Marriott International tracks thousands of branded keywords worldwide through The Search Monitor. The hotel chain sees about one million infringements monthly where someone is bidding on a brand term. Most of it comes from online travel agencies (OTAs), media search sites, affiliates, and some competitors. About two-thirds of clicks on branded terms are captive by Marriott, but the remainder is not.

Amazon also led in text ad clicks for keyword groups running on Google among top toy brands, with 12.5% click share, per separate data released Tuesday.

Few retailers other than Amazon, Macy's and Target promote holiday gifts cards in paid-search ads, sitelinks organic listings, or used as an incentive to promote a sale in a paid advertisement. Yet 88% of consumers are likely to purchase at least one gift card this holiday season, and 88% redeem a gift card within three months, according to a recent study.

For businesses without a way to measure conversions and optimize AdWords campaigns, Smart Goals powered by Google Analytics might give marketers a leg up. Google introduced the feature Thursday.

Predicting future events isn't easy, but Ken Burke, founder and CEO at MarketLive, outlines what he believes are the five most important developments taking shape in 2016 in ecommerce and mobile commerce related to search and affiliate marketing. Pay close attention to the word "merchandising," because it will become an important piece to search and affiliate marketing in 2016.

It's difficult to imagine another company assuming Yahoo's Web businesses. On Wednesday company officials did not commit to a sale, but would explore a reverse spinoff of Web properties such as search, email, media and advertising with the goal of making it more attractive to investors. This could mean a possible divestiture.

Search marketers and webmasters would not leave the door to their client's business unlocked, but research from SEC Consult found the door is wide open on millions of devices. In fact, three million routers, modems, and other devices across the Internet are vulnerable to being hijacked. In many cases hardware manufacturers and telecom carriers are not locking down the goods.

When you read "Ring in the New Year" as 2015 comes to a close, it won't always mean celebrating 2016. In this instance it's about the influx of mobile callers calling businesses directly and the results from pay per call on performance campaigns.

Give me a new experience. Show me innovation rather than a stale piece of bread that crumbles in my hand when held too tight. The $82 billion that eMarketer estimates brands will spend on search advertising in 2015 continues to rise. The analysis firm expects investments will reach $94 billion in 2016, but the industry's slight incremental process changes seem to have the inability to keep up with what consumers want online.

REI held to its promise of keeping retail stores closed on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. The outdoor sporting goods retailer not only kept physical stores closed, but held off of processing orders until Saturday.