Display Benefits Organic Search!
Google search is effective, no doubt, but big brands paying their way to the top of search result pages may be boxing shadows. If a brand does not pay Google for top of search, its page rankings may be penalized to drive search results for it or its products further down the page. The algorithm that manages search result ranking is not publicly available, so there is no transparency, but paid search may mitigate Google’s demotion of brand’s page-ranked result. A media-buyer may be lulled to think paid-promotion could resolve an inconvenience imparted by Google to the brand’s customers. However, the brand must also hold Google search to account and weigh it up against the awareness benefits display advertising provides. These include frequently displaying its images, logo and message to existing and potentially new customers. Google search may speak to the initiated, but it does not inspire new recruits to the brand's message. Without widely disseminating the campaign message thro