Until recently, Google has dominated search. It has been the main stomping ground for consumers looking to buy products, visit sites, or conduct research.

However, the nature of search is changing, especially on mobile devices.

My own search behavior is a prime example. As a frequent traveler, I go straight to Kayak.com to search for flights. When I’m looking to buy a consumer product, I often sidestep Google entirely and go right to Amazon, eBay or PriceGrabber.

Recent research proves that I’m not alone in this and that consumer search behavior is evolving.

According to comScore, searches conducted on traditional search services — a category that is dominated by Google – declined 3 percent in the second half of last year. Meanwhile, searches on topical sites — known as vertical search — climbed 8 percent. In fact, The New York Times recently reported that Amazon maintains a larger share of shopping searches than Google does.

While vertical search has been steadily growing for years, the increase in Web addresses and the rise of mobile technology are key causes of the recent spike in growth.

At Magnetic, we remember what you’ve been searching for and use that to figure out which display ad to show you, so we are constantly considering the evolution of search behaviors across screens and what it means for marketers and publishers. What we’ve noticed is that searchers tend to conduct searches for products in three distinct stages:

Initial Search

Searches made on search engines – also known as core search – represent a large portion of consumer search behavior at 8.3 billion searches/month (as of February 2013).

When consumers begin their search quest, a common behavior is to initiate their online journey by visiting a core search engine such as Google. At this point, search queries are typically generic terms like “laptop computer” or “travel tips for Europe.” Potential customers at this stage are not planning to make a purchase or even looking for a specific product – they are instead exploring their options or looking for broader information.

Specific Search

As people explore the options provided by Google, they quickly move out of the search engine and visit topical sites – such as Best Buy or Apple – and carry out specific searches. Although the initial search activity often originates in Google, a majority of the follow-up searches – “specific searches” – have shifted to vertical and topical sites.

According to Google, in just five years, the Internet has gone from 1 trillion Web addresses to 30 trillion. With the addition of many more top-level domains coming over the next year, that explosion is continuing unabated. With so many sites and so much information at consumers’ fingertips, it’s increasingly common for users to skip search engines all together and conduct their specific searches within vertical or topical sites.

During this phase, data plays a key role for advertisers. Search terms and search patterns during the consideration process create important opportunities for marketers to engage consumers.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land recently told The New York Times, “You have millions of people a day saying exactly what they want, and if you’re an advertiser, it’s a beautiful vehicle.”

This window of opportunity enables marketers to influence brand preference before consumers make their final decision.

Specific searches are also becoming more popular with the rise of smartphones. For example, consumers often go straight to apps like Weather.com, Yelp, Kayak or ESPN. In some instances, mobile apps eliminate the need for search all together and push information out to consumers such as flight delays or news headlines.

Apps are both Google’s biggest threat and greatest opportunity (lest we forget, Google owns half of the smartphone traffic through Android.)

Revised Search

Another common occurrence is the revised search phase in which consumers often return to Google. They come equipped with a revised search based on information they’ve gathered across apps, vertical and topical sites.

In the example of a laptop computer search, they might revise their search to “HP Pavilion dv6t-7000.” At this point, they have most likely conducted searches across many sites, over minutes, hours, days or even weeks. Unfortunately, by this phase, the retargeting and influence window of opportunity has already passed.

Although the initial search may begin in Google, vertical and branded sites are on Google’s heels with an increasingly larger share of searches. And, mobile apps will emphasize the trend.

If you agree with our “three stages of search,” then you’ll probably also agree that the most valuable time to reach someone is in the initial or specific search stages, depending on how far down the purchase funnel you want to reach someone. If you wait all the way until someone is conducting their revised search, then you only have one variable to compete on: price. Not many of us want to be in that position.

The good news is that we as marketers can develop strategies that align specifically with this changing consumer behavior. For publishers and e-commerce players, this means you can develop product offerings to take advantage of the data under your roof.

While Google isn’t going anywhere, the way it’s used has changed. As a result, other publishers will chip away at Google’s market share, creating an opportunity for advertisers to reach audiences at the ripest time, using the proper search data and consumer touch points.

In my experience there are digital agencies that have excellent, skilled people working on search. Somewhere in close proximity there is an excellent, skilled colleague or even a whole team working on display. Each has useful and plentiful data. Each buys performance-based media. This data possessed by the search team can help target display ads. Likewise, the data possessed by the display team… You get the picture.

My point here is that display and search have found a very profitable intersection, but to capitalize on the opportunity, these two teams need a stronger connection. Unlike traditional media such as TV and billboards, which are clearly used for brand awareness, digital channels have more crossovers between awareness and direct response (DR) strategies.

Data Sharing Can Drive Search & Display Strategies

Display & search - Are search marketers becoming the new media planners?- Image by Chango

Today, with the copious amounts of data and inventory available in digital channels, there is more opportunity for digital strategies to be part of both the DR and branding camps.

In fact, search agencies have an excellent opportunity to expand their overall presence by combining search and display data. The underlying problem is the complete independence of the two functions within their walls, when they should be interdependent.

This interdependence will take some commitment at the C-level.

If they can get display and search teams working together, search agencies can influence “early funnel” purchase decisions. Data can inform creative. That way, a brand can hit different potential customers with different messages depending on their online behavior and stated preferences.

Additionally, by working more closely with display folks, search teams can expand their SEM campaigns, allowing them to increase scale and achieve more effective pricing by utilizing search data alongside display inventory.

Search Retargeting Brings Both Sides Together

Today, display budgets are rising faster than search budgets. There’s a good reason for that. The dynamic creative technology described above makes display easier to optimize and still far less expensive  than the other 2012 hot spot, online video.

Search retargeting campaigns will be the intersection of the two. Search retargeting established itself as a display medium in 2011. It will prove to be the best intent-based media in 2012.

Get these two functions and teams working together and media plans will be tighter. A good media plan is not a boilerplate. There are multiple line items on any given media plan from search, display, retargeting, mobile and more.

However, if one channel works well, should you be buying on another?

For example, if search is giving off strong results, should you be utilizing digital display at all? And, if you are deploying a digital display strategy, where should you buy it? It has become more critical than ever to truly understand the foundation of all ad campaigns, the media plan.

In 2012, as brand awareness and direct response channels become blurred, agencies will become more interdependent. I predict that as technology gets smarter, so will agencies in the way that they strategically plan their clients’ budgets.

So enjoy the holidays, but make a New Year’s resolution to knock down the walls that separate your search and display teams. Chances are you’ll get the gift of better performance all year through.