Image Credit: Barrera Search Marketing

Google recently updated its Display Network settings within the AdWords interface to report performance information at the keyword level, rather than at the AdGroup level as it did previously. Performance information includes everything from the number of clicks and impressions a keyword receives to the number of conversions it generates, and at which display position it performs best. For advertisers, this means optimization for keyword-targeted Contextual campaigns will be far more granular.

While it’s nearly impossible to predict the future of the ever changing web, many experts are expecting that combining social and search will be the next big trend.  Google has already established itself as the pioneer in this field by combining Google Search and Google+; however, Google isn’t the only web giant interested in bringing the two tactics together.  It is rumored that Facebook is developing a search engine that combines a user’s location and friends’ interests to provide search query results.

The Internet: love it or hate it, you probably spend a decent amount of time online both at work and at home. In 2010, comScore reported that the average American spent 32 hours per month on the Internet. With the vast amount of time we are spending (or wasting) online, wouldn’t it be nice to be rewarded for your browsing efforts? This wish has been granted thanks to Google’s latest venture: Screenwise Trends.

The Wall Street Journal recently announced that Google will be undergoing a big change. The search giant plans to do a large re-fresh of its algorithm to include “semantic search” technology.  The support system will be Google’s Knowledge Graph and the change is expected to take effect in the next couple of months.

The overall goal of the refresh will be to provide users with direct answers to a search query by understanding the actual meaning of the words, which is generated through an understanding of the association between words used. Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive, said the update will allow Google search to more closely replicate “how humans understand the world.”

This is nothing entirely new, as Google has performed similar updates in the past. Google’s primary goal seems to be to maintain their lead ahead of Bing and catch up to Apple’s Siri voice-activated mobile search. Singhal said, “Let me just say that every day, we’re improving our ability to give you the best answers to your questions as quickly as possible, so stay tuned for updates on what will continue to be a long road ahead.”

There has been much discussion lately surrounding Internet piracy as a result of Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Long before the creation of this act, Google made four promises to help fight online piracy in a 2010 blog post titled, “Making Copyright Work Better Online.” Recently, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a report card lecturing Google on not following through with several of its promises. The report card, which gives Google an overall “incomplete” grade, also makes the bold request for Google to “stop making money from digital theft.”

Here is a quick look at the RIAA’s follow up to each of Google’s promises.