You don't say!

According to a recent, rather self-serving study, search marketing is an excellent brand-building tool for consumer packaged goods advertisers, according to Google (via MediaPost).

The study was called "Brand Value of Search."

2400 survey respondents were exposed to a generic search term like "drinks or make-up." Then they were asked to take a brand survey which measured aided brand awareness, unaided brand awareness, purchase consideration, and purchase intent.

Awareness decreased when a brand did not feature in four major categories — beverage, cosmetic, food/snack, household cleaning/laundry — but its competitor did.

"Typically, ROI models for search don't give any value to a search impression, but this study finds that there's brand value in a search impression, particularly in top-of-mind awareness and purchase intent," said Kevin Kells, Google's CPG Industry Director.

By and large, the survey supports the notion that brand presence on a search results page, no matter where, positively impacts brand metrics.

A recent survey found Google accounted for 77.4 percent of US search engine ad spend in Q2. And for every dollar spent on search ads in that quarter, Google made about $1.10.