Search and Display Advertising Synergy

Gian Fulgoni

Display ad click rates under 1%, on search they run about 5%. Sales impact of a search ad is greater than that of a display ad.

Gian reviewed the topic of cookie deletion.

Cookie deletion is a real issue and “renders invalid” most studies that rely on cookie-based metrics – important implications for understanding consumer behavior and for estimating campaign reach and frequency. 30% of Internet users delete their cookies in a month. Deleters do so an average of 4x/month.

Problems: up to 2.5 times overstatement of unique visitors in server logs; up to 2.5 times overstatement of reach and a similar understatement of frequency in ad server logs; one loses ‘visibility’ of machines with deleted cookies, thereby understating advertising ROI.

Gian summarized a number of comScore studies exploring the effects of search and display ads on site visitation and sales.

Display ads impact site visitation. Impact is greatest during the first week, an effect which lasts over the four weeks following the first exposure. This is true across categories.

Display ads build sales – online and offline.

Combination of search and display leads to greatest sales lift. Search and display synergy: 119% sales increase vs 82% for search and 16% for display only.

4 Responses to “Search and Display Advertising Synergy”


  1. 1 PPC Management Service August 6, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    That is a very intersting case study. Thanks for sharing this.

  2. 2 Voice Broadcasting August 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    Thanks for posting this. I hope to read more on this subject soon. Really, this is a very helpful and educational post. Thanks again.

  3. 3 Botox Las Vegas August 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Well, Gian I found that this post raised some very interesting questions for me. Hopefully you will write again on this soon?


  1. 1 Marketing Fabricâ„¢ - Financial Online Marketing » Thoughts on PPC, SEO, Social, Email, Domains, Usability, Analytics and much more… Trackback on July 28, 2009 at 10:55 am

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