Atlas Institute looks at impact of navigational behavior on paid search

Seattle—The Atlas Institute, an online advertising research unit that is part of Microsoft Corp.’s aQuantive, released a report examining the effect of navigational behavior on paid search.

The report found that 71% of sponsored search is navigational (the user is looking for something in particular), and that branded search words account for more than 50% of search dollars.

The study also found that 48.3% of clicks were from users who had already been to an advertiser’s site.

In addition, 59.6% of clicks came from branded key phrases, which represent 34.2% of overall search budgets

The report concludes that based on navigational search behavior, the user is already family with the advertiser, and advertisers may have an inflated view of the value of navigational clicks.

—Kate Maddox