A lack of time and resources will keep marketers from targeting their best customers during this holiday season, per a study released Thursday. Some 69% of marketers in South America compared with 59% in North America and 49% in EMEA said they will target their best customers this holiday season, but not without a bit of difficulty. About 39% of global marketers say they lack the time and the resources to target their best customers, and 14% of North American marketers claim the same limitations. One in five of the marketers in the survey report an inability to identify their …

Search engine optimization professionals need to start thinking about how search technology will navigate devices linked into the Internet of Things. It's not easy when for the past 20 years professionals have focused solely on pages and advertising serving up on engines and Web sites. The future of search resides in automatic identification through beacons, sensors, global positioning systems and other types of technology that push information rather than pull.

The time consumers spend on mobile devices continues to drive up the number of mobile searches carried out daily around the world. Mobile searches rely on different functions and technology, such as GPS, and are strongly influenced by features like voice or image search. Visual plays a huge role in mobile search, per BloomReach.

Search intent can tell us so many things. It can provide insight into future purchases, as well as the characteristics of consumer behavior. University of Kentucky researchers published a paper titled "Characteristics of Bitcoin Users: An Analysis of Google Search Data," which examines the characteristics of U.S. bitcoin users based on an analysis of Google search data.

A feature in the Neiman Marcus mobile app released Wednesday allows consumers to snap a photo, search for a similar item, and purchase it. The technology matches photos to help consumers connect with that must-have handbag or shoes.

Search marketers craft paid-search ads and optimize organic listings that provide consumers with the answer to questions they seek, but they must take the complete purchase funnel into consideration. While IBM predicts a record year for online and mobile commerce, a study from Visual Website Optimizer finds some obstacles along this path.

Social commerce continues to evolve as a way to augment search engine marketing campaigns. While the data stands on its own, it also integrates well into SEM ad targeting and remarketing platforms. In fact a study released Tuesday notes a 60% year-over-year increase in revenue originating from social sites. Discoverability on Pinterest, Polyvore, Houzz, and Wanelo becomes increasingly important as brands follow consumers to sites where they search for information about products they want to buy.

One of the biggest problems content marketers have is the inability to determine return on investment. They want to make content, but they don't know the worth. Content may earn Facebook Likes or shares or Twitter tweets, but do people who read the tweets buy the items? One company has built a method it calls content attribution.

Adding descriptions or text to images in social sites like Pinterest provides detail, allowing a brand's data feed to more closely match the intent of the consumer. In Pinterest, Rich Pins allows brands to serve ads based on product information such as real-time pricing, available stock, and direct links to the product page. That's what happens when a startup's investors with a background in search contribute to the direction of the company.