Here's a look at top internet marketing news stories for the week of November 12.

This week, longstanding feuds between Facebook and Google came to a head. The search giant and social giant made headlines for their bitter battles, as well as for new and coming developments. Here's a look at these and other top internet marketing news stories for the week of November 12.

Toward the beginning of the week, Google launched Instant Previews. As Brafton reported, the feature allows users to scroll over a magnifying glass next to results so they can determine the relevancy of content before granting sites clicks. The need for content quality and relevancy also became apparent when news broke that "spam-free" startup search engine Blekko is now averaging 1 million queries per day.

Other search engines did not fare as well this week. Yahoo is reportedly preparing for major layoffs, and the struggling AOL seems to be discussing a merger with Yahoo – which could prove complicated for Bing and Google.

Google also made headlines for what appeared to be a continuous scroll feature for search results that users liked. Its YouTube property was another frequent discussion topic among online marketers this week. Users reportedly now upload more than 35 hours of content per minute to Google's social video platform, and Brafton also covered its new Topics on Search feature that raises the stakes for video SEO. Plus, Google announced that Google Product Listing Ads are now open to all marketers, providing a new display unit for brands.

Display advertising generated a lot of online buzz this week when comScore released a report showing that display ad impressions increased 22 percent year-over-year during Q3 2010. As Brafton reported, Facebook appears to be driving the majority of display ad growth – perhaps giving Google a run for its money.

Facebook and Google didn't do battle over display ads, but they did have very public confrontations over email accounts. Brafton covered the drama over whether or not Gmail users could (or should) share account information with Facebook. Ultimately, the search giant will not prohibit Gmail info-sharing on the social site, but it does issue users a strongly-worded warning against doing so. Facebook's subsequent event announcement for Monday has left many to wonder if the social platform will soon make its own inbox offering.

Whether or not Facebook develops its own social webmail, it stands to become a bigger part of internet users' search experience thanks to the launch of a new web browser, RockMelt. The browser requires a Facebook login, and it offers users easy social sharing options, which content marketers may like.

Marketers also discussed social and search developments this week at PubCon Las Vegas. Search Engine Land offers a nice roundup of the events of the conference.

Looking ahead to next week, the internet marketing community will be waiting to see if "Google killer" Blekko maintains searchers' interests, and they'll await Facebook's big announcement. Stay tuned! 

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.