Consumers Are Moving Beyond the Legacy SERP. Advertisers Must Follow Suit.

In business, the old adage is that the customer is always right. But when it comes to building a relevant, reliable, and engaging search experience, it’s the path of the consumer that’s always right. Today, that path is increasingly fragmented with consumers increasingly skipping the search engine results page (SERP) in favor of the open web.

For years, search was dominated by a single platform: the SERP. But as we know, technology is a fickle beast. Despite the best efforts of a dominant player and the monopolistic control it exuded over this space, new technologies have emerged and become ingratiated in our everyday lives. The seismic shift in search advertising has begun, and the industry must now ask: Where are consumers searching, and how can advertisers reach them across both existing and emerging channels?

Beyond the Legacy SERP: Defining Search on the Open Web

As the cornerstone of search advertising, the search engine results page is easily one of the most pervasive channels across the internet. But it’s an environment that offers many limitations and restrictions for search advertisers, and one that provides a rather rigid and inefficient search experience for consumers.

The open web, in contrast, is a dynamic and expansive environment, as it fosters innovation and transparency. Search on the open web affords consumers the ability to find relevant results — wherever they may choose to start their search — without being forced or funneled to the SERP.

Consumer Search Starts Here: Why More Users Are Flocking to the Open Web

The consumer journey is ever-evolving. With the breadth of technologies and channels readily available today, that journey has never been more complex or fragmented. This creates a tangled tapestry for brands to navigate and reach their target consumers.

For instance, more and more consumers today interact with multiple touch points before making a single purchase. And many of those channels, including privacy browsers, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and shopping apps, and editorial influencer sites compose the open web. This is why 58% of consumers start their journey off the SERP and favor curated search experiences on the open web that cater directly to consumer intent, delivering relevant and timely results.

As a result, the open web and all of these various channels offer valuable opportunities for advertisers to connect with and convert consumers through intent-driven search experiences. No longer constrained by the rigidity of the SERP, brands can engage consumers earlier in their journey and approach the path to purchase with technological progress. For instance, AI and machine learning can help curate content to provide a more natural experience that encourages discoverability.

The Market Opportunity for Native Search on the Open Web

The marketplace is expanding beyond the SERP and the opportunity is vast. According to figures from the Google search antitrust trial, consumer spend from searches beginning outside the SERP could surpass $675 billion by next year. With close to $12 billion in spend coming from searches that skip the SERP entirely, it’s clear the next wave of search lies in the open web.

By embracing native search on the open web, advertisers can reach consumers across valuable moments of intent whenever and wherever they search. The open web allows brands to tap into a level of relevance and a window of innovation that extends beyond the limitations of the SERP to grow market share, acquire new customer bases, and ultimately beat out their competition to win the auction more often and increase share of voice.

How to Reach Next-Gen Consumers on the Open Web

Consumer search habits continue to evolve due to emerging technologies like generative AI and algorithmic interference. In tandem, today’s consumers also expect immediate, personalized, and relevant results — something the SERP has gotten much less adept at delivering. 

Brands must face the fact that the days of depending solely on the SERP for their search marketing efforts are over. In today’s world, search is omnipresent, influencing everything from product recommendations on retail websites to contextual ads on publisher pages.

For instance, a consumer researching and comparing features for a television on a review site could be served a dynamically placed ad for a product that perfectly adheres to the specifications they desire. Similarly, a consumer browsing on a shopping app for a wedding outfit could immediately be presented with a discount code from a brand they previously purchased from in the past, effectively ending their search before it begins with a highly relevant, intent-driven experience powered by their past behavior that greatly reduces their path to purchase.

With premium media opportunities on the open web, advertisers can capture and shape consumer intent toward their brand and products before they consider or even interact with competitor brands.

The Future of Search Marketing Will Be Untethered from the SERP

Native search advertising is not just the next frontier; it’s the future of search...period. As we move beyond the era of value extraction and diminishing returns, this new era will prioritize transparency, relevance, and innovation.

For marketers, this shift represents a great opportunity. The open web offers scale and access to consumers that are expressing intent. As a result, they can deliver results that are not only measurable but relevant. 

Brands that embrace this new paradigm will be best positioned to succeed in a landscape where search is no longer confined to search engines, but woven into the fabric of a much more expansive and exciting ecosystem. In fact, in ten years, searching on the SERP will most likely seem rather quaint, and could inevitably join dial-up as one of those bygone “can you believe we used to do this” technologies. Don’t get left behind.

This article was originally published on Business Reporter and The Independent.