MediaBuyerPlanner: Carat Fusion has expanded its search marketing capabilities with the hiring of seven search marketing professionals, including a new Director of Search Marketing for the West Coast.

Bill Mungovan has been hired to take a lead role in managing search campaigns for the agency's west coast clients. Mungovan previously served as Director, Client Relations at LookSmart, and also worked for Snap/NBCi in the search and directory space. Additionally, Carat Fusion has hired several other new staff to expand search marketing capabilities in several of the agency's offices nationwide.

Carat Fusion now has 35 search-focused specialists working within its search and affiliate marketing practice, and has seen double-digit growth in the number of its search staff in the last year. The agency's search team has worked on search campaigns for a variety of brands including AOL, EchoStar, Hyundai, John Deere, Kodak, Pfizer, Revlon and Wachovia.