According to its fourth quarter earnings report, Google saw 34 percent more clicks on PPC ads compared to Q4 2010, but and the company reported businesses paid 8 percent less for their clicks in the fourth quarter of 2011 than they did in the third.
Search Engine Land reported that it is likely for this trend to continue, making the pairing of PPC and SEO even more successful. As more people head to search engines, both PPC and SEO will become critical to attracting prospects for small businesses.
While some businesses seem to think they have to choose between SEO and PPC, using them together enables companies to maximize the reach of their content marketing. Using article or blog content marketing to reach prospects through organic search will boost visibility, as will strong landing page content which contribute to whether or not an SMB gains valuable slots for PPC campaigns..
In general, Google’s search announcements have been big news for small businesses in recent months. ContentLEAD recently reported that Google’s recent integration of Google+ data with search results is the more evidence that small business social marketing is key to online visibility.
