If you’ve been focusing all your search engine marketing efforts on optimizing your site for organic search, you may be in for a rude awakening.
It’s now completely possible – and growing ever more likely – that you can rank #1 in organic search and still not appear “above the fold” in organic results for any given search term.
Google has introduced a dizzying array of paid search options. In addition to the traditional text ads on the Search Network and Display Network (formerly known as the Content Network), there are now image ads, video ads, mobile ads, Product Extensions and Product Listings. For search terms that Google judges to be shopping-related, these paid vehicles increasingly dominate the top of the search results.
Consequently, it’s not wise to put all your eggs in the SEO basket. Don’t discard SEO altogether, but keep up with changes in the paid search world and try every means at your disposal – SEO, paid search, link-building and social media – to drive traffic to your site.
