Paid search's value remains strong, but marketers have expanded their focus to succeed in several different channels.

A report from the Rimm-Kaufmann Group suggests paid search investment continues to be a major focus for marketers, but growth has fallen slightly as companies recognize more new, organic channels contribute to conversion funnels. According to RKG, Google paid search marketing investment rose 32 percent, which it considers strong but below initial expectations.

Google’s success with organic search, which RKG found drives 77 percent of its clients’ traffic, has helped it secure majority of paid search clicks. Measuring Google, Yahoo and Bing, RKG found that Google accounted for 84 percent of all clicks on paid search. Given the partnership between Yahoo and Bing, RKG pegged their share of paid clicks at 16 percent.

According to the report, an SEO strategy is even more likely to drive traffic when the site is accessible on mobile devices. Tablets accounted for 57 percent of all mobile clicks on paid search and an increasingly large portion of organic search traffic to sites measured.

Marketers using paid search to drive traffic, leads and conversions have found SEO strategies can help their PPC efforts as well. Brafton recently highlighted a content marketing effort from Landmark Bank in which high-quality, keyword-rich website content drove organic search traffic by more than 30 percent and paid clicks by 360 percent.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.