I was reading an article yesterday, the Five SEO trends to lookout for in 2012 , that left me wondering. While the trends do seem to indicate huge growth in social media platforms, the trend towards more paid positioning leaves a bitter after-taste. Don’t get me wrong, paid search is a wonderful tool – I actually believe in it as part of an overall marketing strategy. It’s a small part though and should not be the only thing your company considers when putting together a strategy. More and more sections will be paid. We first saw this in Google ads, then Google shopping.