The Brand Lift of Search

Methodology: Testing the Brand’s Placement
Subjects entered an unbranded query and saw one of the following search engine results pages (SERP):

1. Control– (No branding: “Honda” does not appear on the SERP)
2. Side Sponsored Ad Listing– Honda appears in side ad listing only
3. Top Organic Listing– Honda appears in top organic listing only
4. Top Sponsored Ad Listing– Honda appears in top ad listing only
5. Top Sponsored Ad and Top Organic Listings– Honda appears in both the top ad and the top organic listings

Two additional groups of users entered branded queries and saw one of the following search engine results pages:
1. Top Organic Listing– Honda appears in top organic listing only
2. Top Sponsored Ad and Top Organic Listings– Honda appears in both the top ad and the top organic listings

100 additional subjects were run through the survey in an eye tracking lab environment to provide qualitative color to survey results

A 16% Point Increase in Brand Association When Brand Is in Top Ad and Top Organic Listings When you think of fuel-efficient cars, which come to mind?

A 2.2x Lift in Aided Brand Recall When Brand Is in Top Ad and Top Organic Listings
Which of the following brands do you remember seeing in the search results page you just viewed?

When Brand Is in Top Ad and Top Organic Listings, Purchase Consideration Increases 8% Points
From the list below, indicate which of these brands you would consider if you were looking to purchase a fuel-efficient or environmentally friendly car.

Consumers Are Less Likely to Consider Purchasing a Brand That Doesn’t Appear on the Search Results Page
Which of the above brands would you most likely consider purchasing?

Tracking Reveals Consumer Insights
Best Practices: Place your brand in the title, URL, and as close to the start of the description as possible in your ad and organic listings
Observation: Brand fixations occurred in the URL and title of the listing; not in the description
Observation: Subjects with established affinity for the brand spent 25% less time on the top ad listing, jumping down to the organic listings 73% faster than the non-affinity group
Best Practices: Ad listings appear to have a greater opportunity to lift brand affinity among new customers; write and target them as such – especially for upper funnel queries

In Summary…
1 Your investment in brand advertising increases with search
2 Advertise on unbranded and branded keywords

3 Tailor your ad to prospects, those with no established brand affinity