Last week the US Department of Justice and European Commission sanctioned Yahoo!’s...

The medium of social media marketing is evolving at "warp speed", according to one sector commentator - prompting more businesses to experiment with doing more with it.

Rebecca Lieb, in a post for Econsultancy, states in many cases this trend is occurring even when the marketers do not fully understand what they are doing or how to measure the return on investment as a result of social media.

Rather than email dying off, it is becoming the "glue" of social media marketing, one sector commentator has claimed.

In a blog for Econsultancy, Chris Lake comments on recent research by Gartner which suggested email is going through a "bleak" time as more business users turn to social media networks for their correspondence.

While businesses may be keen to attract potential customers to their website through online promotional techniques such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click or social media marketing, they should also ensure the content is user-friendly.

Such a goal should be just as much a priority as driving consumers to the site in the first place, with Search Engine Watch's Mark Jackson noting there are a number of tips that can make a site more accessible to customers.

It’s true you can now go anywhere you want at the swipe of your finger after Google Earth became available on Android 2.1. It also exemplifies the closing gap between what you can do on a desktop and what you can do on your phone.

When it comes to succeeding in search engine optimisation (SEO) it is the number of quality and relevant websites which link to a business's content that is the "main factor", one sector commentator has claimed.

Sam Tilston, marketing director of Memorybits.co.uk, gave the example of a website selling watches which would need to make sure there were a lot of high authority, watch-related sites linking to theirs in support of his comments.

Businesses which use social media marketing to reach their current customers and attract new ones may be interested to know the medium is also offering a voice to these consumers, where one did not exist before.

Such is the assertion of Geoff Galat, vice-president of worldwide marketing for Tealeaf, who said firms which operate online are likely to be faced with the challenge of meeting the rising expectations of their customers.

The key to making social media marketing a success lies in ensuring the content used is unique, valuable and interactive, one sector commentator has claimed.

And businesses planning a social media marketing campaign may wish to consider starting with Facebook, which, according to Tech Crunch, is the favourite online channel when it comes to sharing content.

Microsoft will soon begin offering a Web Browser Choice Screen to European Internet Explorer users, as required by the European Commission, the software manufacturer has announced on its blog.

Today (February 22nd) will see a limited roll-out externally, ahead of a full-scale roll-out in early March, in news which may interest businesses working on a search engine optimisation campaign.

More businesses may be turning to Twitter for social media marketing purposes, with new research revealing the number of unique visitors to the micro-blogging site has increased.

Data from comScore shows the number of unique visitors to Twitter increased from 21.25 million in December to a record high of 21.79 million in January.

MySpace has announced that updates have now been integrated into Google's universal search - news that may interest businesses working on a social media marketing campaign.

Live updates which will be available on Google's search include visual content, while the results will be ranked through search engine optimisation (SEO) based on how relevant or fresh they are.

Many of the world's largest and most successful businesses are "clueless" when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO), a new study has found.

According to research compiled by Conductor for its report Natural Search Trends of the Fortune 500, such firms are failing when it comes to organic search techniques, despite spending millions on pay per click.

Google's Webmaster Central is critical when it comes to making a success of search engine optimisation (SEO), one sector commentator has claimed.

John Greer, in an article for Search Engine Watch, advises businesses they need to get to grips with it before they embark on an SEO campaign if they wish the marketing plan to be a success.

In recent months, Google has made a variety of changes which has seen its search results become more personal to the viewer, but one sector commentator has asked how does this effect search engine optimisation (SEO)?

Searchers can now see results in their rankings such as the latest social media updates from friends and family, but Dr Pete, in a post for SEOmoz, suggests this may complicate rankings as users could all be seeing something different.

Day-to-day account management in AdWords has just got slicker. The introduction of a new analysis toolbar in the Campaigns tab now gives you quicker access to existing data as well as making new data available. What’s more, all of this is now only a single click away!

In order to make a success of digital assets, businesses have been urged to ensure they are using their digital assets to the best of their ability.

Herndon Hasty, in a post for the Search Engine Watch blog, explains for retail sites in particular, the "granddaddy of all digital assets" will be images, as these are one of the best ways of visualising what the products on sale look like.

Businesses may wish to consider offering a giveaway in order to attract customers and build links through search engine optimisation (SEO) following the comments of one sector commentator.

Rob Ousbey, writing for the SEOmoz blog, says when executed correctly, a free giveaway is one of the "very few tactics" which could guarantee success on link-building.

Google have once again managed to create a, err, buzz about their latest product...

Businesses using social media marketing, pay per click or search engine optimisation as part of a promotional campaign may also wish to consider offline marketing techniques.

A recent study by iProspect has revealed 40 per cent of online searchers have announced they were influenced in their buying decisions by an offline channel.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is becoming more in-tune with mobile search after Google Adwords launched their click-to-call (CTC) feature.

When it comes to social media marketing, UK retailers may be missing out, with new research revealing only a quarter of them are on Twitter.

According to dotCommerce's E-commerce Social Media Report, while 26 per cent have a Twitter account, only 24 per cent have a Facebook page.

Businesses which combine mobile advertising with online marketing schemes - such as pay per click or social media marketing - can significantly increase customer awareness of their brand, it has been revealed.

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, the click-through rate online was 150 per cent higher among people who had been exposed to - and recalled – a given mobile ad.

Firms planning a social media marketing strategy in order to boost their online presence may be interested to learn Google has trolled out its own networking utility entitled Buzz.

Features of the new service include status updates, public and private content sharing and comments - and it will be integrated into the search engine firm's email service Gmail.

Over recent years, Google has significantly improved the relevance of its search engine optimisation (SEO) results through the introduction of universal search - and this year looks set to see a similar trend for pay per click (PPC) search, it has been claimed.

Alex Cohen, writing for Search Engine Watch, states universal search saw new content such as videos and product listings being integrated into SEO results.

While many businesses may have embarked on a search engine optimisation (SEO) or social media marketing campaign in order to attract custom, one sector commentator has warned hackers are using similar measures.

According to Panda Security, cyber-criminals are exploiting search engines and user-generated content in order to get to as many web users as possible.

Businesses should take care when embarking on a pay per click (PPC) campaign to review their keywords in order to get the best results, once they have successfully bid on the terms.

Jason Tabeling, in a post for Search Engine Watch, explains Google provides a standard report displaying the data available on how the terms are working but it is important to review and understand this information.

Paid search, including methods such as pay per click links, is set to grow over the next year, researchers have predicted.

Ed Stevenson, in a post for the e-consultancy blog, notes the price of keywords may prompt marketers to turn to new strategies to promote their business, while careful management, targeting and testing of keywords will also become a priority.

As social media marketing increases in popularity in terms of promotion, it has also been predicted such networking platforms are set to take over from internal email.

Indeed, by 2014, social networks will have replaced internal email for communication purposes in 20 per cent of business organisations, according to research from Gartner.

Each month, Google News sends around a billion "clicks" to the websites' of publishers across the globe, which may mean businesses wish to tap into the resource in order to improve their own search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts.

Indeed, Sam Niccolls, in a post for SEOmoz, said this fact makes Google's news rankings "an incredibly compelling" platform for sites which include contemporary content that is newsworthy.

A new research report has revealed companies are set to increase their budgets for digital marketing - which may include search engine optimisation, pay per click and social media marketing - this year.

According to the Marketing Budgets 2010 Report, in association with ExactTarget, businesses are set to increase their digital budgets by 17 per cent this year.

As social media marketing and networking increases in popularity, in the future much revenue will come from building social software platforms, one sector commentator has claimed.

Leon Benjamin, a social media practitioner, said currently many brands are not willing to develop and nurture relationships - particularly those with customers - as they do not have the available time or resources this takes.

While Google leads Microsoft when it comes to search engine popularity, Microsoft is leading the race for most popular web browser, in news which may be of interest to search engine optimisation marketers.

Internet Explorer 8 has become the world's most popular web browser, achieving more than its predecessors Explorer 6 and 7, according to NetMarketShare.

Businesses which use a domain name which closely matches an online user's keywords all glued together will find getting on the first page of search engine optimisation (SEO) results is like "fishing with dynamite".

Such is the assertion of Michael C, in a post for SEOmoz, who adds it is well known that Google favours domains names which contain one or more of the keywords being searched for when it comes to ranking.

Google Social Search has left Google Labs and is being rolled out on the company's various sites, the search engine group has announced.

This means when users now perform a search it will include updates from their social network contents, which may prompt businesses to consider social media marketing.

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Social media marketing and networks are continuing to drive advertising spend online, it has been claimed.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive at the Internet Advertising Bureau, said after Google, Facebook was the biggest site in the UK, while MySpace and Bebo were also popular, making social media "inescapable" for advertisers.