Source: Google / Ipsos MediaCT
Notes: Search ads provide a lift in top-of-mind brand awareness, according to results from 61 simulated search experiments conducted last year by Google and Ipsos MediaCT. Participants were first prompted to search for a specific category keyword on their desktop or laptop. Post-search, on average, 14.8% of participants in the test group (who saw the test brand’s ad in a search engine results page) named the test brand when asked what brand first came to mind when thinking about a specific category keyword. That represented an 80% lift in top-of-mind awareness from the Control group (8.5%), who saw no ad in the results page. Google also calculated top-of-mind awareness for those verticals which had at least 5 studies, finding that automotive (+9% points) and B2B (+9% points) brands saw the highest lift.
Related: Search Rankings Said Having Significant Effect on Brand Value
About the Data: Google describes its methodology as follows:
“From January to December 2013, Google partnered with Ipsos MediaCT to conduct 61 simulated search experiments to measure the impact of search ads on key brand metrics: top-of-mind awareness and unaided brand awareness. In each study, in-target respondents were prompted to search for a category keyword on their desktop or laptop and were then exposed to either a Test search engine results page (SERP) or a Control SERP. The Test SERP featured the test brand in the top search ad position, with all other ads on the page moved down by one position. The Control did not feature an ad from the test brand at all. The organic results of the SERP were not manipulated in any way.”
