According to reports in CNN and Time, the cost to advertise on Google’s Adwords program is down by 20% this year.  This is clearly due to the down economy as companies slash costs across the board.

This means two things for companies either currently advertising on Google or thinking about advertising on Google.  First if you are currently using Google you can almost certainly review your keyword bids.  You may be paying more than you need to to keep your ad rank.  Second, if you are planning on starting an advertising campaign you may be able to lower your overall budget or use the same budget and buy more traffic to your site.  Either way if you are savvy your company can profit from others spending less in online advertising.