Our somewhat non-traditional, strategic use of SEM taught us that we could influence the purchase decision through the bid process by driving search down the funnel to known opportunities.
Brand advertising creates awareness, favorability and consideration at the top of the funnel, while search slightly overlaps with consideration and intent to purchase.
Second, because display ads drive consumers down the funnel so that they click more on search ads and eventually become a customer, this process also increases overall ad cost due to additional search clicks.
It also has added to the company's clout because as a browser maker it can help define the kinds of new graphical features that can be used by sites across the Web as well as helping Google funnel Web surfers to its dominant Internet-search engine, the top driver of Google's revenue.