I heard an interesting opinion recently that in general, search engine optimization is more effective in reaching customers and prospects during the awareness stage of the purchase lifecycle and that paid search is more effective during the acquisition stage.  The implication being the message and context which accompanies the search result can be optimized to best anticipate the desire of the customer.  It will be interesting to see more research supporting this premise as I find myself negatively inclined to click on paid search banners as I find them generally more contrived and too direct in their engagement.  I react in this manner with full knowledge that the activities impacting natural search rankings make the result rankings no coincidence.  Maybe the ongoing evolution of the search algorithms provides a comfort level that I am not missing a better deal by clicking on the first banner I see-one that is an obvious advertisement.  On the other hand, if the paid search banner is a trusted source, I will readily click through and accelerate the sales cycle while avoiding potential competitive links.  There must be precedent from traditional advertising.  Judging from the stacks of car ads in the newspaper and the apparent continued effectiveness of inflatable guerillas on car lots, an in your face approach must be generating significant ROI.   The research and results will be interesting.

I recently viewed research data from leading search engine marketing agency which stated that over 70% of click throughs are driven by the first five results in an organic search listing, with paid search banner results for the same search ranking a distant third in overall click through rates.  An overwhelming case for an effective search engine optimization strategy to create and maintain effective organic search optimization.  The big question remains at what point does paid search need to play a role in the search marketing activities.  Does the ROMI play out to invest to own keywords beyond the optimization investment required to own and maintain first and second organic search listings?   The one thing paid search does deliver is certainty.  The third most effective search position can always be owned regardless of competitive activity or change in search engine algorithms.    The elasticity between paid search investment and investment and maintenance of organic search strategies to influence click through rates leading to more financially salient results is now a critical equation