Masha Geller outlines findings from Hitwise's recently-released Search Brand Management White Paper.

When people search for your brand, what do they find?

Millions of dollars are spent each year on brand advertising and brand tracking, but according to the latest research, search results often end up with a brand's competitors among the first sponsored results.

Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence service, has released the Hitwise Search Brand Management White Paper that outlines best practices for monitoring brand traffic, protecting brands online, bidding on brands and online brand tracking.

For starters, Hitwise Research shows that internet users are increasingly searching by brand-- 75 of the top 100 search terms across all categories in February 2006 contained brand names, an increase of 17 percent versus February 2005.

More importantly, one of the paper's key findings shows that an average of 85 percent of brand name searches resulted in a visit to one of the brand owner's websites. The remaining 15 percent of visits went to competitors, affiliates and price comparison websites, underscoring the importance of managing your brand through search online.

"The fact that one in seven brand searches does not end up at that brand's website demonstrates just how competitive it is to do business on the internet," said LeeAnn Prescott, senior research analyst at Hitwise and author of the Search Brand Management White Paper.

What's a brand to do?

"Understanding where traffic from brand related searches goes, and how competitors and affiliates are capitalizing on brand search terms will allow online marketers to optimize their campaigns, keyword lists, marketing promotions and affiliate relationships to gain a larger share of traffic," says Prescott.

The first step in online brand management is to identify what sites are receiving visits from brand searches, misspellings, and brand related search phrases. For example, while a major travel brand received 90 percent of the traffic from its own brand searches, an affiliate received 2.5 percent of that traffic, accounting for a large share of the affiliate's traffic, thus driving up the price of the term and slowing down the user experience.

Also, while some marketers may feel it is not necessary to bid on their own brand name, it allows their ad to appear among competitors' ads for optimal placement. It also allows them to control the text of the ad, and possibly include a differentiating offer or new product information, as in the case of a search for "dove" on Google.

And finally, search engine queries can be considered a form of unaided brand recall, and monitoring trends in the seasonality and breadth of search terms containing the brand name allows marketers to better understand how consumers perceive the brand as well as determine the impact of product launches and public relations efforts.

The Hitwise Search Brand Management White Paper is based on analysis done in February 2006 among 30 leading online brands in the Travel, Retail, and Business & Finance categories defining best practices for search engine brand management and tracking brand strength online.

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