USPS's Pulcrano on the challenge of sustainable postal operations

The success of a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign depends on selecting the right keywords, said Christine Churchill, president of SEM firm KeyRelevance, at a panel at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose on Thursday.

Search marketing often gets credit for the final sale or conversion, even when it shouldn't, according to a roundtable discussion today at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose. "Search [often] gets credit for everything," admitted Mikel Chertudi, senior director of online and demand marketing at Omniture.

Delivering the best results is the key to growing Microsoft's search marketing business, said Satya Nadella, SVP of Microsoft's search, portal and advertising group.

TheFind, a search engine e-commerce firm, has developed a new iPhone application designed to assist shoppers when they're out and about. The new application, called "Where to Shop," is a location-aware shopping search engine that includes online comparison and local price information.

CircuitCity has expanded its social media platform as well as its relationships with third-party sources, such as Consumer Reports magazine, in an effort to better assist customers when they're making buying decisions.

Yahoo has appointed Frank Biondi and John Chapple to its board of directors. Biondi and Chapple are filling two new seats formed last month when, in order to avoid a proxy fight, Yahoo agreed to appoint activist investor Carl Icahn and two new members to its board.