Google is continuing their march to fill up the prime areas of your screen with their paid ads. In an earlier post, I pointed out that only the top 7 local business listings are now being displayed (vs the top 10 previously).

The search engine has now removed phone numbers from local business listings in order to free up more real estate for sponsored ads, according to Aaron Wall. As more ads fill up the ‘above the fold’ area of the screen, organic search listings are being pushed down with the exception of the top 1 or 2 ranked websites.

This new development highlights the importance of getting to the top spots of the organic search rankings so that your website can be visible above the fold. Since it takes time and resources to get to these spots (unless there is very little competition in your niche), this leads back to doing the proper keyword research so that you’re targeting the most important keyword(s) for your business.