline was ... [more]

In response to Google's new privacy policy, the Washington Post recently conducted an informal poll of its web readers to gauge their feelings toward the shift and their futures with the company's services. At press time, 16,325 people had taken the poll and 65 percent said they would cancel their account with the company due to the new policy, set to take effect on March 1. The ... [more]

Google recently announced it updated its privacy policy for users, covering most of its products (or services) with a streamlined policy about data collection. This is part of the company's push toward creating an integrated search, social, email and overall web experience customized to individual users. The update brings targeted marketing implications businesses may like - but ... [more]

Marketers might like the potential for their Google+ pages to be promoted on SERPs thanks to Google's recent social search updates, but some think this gives Google+ too much dominance over other social marketing efforts. "Focus on the User," a service from engineers from Facebook and Twitter along with other social networks, is a project aimed at forcing Google to integrate social ... [more]

A new ad campaign from Bing seems aimed at attracting a younger, more active audience, labeling the Microsoft-owned search portal as the engine for "#Doing." Search marketers might want to see whether the initiative brings more users to Bing ... or if it garners attention without shifting the market as the company's earlier Facebook ads did. The campaign features results for a ... [more]

The Google Operating System blog recently reported that those looking to create accounts on any Google service must also make a Google+ account as the company continues to integrate all of its services into one platform. For marketers considering the platform for social media marketing, the fact that all new Gmail or Picasa users will have Google+ accounts may provide a strong impetus ... [more]

Google's Alex Chitu recently reported that search users can now include special characters, including punctuation marks, mathematical symbols and others, in their queries. According to Chitu, the changes have little effect on the results a page would yield, but providing the capability simply makes the search experience simpler for users. Chitu said that the main reason Google ... [more]

Businesses using PPC as part of their web marketing campaigns saw click rates increase and overall cost per click rates decrease in the fourth quarter of 2011, Google reported on Thursday. As part of its quarterly earnings report, Google said that paid clicks increased 34 percent compared to final three months of 2010 and 17 percent from the previous three months of 2011. CPC also ... [more]

Google announced Tuesday that it launched new features in Google AdWords to help marketers assess the effectiveness of their PPC campaigns in terms of reaching smartphone owners. Marketers can now select which PPC ads reach certain smartphone users, broken down by mobile operating system and the network type used to access the web. This will allow companies to push the ads toward ... [more]