DoubleClick released a study this morning showing that about half of online purchases come only after a relevant search. These searches sometimes happen well before the actual purchase, often weeks earlier. Most searches employed generic search terms, such as product category names rather than brand names, although branded search terms were used more immediately prior to purchase. DoubleClick’s analysis notes that companies tracking search term return on investment may be misled if they consider only the last search term used prior to conversion, missing the importance of the more numerous generic searches.

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