Despite Google posting is its first ever quarterly decline in Ad revenue recently there is plenty of evidence that Google advertising spend and wider digital marketing mediums, most especially Google Adwords pay per click can and is well placed to prosper where more traditional advertising mediums are in trouble. In the year when digital advertising spend is expected to exceed TV for the first time there are considerable pointers highlighting how digital marketing with Google advertising as the flagship example will become increasingly important to advertisers from small business marketing managers to large corporate brands.

Andy Maclean, MD of Open Eye Marketing says "recent surveys indicate a significant percentage of the general public still say their retail spending is unaffected by current conditions. Whats more we know that many leading retail sites such as Pricerunner and Kelkoo have seen significant recent traffic volume increases which indicates not only is the public more likely to buy online than ever but also they are being much more savvy by using such price comparison websites. Furthermore I fully expect this Christmas to see another record breaking year for online sales as it continues to steal sales volumes away from the high street."

Its a common conception that when times are tough spending on advertising is one of the first things to be cut and to a degree this is the case. However as the digital marketing industry becomes ever more sophisticated and more and more businesses are finding the value of Google Adwords pay per click model and organic search engine placement through search engine optimisation an increasingly important business objective. Certain observations are increasingly common. Many digital marketing agencies are reporting that clients online ad spend and number of new clients have increased since the recent troubles. "It is our own experience that Google advertising is becoming a greater priority recently, both paid search through Adwords and search engine optimisation. Clients tell us that they cant afford to spend money on print or other media advertising so are focusing at least some of those budgets to get better results through the search engines. They also tell us the measurable nature and tangibility of their Google advertising is important to them as they seek to justify and quantify advertising spend and the corresponding sales results" says Andy Maclean of Open Eye Marketing.

The trend since Google and the other search engines came into existence is that of a permanent increase in both number of people using them and propensity to buy from the websites in their search results. This ultimately means that digital marketing agencies and the advertisers they work for can continue to benefit and ride out this and other economic downturns.