Wilmington, North Carolina -- According to the latest Google Trends Report(tm) (http://google.com/trends'q=search+engine+optimization%2C+social+marketing%2C+pagerank&ctab=0&geo=us&geor=all&date=all&sort=1) comparing search engine optimization vs. social marketing vs. pagerank, there is a significant shift in the volume of searches where "social marketing" is catching up with "search engine optimization" and outpacing "pagerank". Looking over the report, it is obvious that interest in search engine optimization is being shifted to other areas like social marketing and there is much less interest in pagerank by the general public.

As a professional search engine optimization firm, My NC SEO (http://myncseo.com) keeps an eye out for such trends and how they impact businesses online. Notably, the social media have taken a major leap forward recently and seem to be destined for an even greater piece of the pie when it comes to online users viewing content and causing the rankings of business sites to rise towards the top.

Just a few years ago, most people knew very little about Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Early adoption along with the ease of use have made these social bookmarking and social media sites very attractive for the average person online as well as businesses wanting to get their market share. Looking over such exceptional sites like LinkedIn.com (ex: Michael D. Hudson on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldhudson , it is easy to see how potential customers and potential hiring managers can look over a person's work history to better determine qualifications and prior interest. The usage of recommendations online at LinkedIn can show outright that a given person has performed duties at specific places and that others (e.g. managers, co-workers, clients, etc.) openly state the result of that work.

There are many more quality social marketing sites gaining popularity and notoriety which are too numerous to mention. Additionally, there are now many more tools online to ease the usage of these sites as well as tracking specific topics and even your business brand online.

Similar to how the West was won, it's a whole new world online. If you haven't already started using social marketing, your business may be suffering while your competition is enjoying the limelight.