Paid search advertising across stages of the customer shopping journey: a shopping goal theory perspective

Purpose Advertisers utilize paid search ads and bid on the branded keywords of companies that are ranked organically in search results to acquire customers from their competitors. Understanding of the actual effect of the advertisers on organically ranked companies is vague and underdeveloped. As a response, this study examines the impact of paid search ads on organically ranked companies. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a social constructivist perspective and utilizing a netnographic approach, the present study examines the effect that advertisers have on organically ranked companies and explores how advertisers utilize branded keywords to target customers throughout their shopping journey. Findings The present study concludes with a framework that expands theoretical understanding of paid search ads and addresses the inconclusiveness and contradictory findings in the literature. In practical terms, it provides insights that organically ranked companies could utilize to strategize paid search ads in a way that defends their customers from advertisers, regardless of customers' stage in the shopping journey. Originality/value The present study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first to explore the effects of paid search ads on organically ranked companies using a holistic approach. The approach includes analysis of the key factors that are recognized to explain customer clicks, namely positioning, impression and promotional messages, and it is applied across all stages of a customer's shopping journey.