Pay per click attribution. Effects on direct search traffic and purchases.

Abstract

This research focuses on the relationship between advertising performance (search engine marketing (SEM), display advertising, affiliate marketing) and brand advertising (public relations, television, radio, print). It starts from a common assumption in the industry that SEM does not help brand awareness, merely enhances visibility and increases the chances of converting traffic into sales while pay-per-click (PPC) investment is maintained. The thesis integrates 3 studies combining 2 epistemological and methodological approaches, both quantitative and qualitative, to evaluate the effects of SEM on parameters such as direct traffic (DT), search engine results pages (SERPs), conversion rate (CR), and brand awareness. The first explanatory (experimental) study explores the effects of SEM on DT and CR in the UK, using the billboard effect as the basis for analysis. The second study, based on an introspective-experiential interpretivist approach and a mixed (multi-method) design, interprets and explains, through the phenomenological-hermeneutic method, the meaning of brand awareness for subjects of the study. The third explanatory study, conducted across 6 countries, compares the effects of SEM (Google Ads) on SERPs and brand awareness for investment and non-investment by an online travel agency in marketing. _x000D_ The novel contributions of the thesis lie in how it availed of a huge volume of real-time company data in different countries and its use of several robust methods to analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative information using SPSS version 25.0 and ATLAS.ti 9.1, respectively. The results points to favorable effects of SEM on DT (especially paid search), CR, and SERPs, as well as on the meaning users attach to brand awareness. This would suggest that digital marketing strategies strengthen the link between users and OTAs. The comprehensive approach of this research allowed unprecedented theoretical reticulation to be achieved regarding digital marketing on the basis of the explanations and interpretations derived from this study, potentially making decision-making adjusted to the demands of organizations in the 21st century more viable.

Date of Award	30 Oct 2023
Original language	English
Supervisor	Joan Llonch Andreu (Director)