Here is a great deck from Dave Zinman of Yahoo! with data on how display drives search activity.

Notable takeaways:

• Slide 6: “For 60 Clients in 8 verticals, display drove a 155% lift in search activity”
• Slide 7: A busy slide, but shows how display campaigns drove spikes in Yahoo! Buzz ratings (which measure search activity)
• Slide 8: Display campaigns drove 38% to 52% lift in branded search

A successful strategy that we have see have seen recently with keyword targeted display (a.k.a. search retargeting) is for advertisers to supplement their search campaigns with display campaigns that target expensive high-funnel, broad search terms (eg “auto insurance”) and competitive terms. Who better to show banners to than an audience who has shown their intent by searching on broad or competitive search terms?

Advertisers using this tactic are enjoying spikes in search activity consistent or greater than what Dave’s slides have shown (we’re working on some case studies to share).

In the meantime, search marketers should be asking for display budget, as they are the ones with expertise in keywords and keyword optimization, and they are the ones that will see the growth in search activity that the display campaigns (especially keyword targeted display campaigns ;-)) are driving.

Frost