Mark Irvine — March 18, 2017 We keep it no secret around here that Google search is big business. With a healthy majority of the search market share across the globe, it’s critical for businesses to be present and successful when their prospects are searching on Google.
Via Statista
But as large as the search giant is, it’s not a monopoly on the media your customers consume!
Google’s most obvious competitor, Bing, makes up roughly 1/3 of the US market share. Showing up on the Bing SERP is certainly important in its own right, so you can reach those 5 billion searches a month, and advertising on Bing has plenty of additional benefits. Interestingly, most of Bing’s users aren’t exclusively searching on Bing. Over 100 million searchers rely on both Bing and Google to deliver their search results, so what they discover on Bing may later impact what, or who, they search for on Google.
How Cross-Network Advertising Affects Brand Searches on Google
As it turns out, these cross-network searchers can make a big impact for advertisers! Clients who begin advertising on Bing not only reach new people searching on Bing, but will also see, on average, a 26% increase in searches for their brand on Google!
Bing isn’t the only network that can drive people to search for your brand on Google. Google’s Display Network offers a low-cost way to show your brand’s ad to large audiences, making up 90% of users on the internet. The Google Display Network averages a 0.35% CTR, but even if people don’t immediately click on your ad, these ad impressions serve additional benefit. We’ve found that after launching their first display campaign, clients see on average a 31% increase in searches for their brand on Google!
Google’s newest competitor may be Facebook, which has doubled their number of advertisers over the past 18 months. Facebook ads offer competitive CTRs and CPCs for new advertisers. Social ads also have a competitive edge in the industry, being less affected by popular ad blockers than Google and Bing’s ads. And there’s more: Advertising on Facebook will tend to increase the number of branded searches AdWords advertisers see by an average of 34%!
How Video Advertising Affects Brand Searches on Google
Video may be a particularly powerful medium for brand advertisers. YouTube is the most popular video platform online, with over 1 billion users. YouTube advertising is also becoming increasingly powerful and attractive to advertisers with new targeting and ad formats. Another nice benefit to YouTube advertising is that it can increase your brand’s awareness significantly and increase the number of people searching for your brand – by an average of 420%!
But ironically, the most effective way to increase your brand’s online presence may be to invest in offline advertising. Businesses spend more ad budget on TV ads than they spend on all digital ads – search, display, video, and social combined!
TV ads have many pitfalls, but its audiences are surprisingly still engaged. As 77% of people casually watch TV while also on their laptops or smartphones, they’re considerably more likely to search Google for a product or brand whose ad piques their interest. TV advertisers see large spikes in branded search interest after running a commercial, averaging an increase of 526%!
Image Source: ThinkWithGoogle
Of course you need a well-optimized AdWords account – but Google can’t drive all your leads alone. Introducing a Bing account to your marketing may not only expose you to new audiences but also help your AdWords performance. There’s also considerable opportunity to advertise on Facebook, with ads that convert well and help drive more branded searches on Google!
Data Sources:
The aggregated data in this post is based on a sample of 54 WordStream Managed Services accounts advertising on the Google Search Network in 2016. Branded search interest was measured in the month before and after first advertising on the Google Display Network, Bing, Facebook, Youtube, or TV in 2016.
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