Study finds link between search engine use and brand building

A recent study by Wunderman, BrandAsset Consulting, ZAAZ and Compete shows that a consumer's choice of search engine could give a glimpse into their psyche and affect brand loyalty.

by Helen Leggatt

ZAAZ's CEO, Shane Atchison, suggests search marketers think of search engines as trains. Yes, trains. "Each train provides a different set of unique results or 'destinations.' Consumer preference for a specific train demonstrates a unique demographic and psychographic profile," he says.

Atchison's analogy stems from a joint study which found that Bing, Yahoo and Google attract users of different demographic and psychographic profiles. For instance, Bing is shown to attract early adopters, Google is a magnet for the average Internet users and Yahoo users tend to be older and more stuck in their ways.

The study also revealed that consumers who found what they were looking for on a search engine had an increased loyalty to that search engine and with the brand searched for.

In conclusion, the study found two distinct reasons why different brands do better with different search engines - it's all about who the consumer is and which road (shouldn't that be train?) they take.

Study finds link between search engine use and brand building

A recent study by Wunderman, BrandAsset Consulting, ZAAZ and Compete shows that a consumer's choice of search engine could give a glimpse into their psyche and affect brand loyalty.

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