Why search needs to be combined with awareness for maximum impact

This has been a point of common knowledge for most of us in search for 10 years but even now I hear the same arguments from clients who are trying to justify budget trimming or just don’t understand that search can’t effectively do brand awareness (no matter what your Google rep might tell you).

That said, not so long ago I did a quick and dirty column correlation analysis between brand specific local GRPs in various DMAs and search impressions and you know what I found? Bupkiss. No relationship, even when factoring for delays of 1, 2 and 7 days. So who the hell knows anymore?