Nearly one-third of the 35 million Americans who carried out travel-related searches in April afterward bought, online or offline, a travel service within eight weeks, according to a new study by Yahoo, comScore, and media shop Media Contacts, reports MediaPost. Of those who made a purchase, 80 percent did so online. Many purchases - both online and offline - occurred some time after the initial search session. "The latent and multi-channel effects of search are particularly noteworthy," according to James Lamberti, vice president of comScore search marketing solutions.

Some 56 percent of respondents said search helped them discover a new site, and 27 percent said search led them to a new brand. "This study shows what search can do for brand awareness," said Bradley King, travel category director for Yahoo Search Marketing.

Eighty-two percent of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their use of online search for travel.