Well, the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over. And although most marketers still have plenty to do for the rest of the year, we hope you've enjoyed at least a moment of respite.

Today, BrandVerity released its analysis of branded keywords in paid search covering the third quarter of this year.

Black Friday is more than a sale for retailers, it’s the main event of the year. Weeks of preparation culminate in one rapid-fire sequence that can make or break annual goals. It’s no wonder that so many ecommerce teams are on lockdown this time of year.

After marketers got creative with their Back to the Future tie-ins last week, another marketing-friendly holiday is approaching quickly. Boo! It's almost Halloween already.

Paid search could be in for some big changes on Yahoo. After reaching a new search deal with Microsoft in April that afforded it more autonomy, Yahoo has now announced a separate deal with Google.

Mobile has been an industry buzzword for a while now. From the "Mo" in the eye-roll-inducing "SoLoMo" to articles heralding responsive design as the holy grail of websites, mobile has regularly been the rallying call for anyone who wanted to make marketers feel behind the times.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal is probably the biggest hit that a brand has taken since BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The financial impact has the potential to be tremendous. Current estimates show that VW could be on the hook for $18 billion in EPA fines alone, plus legal fees and the cost of recalling 500,000 vehicles in the US.

BrandVerity and Corporation Service Company® (CSC), a provider of legal, business, and financial services, are working together in a pretty fantastic way. CSC now offers paid search monitoring to its clients through BrandVerity.

BrandVerity welcomes guest blogger Eric Misterovich from Revision Legal, PLLC.

As we've been finding in our Report on Branded Keywords, the typical brand is losing thousands of visitors per month to trademark bidders.