Informational, transactional, and navigational need of information: relevance of search intention in search engine advertising

This study investigates the impact of search query intention when evaluating and managing search engine advertising. Specifically, we study whether the performance of a search engine advertising campaign depends on the informational, transactional, and navigational search intentions and also consider the appearance of an organic result alongside a search engine advertisement on the same search engine results page. Both, search intention and organic presence significantly affect some performance indicators of search engine advertising. Advertising ranking as well as click and conversion metrics are influenced by search intention and organic presence. Advertisers may consequently assign advertising budgets according to the dominant search intention in line with their advertising objectives. With the help of search engine optimization, advertisers can also influence the organic presence on the search engine results pages. In summary, theory and practice need to include search intention and organic presence in search engine advertising management.