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A Large-Scale Field Experiment to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Paid Search Advertising

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  • Goette, Lorenz
  • Coviello, Lorenzo
  • Gneezy, Uri

Abstract

Companies spend billions of dollars online for paid links to branded search terms. Measuring the effectiveness of this marketing spending is hard. Blake, Nosko and Tadelis (2015) ran an experiment with eBay, showing that when the company suspended paid search, most of the traffic still ended up on its website. Can findings from one of the largest companies in the world be generalized? We conducted a similar experiment with Edmunds.com, arguably a more representative company, and found starkly different results. More than half of the paid traffic is lost when we shut off paid-links search. These results suggest money spent on search-engine marketing may be more effective than previously documented

Suggested Citation

  • Goette, Lorenz & Coviello, Lorenzo & Gneezy, Uri, 2017. "A Large-Scale Field Experiment to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Paid Search Advertising," CEPR Discussion Papers 12333, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12333
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas Blake & Chris Nosko & Steven Tadelis, 2015. "Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large‐Scale Field Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 155-174, January.
    2. Randall Lewis & David Reiley, 2014. "Advertising Effectively Influences Older Users: How Field Experiments Can Improve Measurement and Targeting," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(2), pages 147-159, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrey Simonov & Shawndra Hill, 2021. "Competitive Advertising on Brand Search: Traffic Stealing and Click Quality," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(5), pages 923-945, September.
    2. Massimo Motta & Antonio Penta, 2022. "Market effects of sponsored search auctions," Economics Working Papers 1844, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    3. Harang Ju & Michael Zhao & Sinan Aral, 2025. "Complementarity Between Paid and Organic Installs in Mobile App Advertising," Papers 2504.16151, arXiv.org.
    4. Chalil, Tengku Munawar & Dahana, Wirawan Dony & Baumann, Chris, 2020. "How do search ads induce and accelerate conversion? The moderating role of transaction experience and organizational type," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 324-336.
    5. Sviták, Jan & Tichem, Jan & Haasbeek, Stefan, 2021. "Price effects of search advertising restrictions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Weijia Dai & Hyunjin Kim & Michael Luca, 2023. "Frontiers: Which Firms Gain from Digital Advertising? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 429-439, May.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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