Google announced that it is now making sure that ads linking to mobile app downloads automatically appear only on devices that actually offer those apps. In addition, the ads will display a "download" link rather than a URL. "Simply include 'itunes.apple.com/' or 'market.android.com/' followed by the app name in the ad's visible URL, and it will automatically display as 'Download iPhone App' or 'Download Android App,'" says Katrina Kurnit of Google's Inside AdWords crew.

by Mike Krumboltz Yesterday, Scott Brown pulled off a tremendous political upset . The Massachusetts Republican beat out Democrat Martha Coakley for the Senate seat left vacant by the late Democrat Ted Kennedy. On this, the day after Brown's improbable victory, the Web searches are pouring in on everything from Sen. Brown's victory speech to his daughter's Hollywood aspirations to his humorous defense of pickup trucks. The victory speech He may be a United States senator,

Americans who use the Internet are more likely to continue active job searches and less likely to drop out of the labor force than those without Internet access, especially among those who user broadband services, according to a new study by the Phoenix Center. The study found broadband Internet users are at east 50 percent less likely to give up on job searches because of discouragement than those who do not use the Internet.

The White House has announced the release of the official White House iPhone app , as well as a plan to launch a mobile version of WhiteHouse.gov . With the app, iPhone and iPod touch users can access content from WhiteHouse.gov. Content that is accessible includes live video streaming of events such as the President's upcoming State of the Union address scheduled for next Wednesday. Also accessible via the app are the White House blog and briefing room site .

Nobody has a crystal ball that can predict ad performance in the future, but with real data you can make intelligent predictions and calculated decisions about how you spend your ad dollars. When we created the Advertising Intelligence tool, we realized your valid fear of the" black box"; we tried to be sensitive to the fact that many of you may have been burned before by bidding blind on content ad networks. With that in mind,

Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr By now, everyone knows that Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in yesterday's special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in the U.S. Senate. With 100 percent of the precincts in Massachusetts reporting, Brown won 51.9 percent of the vote to Coakley's 47.1 percent. Independent Joseph L. Kennedy received 1 percent. What isn't as well known is that Brown trounced Coakley on YouTube, too. As of last night,

From a marketing and a public relations standpoint this tool is brilliant. Rand just put up a full in-depth review here . In the past I have not been a fan of certain outing policies, but of late I have seen that practice has went away...and if it stays that way how could I not recommend the above tool? Sometimes it is hard to appreciate how spoiled we are as SEOs with cheap to free keyword data, cheap to free great link data,

Today Facebook announced that it is giving users the option to receive updates from Facebook applications in their email. This would work similar to how email notifications do, but don't worry, you have to opt in for developers to be able to email you. According to Facebook, they will not be able to access your email address without your consent. "You can now use the rules and routing mechanisms of your email inbox to control how you communicate with applications,

If you're not happy with your Twitter username - or if you are, but don't love Twitter and haven't logged in for a while - listen up. The usernames attached to inactive accounts may soon be made available for the taking. In fact, the release of idle usernames is almost sure to occur. The cutoff regarding inactivity has probably been set, too - Martin Bryant found a policy referring to the automatic removal of accounts after six months.

We are very excited to let all of the Search Engine Optimization Journal readers know that I along with my SEO company, Brick Marketing will be presenting a full day SEO training workshop scheduled for April 21, 2010. The full day SEO training will be held at the Brick Marketing training office at 101 Federal Street in downtown Boston, MA. This day long SEO workshop is being taught by Brick Marketing president and SEO Expert, Nick Stamoulis.