Integrating Search and Display campaigns is an approach that will lead to increased returns. Display has often been discredited by advertisers for lack of transparency and low conversion rates, but improvements in display campaign settings offer insight as to its impact on search behavior helping boost engagement and returns.

Display campaign performance is now very granular, to the point where we can choose to exclude what websites are not good to target, what audiences, demographics, topics and even categories. These targeting capabilities help give display almost the same control as search in helping exploit the huge net of websites that we show on.

In Google AdWords, contextual targeting is used to match your ads to relevant third-party websites on the Display Network by using your keywords to target ads that offer useful information to readers. This has long been the primary targeting method, but now, we can combine contextual targeting with other placement capabilities to help give a marketer greater control over the websites his text ads, display banners or videos show.

That is just the starting point. Now with more precise targeting capabilities thanks to remarketing, display and search have now merged to complement and help integrate search strategies to achieve not only greater user activity on-site, but also take branding efforts to the next level.

Display’s Impact on Paid Search is Growing

According to eMarketer, Display spending is on pace to triple by 2016 while Search spending will double. Google is positioning itself through new products and acquisitions for a dominant role in the Display Advertising business.

Benefits of Integrating Display and Search Campaigns

• Greater Click Volume
• Lower Cost-Per-Conversion
• More targeted, cost-effective branding opportunities

Advertisers can no longer afford to ignore the importance of incorporating robust Display campaigns in tandem with established paid search efforts.

A look at the distribution of the average user’s time spent online offers the simplest yet most powerful reason for advertisers to adopt and run display campaigns. Users spend 96% of their time on content-related sites compared to just 4% on search engines, according to the Online Publishers’ Association and Nielsen.

Search + Display = Incremental Results

Paid Search outperforms every other online marketing channel when it comes to capturing demand. But one thing Search cannot do is generate demand. Given that, advertisers need to first build awareness with Display campaigns.

Introducing Display Advertising to an existing Search marketing campaign will generally provide volume that was previously lacking.

The benefit of planning Search and Display together comes from being present during an extended research phase and by keeping individuals on a client’s site and away from a competitor’s. When combined, this duo really drives performance. The synergy between the two will increase the volume and lower the cost per acquisition. (CPA)

Search + Display = Lower Cost-per-Acquisition

While both paid search and Display Advertising are extremely important and efficient forms of online advertising in their own right, the combination of Display Advertising and paid search can indeed reduce a client’s cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

Generic, high-volume keywords historically have a two digit cost-per-click (CPC) or higher. Meanwhile, the search the consumer most often conducts after seeing a Display ad is for a brand term. The cost for a banner impression is just fractions of a penny, and the cost of a click on a branded term is typically no more than $.25.
By adding Display to Search campaigns, new paths are created for consumers to navigate. Since these paths are typically less expensive than search-only paths, this allows for CPAs to decrease and searches for brand terms to increase.

The more waste trimmed from media spend, the higher the return-on-investment (ROI).

Remarketing Success

Remarketing is a feature that lets you reach people who have previously visited your site, and show them relevant ads when they visit other sites on the Display Network. When people leave your site without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you connect with these potential customers while they browse other websites. You can even show them a compelling message or offer that will encourage them to return to your site and complete a purchase.

If you’re a search advertiser, use remarketing as part of an integrated campaign strategy. Drive traffic to your site with search ads, and then reach those customers again with a tailored message as they browse the web, encouraging them to return to your site and buy.

Summary and Conclusion

Integrating search and display can bring greater efficiency and a greater understanding of how well marketing efforts are working. Since most online conversions occur as a result of complex interactions among a variety of ads and marketing channels, integrating search and display aids in assisted conversions and more effective advertising.

Coming Soon: Reap the Benefits of Remarketing