There are two stories being peddled in the ongoing click debate that has come to characterize Google's first quarter 2008.

Wall Street analysts and many Google debunkers have been quick to point to two months of lackluster numbers for the search giant's paid clicks business as evidence that digital advertising may not be as strong as many previously thought.

On the other side of the public relations divide sits Google, which is making the case in a Business Week story that January's decline in total clicks -- followed by a minuscule increase in February's numbers -- actually means that relevance is improving.

Simply put, Google is arguing quality while its critics are demanding quantity. But as the Business Week story is quick to point out, Google has traditionally been on the other side of the argument, arguing that a "click is a corollary for a customer in a store."

To be fair, Google has been working for some time to improve the quality of its clicks, citing relevance as a key factor for advertiser ROI.