Last year, WebProNews reported that, based on an interview with Google’s spokesman Matt Cutts, page speed could become a factor in how Google ranks search results.

In a recent video, however, Matt Cutts has indicated that page speed – i.e. how fast a webpage loads – is inconsequential in determining rankings and that relevance is still by far the most important factor.

Looking for a tool to help you find out if someone is breaching your copyright (i.e. in your ebooks, music, images, etc)? Well, MiMTiD Corp has launched its MiMTiD Copyright Infringement Search web application to help copyright owners identify and take action against copyright infringers.

MiMTiD Copyright Infringement Search lets you search for and locate infringed content and submit Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take down notices to infringing sites and search engines.

The software includes copyright infringement search, DMCA take down notice submission, management and tracking features.

According to Silverpop’s 2009 International Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study the average email click-through rate or CTR is 4.5 percent and the median is 2.4 percent.

Silverpop examined 7,000 emails sent in July 2009, ranging from promotional emails to email newsletters across a range of industries, in order to calculate benchmarks for the click-through rate (CTR), click-to-open rate (CTOR), and clicks-per-clicker.

What are the most expensive keywords on Google, Yahoo and Bing? Here are the 10 most expensive keywords in each search engine based on AdGooroo’s fourth quarter 2009 analysis:

Google Keyword Max CPC ($):

1. mesothelimoa 99.44
2. buy structured settlements 79.01
3. asbestos law suits 78.10
4. conference calling companies 75.29
5. annuity loans 72.82
6. pop up display booths 72.53
7. purchasing structured settlement 68.79
8. student loan debt consolidation 68.54
9. asbestos law firm 67.97
10. secured loans 67.57

Yahoo! Keyword Max CPC ($):

1. lloyds tsb insurance 53.44
2. scotttrade 45.27
3. loyds insurance 44.58
4. love film 40.20
5. sprint plans 34.02
6. overnightprints 32.85
7. natwest car insurance 32.84
8. northern tools 32.61
9. ticketsnow.com 30.29
10. adt home security 29.78

Bing Keyword Max CPC ($):

1. low apr student credit card 54.24
2. accounting degrees 54.04
3. student credit card application 51.39
4. health and dental insurance 50.15
5. online criminal justice degrees 48.57
6. compare credit card rates 48.51
7. free auto insurance quote 46.02
8. credit card offer online 45.77
9. online car insurance 45.57
10. online masters degrees 44.07

Source: AdGooroo, “Search Engine Advertising Update – Q409″, AdGooroo, January 19, 2010

According to AdSafe Media, 29 percent of traffic exposed to display advertisements in the fourth quarter of 2009 was on sites featuring user generated content (UGC), 27 percent of which was inappropriate for brand advertisers.

For the final quarter of 2009, AdSafe Media’s AdSafe Safety Index was 814 out of 1,000 – a relatively high score indicating that, overall, display ads were matched to appropriate content. Indeed, AdSafe found that traffic non-transparency decreased from 58 percent to 18 percent of display ad inventory during the period.

When it comes to selecting match types for the keywords in your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, a common question is when and whether to use ‘broad match’, ‘phrase match’ and ‘exact match’ for your keywords.

You will generally get more traffic and lower-costing clicks for broad match keywords, and the least volume of traffic and higher-costing clicks for exact match terms (with phrase match in between).

Silverpop’s 2009 International Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study provides some interesting open rate and clickthrough rate (CTR) benchmarks.

SilverPop examined 7,000 email messages generated by its clients in July 2009. The emails, which were sent by companies in a variety of industries, ranged from promotional emails to content-based newsletters.

The 2009 Sloan Survey of Online Learning reveals that, in 2009, enrollment in online courses in the United States rose by nearly 17 percent over 2008.

The survey of more than 2,500 U.S. colleges and universities found that approximately 4.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in the autumn of 2009, the most recent term for which figures were available.

Apple.com, followed by Amazon, were the top two most visited online retail sites by Australians in December 2009.

In fact, according to to comScore, 5 out of the top 10 online retailers visited by Australians during the Christmas shopping season were U.S. sites.

Bad behavior by Internet marketers will likely lead to regulation of Internet marketing in North America, Europe and possibly other continents, according to a recent report by Gartner.

Gartner’s report, ‘Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance’, asserts that the Internet has the most potential of any channel to annoy the most customers, the most frequently.