As consumer online behaviours continue to evolve, search visibility has become more crucial than ever for amplifying product and brand discoverability. A key factor influencing online search campaigns right now is the change in where audiences are beginning their search journeys. There’s a pressing question for marketers: how can we most effectively measure their performance?
With the search platform diversification, it’s no longer enough to report clicks or impressions based on last click attribution – we need to understand the incremental impact of media spend and activity on campaign performance.
Across Meta channels, its Search Lift tool measures the impact of ad campaigns by tracking increases in product and brand searches after ad exposure – helping advertisers measure campaign performance and prove campaign investment.
To validate its effectiveness, at the start of 2024 KINESSO UK&I’s media teams came together to launch a group-wide study using Search Lift to discover if Meta’s advertising has a wider impact on PPC and SEO traffic and subsequent conversions.
The methodology
Search Lift is powered by a conversion lift study. This means Meta can split a target audience into two groups: one test group who can view advertisers’ ads, and the control group, who cannot.
To validate whether Meta could deliver incremental search-driven website traffic, we set up Search Lift studies at an Ad Account level, rather than setting up the Search Lift study on individual campaigns.
Now we could measure campaign performance based on the planning and buying objectives and KPIs, while simultaneously measuring the incremental impact of searches the campaigns generated when people viewed the ads. This meant we could measure campaign performance based on the planning and buying objectives and KPIs. Simultaneously we measured the incremental impact of searches the ad campaigns generated.
Using campaign tracking from the clients’ analytics partners (eg Google Analytics, Adobe etc), plus referrals from organic Google/Bing search activity, tailored custom conversions were built on Events Manager. This allowed the study to track both PPC and organic traffic Meta ads influenced.
This approach meant that for the study’s duration, an Account Level hold was in place, enabling us to measure the impact of the searches across all stages of the activity. With this set up, there was no minimum spend threshold, instead the impact of the study was based on clients’ conversion metrics to make sure there was enough volume to generate statistically significant results.
The results
The studies assessed across KINESSO UK&I’s sample clients found that Meta delivered an incremental impact on visits attributed to Paid Search and drove incremental paid search traffic with 99% confidence. On average, Meta drove 4% incremental paid search traffic for audiences exposed to Meta ads.
Client 1 results: The sales test showed that social campaign investments drove an additional 468 purchases, resulting in a 21% increase in revenue and an ROI lift of 1.5. Campaigns showed a 39% increase in organic search visits from Meta Audience exposed to ads.
Client 2 results: There was a 23% increase in brand term Paid Search traffic and a 13% increase in product led Paid Search traffic, which generated a 21% increase in incremental conversions.
These results indicate that Meta campaigns can drive paid searches. As a result, we have and will continue to fuel IPG’s end-to-end marketing tool Interact with Search Lift results. We will apply key learnings to future campaign planning for increased market speed and agility. This will encourage both immediate sales results and long-term growth opportunities driven through stronger brands and consumer connections.
Why should brands consider running a meta search lift study?
There are multiple challenges, as well as opportunities, that advertisers need to address to make their media spend efficient and measurable, which Search Lift supports:
- Search Lift is great for clients investing in paid search and paid social and ideal for those advertisers that want to identify the halo effect paid social has on search.
- The continued cookie deprecation means cookie-based attribution becomes even less reliable for brands. Search Lift enables advertisers to track the incremental value of engaging with a consumer journey on a website.
- As the path to conversion is longer, more complex and could occur directly from a brand’s website, Search Lift enables advertisers to measure user journeys beyond the click or a view – providing more intelligence on campaign performance.
- Search Lift quantifies branded, generic and organic search website visits driven by Meta Ads. As part of the Search lift study methodology, you can quantify the percentage of consumers who searched for your brand and visited your website after seeing your Meta ad campaign.
For advertisers, performance and proof of investment are crucial components for any advertising campaign. With marketing budgets continuing to feel a squeeze and increasingly competitive marketplaces, it’s vital that advertisers stay ahead of their competition by understanding how and where their audiences are searching, the impact on the wider marketing mix and overall performance.
KINESSO UK&I’s research uncovered that Meta’s Search Lift tool delivers the rationale and investment confidence brands need. It provides a comprehensive view of the incremental impact Meta campaigns deliver for paid search traffic.