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    Airbnb dominates in search sentiment report

    The findings illustrate the importance of long-term consistency and managing search volume to maintain strong customer sentiment.

    Airbnb is the leading advertiser in search sentiment, closely trailed by Viacom and Netflix, according to a new analysis of 100 top advertisers.

    Why we care. Looking at search sentiment can help marketers better understand how consumers feel about them in real-time and what contributes to brand loyalty and sustainability. AirBnB made a significant shift from search marketing to brand marketing. As they have taken the lead in this search sentiment report, it will pique the curiosity of other advertisers to go down the same path to improve their customer sentiment ranking.

    The big picture. The findings illustrate what it takes to have strong customer sentiment for an extended period. 

    • Brands with positive sentiment are likely to maintain it over 15 months, and the same applies to negative sentiment. 
    • Long-term perception has a major impact on sentiment. Consistency over time is better for long-term sentiment.
    Share of Time when monthly Sentiment matches Long Term
73% - Brands with Positive Sentiment
61% Brands with Negative Sentiment

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    Volume and sentiment. There is no direct correlation between search volume and sentiment. However, search volume can enhance sentiment, serving as an amplifier, which advertisers should consider in their strategies. 

    • For instance, if a company has positive sentiment but low search volume, focusing on campaigns to increase volume would be beneficial. 
    • Conversely, launching ads to counter negativity and promote a positive message could be effective for those with negative sentiments but high volume.
    correlation between search volume and sentiment.

    Top 10 advertisers by search activity. Airbnb, ViacomCBS and Netflix were the top three ranked brands. The others were:

    • Compagnie Financiere Richemont
    • NBA
    • Inspire Brands
    • Sony Group Corp.
    • P&G
    • Apple
    • Walt Disney Co.

    Top advertisers by industry. These were the top advertisers across 10 categories analyzed in the report: 

    • Travel: Airbnb
    • Retail: Compagnie Financiere Richemont
    • Consumer packaged goods: Procter and Gamble
    • Financial services: American Express
    • Restaurants: Inspire Brands
    • Entertainment and media: ViacomCBS
    • Automotive: Volkswagon
    • Telecom: T-Mobile
    • Consumer technology: Apple
    • Alcohol: AbInBev

    About the data. The analysis was conducted by Captify (registration required), which collects data from over 1 billion searches on 3 million websites across 2 billion devices daily.


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    About the Author

    Anu Adegbola

    Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.

    In 2008, Anu started her career delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side. Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event - PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPC Live The Podcast.

    She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US, UK, Munich, Berlin), Friends of Search (Amsterdam, NL), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna, IT) and more.