Today, we are thrilled to release our analysis of branded keywords in paid search covering the fourth quarter of 2015.
The report provides brands with a benchmark of what advertisements appear on the search engines when potential customers search for their brand and how much traffic brands may be losing because of trademark bidding.
One key finding from the report concerns Yahoo. After advertising on Yahoo declined sharply in early 2015, BrandVerity analysts noted a reversal in Q4. Yahoo averaged 3.88 Ads per Search Engine Results Page (SERP) across all categories in Q4, up from 3.06 in Q3 and 2.89 in Q2. Unfortunately, in most of the categories monitored this increase was primarily from search arbitrage, which simply directs consumers to other advertising—adding no value and even creating confusion.
While advertising on Yahoo increased, the opposite was found on AOL. The change on AOL was more dramatic, falling from 6.21 total Ads per SERP in Q3 to 4.75 in Q4. BrandVerity analysts have generally found that AOL shows the most advertising of any engine, so it will be interesting to monitor in 2016, especially given AOL’s new partnership with Bing that became effective in January.
To get more information, download the free report here. Let us know what you think!
