Google: Top Search Ads Increase Brand Awareness by 6.6% [Study]

Traditionally, the value in search advertising has always been centered on increases in click-through rates and conversions. However, Google and Ipsos MediaCT partnered to study the impact of search ads on brand awareness. The results might surprise you.

How Was the Study Conducted?

Google and Ipsos MediaCT ran over 60 search experiments in 2013 in hopes of understanding how search ads affect brand awareness. As part of the studies, 800 U.S. consumers participated in the simulated search scenarios. Think with Google recently shared further information on how the simulations were conducted:

The consumers were prompted to search for a specific category keyword (for example, "hiking boots" or "small cars") on their desktop or laptop. They were then shown either a control search engine results page (SERP) or Test SERP spotlighting one of the 12 categories: apparel and durables, auto, B2B, classified and local, consumer packaged goods (CPG), education, financial services, healthcare, media and entertainment, retail, tech and travel.

Consumers that were given the Test SERP would see the test brand's search ad present at the top of their Google search results (as pictured below).

What Were the Results?

The study found that search ads do in fact have a positive impact on brand awareness. In fact, when the subjects were asked what was top of mind when asked about a specific category keyword, Google uncovered the following results:

• 14.2 percent in the test group named the test brand.
• 8.2 percent in the control group also named the same brand.

According to Google and Ipsos MediaCT's calculations, that is an 80 percent lift in top-of-mind awareness.

Each of the verticals studies rated a little differently. Some of the results include:

• Auto & B2B: 9 percent lift in top-of-mind awareness.
• CPG: 8 percent lift in top-of-mind awareness.
• Retail: 6 percent top-of-mind awareness.

Additionally, when participants were asked to name an additional four brands that were related to a specific category keyword there was an average lift in top-of-mind awareness of 9.2 percent. Those participating in the test group showed 26.7 percent unaided awareness while those in the control group represented 17.5 percent.

What Does This Information Mean for Marketers?

While we may not have considered search advertising to be an avenue for brand awareness in the past, it is clear that it does have a direct impact. Another item to consider is cost. The price of a search ad versus a more traditional method of advertising is much more cost-effective.

The study shares some tips for improving the effectiveness of your search advertising:

• Category keywords enable you to connect with as many consumers as possible as they are in the purchasing process.
• Use formats and images that place your ad in the top slot to help differentiate you from other results.
• Remember that search advertising is now good for more than just driving conversions.

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Want to Increase Your CTR by Nearly 50%? Consider Search Refinements

Ask many search marketers what their number one goal is and they'll probably tell you it's to appear in the top position on the first search engine results page (SERP). This is understandable.

We all know that consumers, more often than not, will click on the top ad above or to the right of the organic results. For the advertiser, that means a better click-through rate (CTR), more site traffic (often at a lower cost per click), and presumably more sales.

However, search marketers should also be mindful that a consumer clicking on the first ad he or she sees doesn't constitute the totality of shopping behavior on the search engines.

In fact, it's rarely a "one and done" situation.

When users visit a search engine, they conduct multiple searches nearly 65 percent of the time, according to a study by Compete. What's more, three or more searches were conducted in nearly half of all sessions and 12 percent of sessions included a whopping 10 or more searches.

What Are Search Refinements?

This should probably come as no surprise considering the high number of "touches" many online shoppers make before eventually settling on a purchase.

The key takeaway for search marketers is that single phrases are rarely typed into a search engine in isolation; it's far more common for searchers to enter multiple phrases in rapid succession, building on each preceding one, until they find what they seek.

These subsequent phrases are known as "search refinements."

As an example, I recently sat down with a friend who was searching Google for a used Mercedes Benz SUV. His initial search term was "Mercedes," quickly followed by "Mercedes-Benz," "Mercedes Benz M-class," "Mercedes Benz M-class used" and finally "2012 Mercedes Benz M-class used".

Will Appearing in Search Refinements Increase CTR?

Although my friend didn't find what he was looking for (more on that later), he did end up clicking on the ad of a local dealer whose ads appeared on the SERP for four of his five searches.

This behavior raises an important question: are searchers more likely to click an advertiser who appears on each subsequent search?

To find out, I conducted a study analyzing estimated CTRs for 268 advertisers who consistently appeared on subsequent search refinements (for instance, "oven reviews" and "convection oven reviews").

The Results: A 47% Lift in CTR

Users were indeed more likely to click on advertisers that appeared more often in the same session.

Specifically, the study showed that an advertiser who appears at least 10 percent of the time for both the initial query and the follow-up query received an average lift of 47 percent of their initial CTR on the subsequent search.

As an example, take an advertiser who received a CTR of 1.0 percent on the term "Venetian Hotel." That same advertiser appearing on the search refinement, "Venetian Hotel Vegas," would be expected to experience a "CTR bonus" of .47 percent relative to other advertisers, because he appeared on both terms.

Of course, the impact of repeated impressions may not be the only factor that results in a bump in CTR.

Undoubtedly, advertisers who are more thorough in targeting search refinements also tend to be more rigorous in their approach to ad copy and landing page design. After all, the best advertisers go to great lengths to ensure their campaigns respond to searchers' intent and deliver a relevant experience.

Consider Search Refinements When Creating Your Campaign

Search refinements are incredibly underappreciated. While many advertisers focus heavily on initial keyword expansion and ad copy optimization, relatively few think about the impact their ads might have when seen in rapid succession.

Search marketers should consider not only the keywords they target, but also the sequence in which those keywords may be entered as users refine their initial searches.

By ensuring high coverage and relevant ads across the entire chain of search refinements, you not only can increase your CTR on the initial search phrase, but also on longer, more specific phrases as well.

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Google Rewriting Page Titles: Time to Brand Up?

Recently it seems Google has started tweaking page titles with one apparent intention: to promote branding. Page titles have always been seen as one of the most influential search engine ranking factors when it comes to SEO, and writing the perfect title is an obsession of many SEO enthusiasts. But what happens when Google start rewriting our page titles; are they saying our page titles are unsatisfactory? And if we don’t start rewriting them as exampled by Google, are we going to suffer a ranking loss?

The Situation

Recently I noticed that the page titles Google displayed for some of my websites had changed. While for some months Google displayed the page titles as written by me, this was suddenly no longer the case. After looking at numerous search results it seems this is the case for a small proportion of other websites as well. Here are two examples…

Page title (Nebstone):

‘Digital Marketing Agency Leeds | Online Marketing UK | Nebstone’

New page title displayed by Google:

Page title (Creode):

‘Digital Agency London & Leeds - Web Design & Online Marketing – Creode’

New page title displayed by Google:

In these examples, the brand name has been taken from the end of the page title and repositioned at the front with a colon inserted rather than a pipe separator.

There don’t appear to be any examples of colon insertion if the brand name is already at the front of the page title. This is interesting since when Google decides to tweak the titles as above, it removes the dash or the pipe and replaces these with a colon. However if the brand name is already at the front, Google is happy to leave the dash or the pipe in.

After going through numerous examples, it appears the displayed page title is only tweaked if the brand name is present at the end of the page title. If there is no brand name anywhere in the page title, then no brand name is inserted at the beginning. In addition, the page title is not always tweaked even if the brand name is present at the end like in the examples above.

Interestingly, Google only appears to tweak page titles for the home page, leaving all other pages on that domain with original titles, even if they are in the same format as the home page title.

The Reason

This activity by Google is quite thought-provoking and begs the question as to whether some of us should be rewriting our page titles ourselves – Google may not babysit us forever, and perhaps we should be listening to their signals. However if we are to get page titles right we need to decide why Google are rewriting page titles like this….

Testing click-through rates (CTR): one possibility could be standard testing by Google in order to determine whether rearranging brand names affects CTR. Noticeably, Amazon uses the colon format similar to that which Google is tweaking page titles too. Perhaps Amazon has trialled and tested this format with optimal results.

Branding: Google like branding, and perhaps Google are suggesting they would like to see more branding in page titles, which maybe make their search results look more genuine or trustworthy. If this is the case, then there are perhaps certain implications for search engine rankings; does the lack of branding in page titles reduce trust, CTR, and consequently result in less favour from Google? Some time ago Matt Cutts suggested this wasn’t the case; however this may have changed for certain searches.  

The Results

It is unclear whether the page title rewrites will have any effect on search engine rankings for the websites affected. Perhaps the most that will happen is a change in CTR for the rewritten titles. It seems unlikely that Google would rewrite a title and then penalise that website since important keywords are no longer at the beginning. More important are the implications of what Google are doing and what we should be actively doing in response to these page title rewrites and subtle suggestions from Google.

The Implications

In the past it has always been recommended that keywords at the beginning of a title will carry more weight. However the fact that Google are rewriting titles and pushing keywords away from the spotlight suggests they no longer necessarily favour keywords and prefer trust signals such as branding. However it is worth bearing in mind that titles are only rewritten in specific circumstances, and apparently with some randomisation meaning these may just be arbitrary tests.

Our Response

If Google are simply testing CTR then we may not want to do anything just yet. However, a test would certainly be a signal that Google has identified branding to be a key player in CTR, perhaps particularly as searchers become more advanced and keen to associate with trusted brands.

Perhaps Google are encouraging branding and hinting that they want to see brand names standing out for certain searches rather than generic keywords. Aaron Wall suggested emphasis on branding some time ago and Rand Fishkin provides some interesting thoughts on branding here. We may be seeing these ideas and a further development of this brand emphasis manifested in Google's title rewrites. So now we should be considering whether we should be rewriting our page titles ourselves. Letting Google do it for us is an option, but it’s questionable whether they will continue to or whether they prefer those who already conform to a strong branding regime. In addition, we should be considering whether rewriting other pages on our domain to include an emphasis on branding is also favourable. Currently Google only appear to rewrite titles for home pages however if they want branding in their results, then all of our landing pages should perhaps be branded for Google and their search engine results pages.

It may be worth bearing in mind however that rearranging titles ourselves will mean that title tags as read by search engines no longer support target keywords at the beginning. If indeed search engines still place weight on words at the beginning of page titles, then it may be worth letting Google rewrite titles for us since this allows us to leave keywords at the beginning of our page titles as written in the source code.

The Uncertain Conclusion

Google has been updating, scrutinising, and evolving rapidly over recent times, and this tweaking of page titles is yet another clue to what Google may want from us. Careful thought and monitoring of further page title updates may be worthwhile and for some, a greater emphasis on branding, not only using page titles but using brand building as a whole, may be a great investment not only for their customer relations but for their relationship with Google as well. 

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Timing Your SEO Efforts to Rank During Traffic Peaks & Spikes

Some keywords have seasonal trending, search volume life-cycles, and hype spikes. When you need to rank during the peak of these trends, organic ranking requires you to do most of your work before the peak.

Riding the waves of search volume hype is hard, but it can also be very rewarding. Knowing when to exactly time your search engine optimization (SEO) effort provides a huge lead over your competitors, so how is it done effectively?

Predictable Search Volume Peaks

Sudden peaks in search volumes are more predictable than you might think. Each year has the same seasons and holidays. New products will be launched in many industries.

Sports games are bound to have winners and even certain accidents are bound to happen … again. The exact details can still be an unknown, but you can prepare your prompt reaction for when they do occur.

A great example of a predictable life-cycle occurs when a new mobile phone is introduced. A mobile phone is launched and after about 5 months it is bound to be replaced by its successor.

The search volume peak can often be found in the first month of sales, so before regular links take effect you’ve already missed the hype. There is however a strategy that provides the right ranking at the right time.

The Right Ranking at the Right Time

Before the peak you should focus on gaining as many links as possible to keep the lead during the most important part of the life-cycle. High ranking itself asserts your authority on the subject and when you’re one of the first to have good information on a new mobile phone, for example, you’ll be cited and linked by all early adopters.

During the peak you need to reap the benefits of all these links, so that is when your commercial message should be the one ranking.

After the peak and during the aftermath most other commercial websites would have done their regular link building and you’re likely to be outranked by then. Luckily you’re already focusing on the next hype to keep ahead of the masses.

Timing Your Effort

Certain types of links take some time to ripen and take effect. Others affect ranking almost immediately; however, the affect wears off after a short time. Effectively combining all of them requires a well though through strategy, which is best described with a mobile phone example.

1. With the first rumors of a new mobile phone model being launched, create a page with its supposed name and some info on the rumors.
2. When its name becomes more certain create something easily spread through social media like a desired features poll. These links will provide a short lived ranking spike that is needed for the next phase.
3. When it is officially announced, be one of the first to have a press release and reuse the already ranking URL for that message. Update the page whenever needed so both insiders and enthusiasts will start following and linking the page that therefore keeps on ranking.
4. Reuse the same URL for the first preview of the new phone model and you can always move the old content to a different URL when needed. Again, the high ranking asserts your authority and the preview will be intensely linked to as well.
5. Reuse the same URL again and again for news, pre-registration and eventually having it available for sale.

Here is where our extreme link acquisition efforts can stop for now. Most of the ranking will remain for the two most important months of sales.

Once the device is no longer a priority, you can even change its URL and redirect all remaining link value to a successor with (probably) a partial keyword match. This provides a much needed head start for new hypes within existing themes.

SEO for Hypes

Always be monitoring and predicting new great hypes in your industry. Monitor social media, look for insider information to be the first to know about new terminology. Map out earlier similar hypes to see how these have spread across the internet during their entire life-cycle.

Devise linkable messages for each phase of the life-cycle and accumulate all that link value close together or on the same URL.

Reuse partial relevance for future hypes and ranking for more generic keywords.

And … always be prepared for future hypes!

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