Because search users rely on brand search terms late in the buying cycle, marketers end up giving all the credit to such terms that tend to be the last click before a sale, writes MediaPost, citing a report by search engine marketing firm 360i. The highest conversion rates are from searchers using brand terms at the beginning and end of their searches - 9.3 percent - but searches that begin with a non-brand term and end with a brand term have only a slightly lower conversion rate of 8.73 percent, according to the study.

Marketers should therefore take a more strategic look at campaigns, says David Berkowitz, author of the study and director of strategic planning at 360i. "One thing that marketers can and should be doing is manage the brand and non-brand terms together - holistically; (but) they're often seen as two separate entities," he is quoted as saying.

The study also found that conversion rates increase when users search on more unique keywords and then encounter a marketer's ad. Marketers should therefore also pay attention to the "long tail" and not focus just on a few brand keywords, Berkowitz said.