Will 2014 See Paid Marketing Overtake Conventional SEO?

OK so 2014 is still technically a few weeks away, but at this late stage in the year it’s pretty safe to look back at what’s been happening a draw up a few conclusions. Or should that be, draw up a few projections as to what can be expected moving forward in marketing through 2014 and beyond.

2013 in Review

Google declared war on spam some time ago, but decided to make 2013 the year in which it unleashed its weapons of mass destruction. First came the Penguin update, then Hummingbird and since then another alteration to Penguin – all of which were designed to help blow spammers out of the water but at the same time chalked up plenty of collateral damage in the form of valid businesses being wiped-out.

For those cutting the mustard in Google’s eyes, any losses in standard search rankings were made up for in the form of long-tail keyword gains, which form the primary focus of Hummingbird going forward. In looking to make future search processes as accurate and genuinely user-friendly as possible, Google has in essence closed the lid on the SEO practices millions have counted on for years.

The days of spamming your way to the top are over – interpret this as you see fit.
In a nutshell, those already playing by the rules are for the most part still flying high, while others have more or less ceased to exist. The search engine optimization learning curve has been made steeper than ever before and for those that don’t have the time or inclination to put in the required effort, Google has no place for you.

What Comes Next?

It sounds like an easy way forward – focus on content and climb the ladder – but of course it isn’t. The primary reason being that those lucrative top-spots will be in even shorter supply than ever before while demand for them increases exponentially. Businesses are already investing far more in content creation and management than they ever have before and are expected to up their budgets in precisely this area to all-new highs in 2014.

And of course, this new level of competition will result in those that are able to do so investing more money in paid search results placement too, meaning that once again those that already have an abundance of capital will start and end the year with a distinct advantage. Needless to say, said paid placement is also guaranteed to become even more costly.

Social Media Promotion Complexity

Social media is still reaching adulthood and will over the coming years become an even more congested and complex arena. With hundreds of millions of consumers readily living their lives attached to their social networks, such services are unsurprisingly becoming seriously hot property and lucrative assets for marketers.

The downside? Well, unless you’ve got the massive capital needed to get yourself a prominent Facebook ad that these millions will see, the chances of your Facebook page or profile getting noticed aren’t all that great looking forward into next year. As such, it’s largely predicted that the power and appeal of social media for smaller businesses will actually decrease.

Creative Marketing Vs Big Brands

The question a fair number of businesses are already asking at this point in time is that of whether it will still be possible to get ahead and stay there, without having to pay top-dollar for advertising. There’s no simple answer right now, but the way in which Google continues to push its Google Places/Google+ Local services shows that they’re not ready to abandon the little guy just yet.

Of course, analysts remain adamant that if small businesses and their respective marketing partners remain flexible, committed and above all creative, they will have every opportunity to flourish in 2014 – regardless of what’s going on at the top.

For those unable to get their name in lights by means of simple payments, it will be more a case of brand building and authority development than ever before, calling on an array of old-fashioned promotion techniques like networking, encouraging word of mouth and reaching out to audiences directly.

   Rocky John

About the Author:

Rocky John Tayaban is the managing director of iSolutions Media, a search engine marketing firm that caters to clients across the globe. Rocky has been helping small, medium and large companies improve their online visiblity through search marketing. Follow his tweets on Twitter @SmartOnlinePros to get tips and strategies on internet marketing.