Search ads vs Display ads: which and when?
Search wins on intent and conversion rates for capturing demand. Display wins on reach, awareness, and remarketing. Use Search to capture and Display to create demand and re-engage, not one instead of the other.
Search ads capture people actively looking for what you offer, delivering high intent and conversion rates, while Display ads reach people across the web to build awareness and remarket. Search is demand capture, Display is demand creation and remarketing. They serve different funnel jobs, so the question is usually how to use each, not which to choose.
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Get your auditBook a call| Dimension | Search ads | Display ads |
|---|---|---|
| User intent | High, actively searching | Low, browsing |
| Conversion rate | Higher | Lower |
| Reach | Limited to searchers | Broad, across the web |
| Cost per click | Higher | Lower |
| Awareness building | Limited | Strong |
| Remarketing | Search remarketing lists | Strong visual remarketing |
| Waste risk | Lower with good structure | Higher, needs placement control |
| Funnel role | Capture, lower funnel | Create and re-engage, upper |
- You want to capture people actively searching to buy
- Conversion rate and efficiency are the priority
- You are focused on lower-funnel demand capture
- You want tight control over which queries you serve
- Immediate response matters more than reach
- You want broad reach and awareness building
- You are remarketing to prior visitors visually
- You want cheaper impressions for upper-funnel goals
- You are creating demand among non-searchers
- Visual creative can carry your message
Display's cheaper clicks are tempting but misleading if compared directly to Search, because Display's intent and conversion rate are far lower. A cheap Display click that never converts is more expensive than a costly Search click that does. Display also carries higher waste risk from poor placements, so it needs active placement control. Judge each on cost per conversion in its funnel role, not on headline click cost, since the two are doing fundamentally different jobs.
This is not a migration, since the two serve different funnel stages. The standard structure is Search for demand capture and Display for awareness and remarketing, with careful placement exclusions on Display to control waste. Do not cut Search to fund Display on the basis of cheaper clicks, and do not expect Display to convert like Search. Use each for its job and measure accordingly.
Numbers on this page are illustrative benchmarks or model outputs, not guaranteed returns. Actual performance depends on your account history, offer, margin, and competitive set. Nothing here is financial advice or a warranty of results.
Disclosure. iClick manages both Search and Display for clients and favours neither by default. This comparison reflects the honest reality that the two serve different funnel roles, which iClick advises on rather than pushing whichever has cheaper headline metrics.
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