It is every online marketer’s question; “Which will result in a better ROI, search or display advertising?” Traditionally the two were measured independently and with little regard for how the two advertising methods interact with one another. However, a recent study by The Atlas Institute set out to “…determine what role display media plays in combination with sponsored search.” (read the study here).
The results of their study were quite interesting. The concept of “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” is one we are all familiar with and dates back to Aristotle. But the Atlas study has proven it to be true when it comes to online display and search marketing. When a single advertiser exposed searchers to both display and search ads the conversion rate jumped 22% over search alone. That is an impressive conversion rate increase that most any advertiser would be thrilled with.
The study also discovered that 44% of internet users who clicked on a sponsored search ad had also seen display ads from the same advertiser. The display ads often act as a brand building tool that seem to make users more inclined to click on and convert on search ads.
So now that you have the “which is a better ROI” question answered (you need to be using both) you have to be asking yourself “what does this mean to my online marketing strategy?”
It means: Optimize, maximize reach, measure conversions, test and test again, track and analyze data…a lot of work. If that is more work than you have room on your plate, you are not alone. But results like these cannot be ignored. A consulting firm like WebShare can be a great resource to get your online marketing strategy on course and your conversions well on their way to seeing numbers like this study has proven possible.
Dave Reichenbacher
DR directs program management and operations at WebShare. He also is one of our Seminars for Success instructors and has an affinity toward local search marketing. You can find out more about Dave here.
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Actually, seeing the lift that display has on search and search has on display takes a lot less work than you might think. Yahoo provides the Assist metric in their Yahoo Analytics reports. Assists show advertisers the total number of times that one ad/campaign/keyword contributed to the conversion of another ad/campaign/keyword.
Using Yahoo’s free Full Analytics tracking, an advertiser can track any type of online ad (display, search, email, etc) and receive cross channel tracking reports via the Assist metric.
For example, if a visitor clicks on a display ad one day, does not convert, and then later clicks on a Yahoo search ad and converts, the display ad will be attributed an Assist and the Search ad will be attributed the Conversion. Now, as an advertiser, I know that my display ads are driving conversions for my other ads.
To set up, all the advertiser has to do is:
1. Add Yahoo’s Full Analytics tags to their landing pages and confirmation/thank-you page
2. Add 3 Yahoo parameters to the end of their display destinations URLs
The system does the rest on tying the cross channel data together for the advertiser.