Does Google hate affiliate marketers? ‘Hate’ may be a little extreme but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Google doesn’t want websites and web pages in its search engine index that it believes add no value to – or junk up – its search results. Unfortunately for many affiliate marketers, Google interprets many affiliate sites as doing exactly that.

Affiliate marketers have long suspected Google’s ire towards them, whether as a result of seeing their sites removed from Google’s index or of having to pay exorbitant pay-per-click costs to advertise in Google Adwords. Recently, a proprietary Google document surfaced on the Internet and in affiliate marketing circles that put all such doubts to rest. The document – which Google has subsequently sought to remove from those who have published it – indicates that Google distrusts, devalues and may even de-index websites that do little more than promote affiliate products or services.

By 2013, social network advertising revenues will reach $10 billion worldwide, up from $5.54 billion this year, according to eMarketer. Facebook is set to grab the lion’s share of those revenues, with Facebook’s ad sales expected to climb from $3.8 billion this year to $7 billion in 2013 (70 percent of the total).

Twitter’s ad sales are expected to rise from $139.5 million in 2011 to $399.5 million in 2013. LinkedIn will also see impressive ad revenue gains. eMarketer expects LinkedIn’s ad sales to grow from $140.8 million this year to $249.6 million in 2013.

Research In Motion’s (RIM’s) BlackBerry is doomed… and Apple’s iPhone will be relegated to runner-up… while Google’s Android operating system is set to become the market leading smartphone operating system. Well, that’s if eMarketer’s research is correct.

According to eMarketer, the end of 2011 will see the iPhone lose its market share leadership. At the same time, Android will end up installed on 37 percent of all smartphone handsets in the United States, a 13 percent increase since 2010.

Research from Slingshot SEO indicates that the top spot on the organic listings on Google gets 18.2 percent of all click-throughs, while the second spot gets 10.05 percent and the third position gets 7.22 percent.

Diverging from a recent study by Optify which indicates that the top spot yields 36.4 percent of clicks (http://www.kikabink.com/news/top-spot-on-google-gets-36-percent-of-clicks/) – Slingshot SEO’s ‘Mission ImposSERPble: Establishing Google Click-Through Rates’ research is based on a 6 month study.

Daily deal sites promise consumers great deals from local businesses. And they promise local businesses the chance to reach new customers and attract repeat business. It’s a win-win, right?

Well, it’s only a ‘win’ for local businesses if daily deal sites do, in fact, generate repeat business. Yet, the research seems to be mixed when it comes to how effective they are in attracting repeat customers.

For example, a June 2011 MerchantCircle survey found that while 58 percent of small businesses offered daily deals to acquire customers, 42.4 percent wouldn’t do so again because their efforts did not result in customer acquisition.

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has slammed plans by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to allow just about any word to become a top-level domain (TLD).

The ANA has written to the president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Rod Beckstrom, flagging major flaws in the new TLD program.

Website and domain name auction site, Flippa, has released its inaugural State of the Website Economy report, focusing on domain names.

Among the interesting findings of Flippa’s State of the Website Economy July 2011 are that websites and domain names with .com domain extensions have a 124 percent greater chance of selling on Flippa than .co domains, and that dashes in a domain name reduce the average sales price by 26 percent.

U.S. based Consumer Watchdog has asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate eight (8) online advertising companies for violating their privacy policies regarding online tracking. Furthermore, according to Consumer Watchdog, the companies’ deceptive behavior means that self-regulation of online privacy and behavioral advertising isn’t working.

According to Consumer Watchdog, the companies – 24/7 Real Media, Adconion, AudienceScience, Netmining, Undertone, Vibrant Media, Wall Street on Demand and TARGUSinfo Advisor – are all members of the self-regulatory Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). Yet, based on a recent study, all violated their stated policy of not tracking consumers who opt out of receiving ads based on their online activity.

According to Ryan Beldham, founder of MyWebRevolution.com, Google is a monopoly. In this interview, I asked Ryan why he thinks Google is a monopoly and what he thinks should be done about it. As a libertarian and fan of free markets I still think people are free to do business with Google or go elsewhere. What about you? Do you agree with Ryan? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

Anna: Why do you consider Google to be a monopoly?

Ryan: This is not an easy question to answer and is really the basis of my entire argument. But to try and sum it up, you must first know how to define a monopoly. I define it as a product or service that has exclusive control in its market space, and, must control the prices set in that market. It is important to note that this is a two-fold definition and gives a set of criteria for determining what a monopoly is.

Is the online casino industry consolidating? Or is CasinoRewards.com gambling on its acquisition of no less than seven (7) online casinos? (I couldn’t resist the pun).

CasinoRewards.com has just announced the acquisition of GrandHotelCasino.com, LuxuryCasino.com, ColosseumCasino.com, VegasSlotCasino.com, Vegas7Casino.com, VegasCountryCasino.com and VegasJokerCasino.com. The acquisitions bring CasinoRewards.com’s portfolio of online gambling websites to a total of 32 brands.