Exploring the relationship between search queries, ad clicks and affiliate transactions.

1. Funnel Vision, From Search to Clicks
Understanding and Influencing the Purchasing Funnel

2. Introduction
Everyone wants to own a piece of the purchasing
funnel, that elusive customer journey that (ideally)
ends with the purchase of a product or service.
For the funnel to operate in the online marketplace, retailers need buyers, buyers
need information, information publishers need advertising partners, and those
partners need access to receptive audiences.
But the process is far from assured. At any stage buyers can spill out from a leaky
funnel, disappearing offline before clicking or buying.
TechRadar understands the route
from original search query all the
way to conversion, and we use this
knowledge to plug those leaks.
Techradar.com | 2

3. This research explores a key point in the funnel, specifically the link between search queries, click-
through rates and conversion rates. What search queries are more likely to
convert for affiliates and which ones result in the best click-
through rate for advertisers? Are there some queries that work
well for both?
The data reveals the search terms that most often lead to successful funnel purchases or click-
throughs, and TechRadar’s articles are always there, on the front page , ensuring advertisers and
affiliates have the highest chance of success.
The consumer is ultimately in control of their own online journey,
but with the right data and strategy, advertisers, affiliates and
publishers can reinforce a key funnel component and boost
conversion and click-through rates.
61%
25%
of successful affiliate transactions
came from people searching for a
‘best-of’ list
of ad click-throughs came
from people searching for a
specific product
Techradar.com | 3

4. Affiliates and Search -
‘Best-of’ Friends
To investigate the link between search
queries and affiliate sales, we traced
every sale all the way back to the start
of the purchasing funnel.
Each query was grouped by product category and then by
intent, to find out who ended up following through with a
purchase.
Over a 90-day period, people looking for computing and
laptops, phones, and cameras made up almost half of the
product search queries that led to an affiliate transaction.
These were the most powerful indicators of funnel success
and suggest the more mature technologies attract the most
affiliate dollars.
Top search queries that led to affiliate transactions,
grouped by product category
22.1%
Computing &
Laptops
17.4%
Phones
10.5%
Cameras
8.7%
Tablets
8.4%
Events
(see page 6)
8.2%
Audio
7.4%
Wearables
6.9%
PC Gaming
5.1%
Console Gaming
1.6%
Software
2.3%
Television
Techradar.com | 4

5. Grouped by intent, the results were
stark. Over 60% of the successful
affiliate transactions originated
from a search for a ‘best-of’ list.
This suggests that people who are uninformed at
the start of their journey are most open to affiliate
offers. Contrast this to just 5% of affiliate transactions
that originated from a specific product search, where
knowledge is clearly already more crystalized and
less open to suggestion.
On average over the entire 90-day period,
TechRadar ranked first or second in almost
all the search results for ‘best-of’ queries,
from phones to cameras to wearables.
These high rankings for one of the search terms
most likely to lead to a sale secures a high rate of
click-through to our articles, ensuring the funnel is
optimized for our eCommerce partners.
Top search queries that led to
affiliate transactions, grouped by intent
60.6%
Best-of list
15.3%
Deal
(see page 6)
5.1%
Product
3.9%
Cost
4.1%
Technology
specifications
3.6%
Company
2.7%
Where to buy 1.3%
Reviews
Techradar.com | 5

6. Special Case Study
Amazon Prime Day fell within the 90-day
period and had a significant impact on
both the product category and intent.
People searching for Amazon Prime Day made up almost all
of the 8.4% of the searches for an ‘event’ who then went on to
complete an affiliate transaction. And almost half of the 15.3%
of people searching for a ‘deal’ who went on to buy a product
were looking specifically for Amazon Prime Day deals.
The power of a single event and single retailer is laid bare in
these results, and underscores the need for publishers to be
first in the search results for major retail events.
TechRadar consistently ranked on the first search page for
all Amazon queries throughout the event.
of successful affiliate sales linked to an ‘event’ search were for Amazon Prime Day
of successful affiliate sales linked to ‘deal’ searches were for Amazon Prime Day
98%
49%

7. Adding up the clicks
Online advertising has gone from non-existent to over
$200 billion in a little over 20 years, according to data from
eMarketer. But as the industry has grown, so has the necessity
for audience segmentation and precise targeting to effectively
draw consumers into the brand or purchasing funnel.
Based on direct advertising campaigns over a 90-day period, TechRadar’s data shows that
31% of the search queries that led to ad clicks were for phones. This can be explained by the
ubiquity of phone searches and TechRadar’s leading coverage of every handset, which naturally
drew a large proportion of the sample traffic onto the site.
Software queries made up around 15% of the search queries that led to ad clicks, while
searches for specific TechRadar pages made up another 10%. The volume of searches and the
number of TechRadar pages matching these queries were the key driver of these metrics, which
is why some product categories show a smaller share of the search queries leading to ad clicks.
However, nearly all the search query terms led to pages with a click-through
rate (CTR) higher than the industry average, based on Google’s display
benchmark CTRs of 0.19%. So even if there were fewer searches for some categories,
those that did land on a TechRadar page were more likely to lead to an ad click-through than
the industry average. Top search queries that led to ad clicks,
grouped by product category
6.7%
Wearables
14.6%
Software
31.2%
Phones
7.7%
Tablets
8.5%
Computing & Laptops
4.6%
Cameras
Techradar.com | 7

8. When grouped by intent, searches for specific products and best-of lists each commanded around a quarter of the
top ad clicks. This contrasts with the affiliate data which was heavily skewed towards best-of search queries, and
suggests that both uninformed consumers and ones who already had a specific product in mind can be persuaded
to click through to adverts.
Click-through rates within TechRadar’s 90-day sample were higher than industry benchmarks
94% of the time, and almost two thirds of the queries led to pages with click-through rates
two, three or even four times the industry average. By stepping back, all the way to the
search query that originally led a person to an ad click, advertisers can tip the funnel towards
the pages best suited to those queries, and start counting more clicks.
27.9%
Best-of List
24.9%
Product
10.1%
Rumors &
release dates
9.1%
TechRadar
brand
7.1%
Company
5.7%
Reviews
4.7%
Specific
query 3.0%
Compare products
3.6%
Cost
1.7%
Technology
specifications
Top search queries that led to ad clicks, grouped by intent
Techradar.com | 8

9. Middle Ground - A Place for Ads and Affiliates
Display advertising and affiliate marketing are not
mutually exclusive. Traditionally marketeers have kept
a distance between the two, but our findings suggest
that there are instances where both display and affiliate
marketing can generate a substantial number of clicks
and sales.
TechRadar’s data shows that this happy medium is most-pronounced in best-of
search queries for secondary technology like cameras, audio and wearables (see
page 10), while best-of phone, computing and laptop searches were buoyed by
affiliate conversion but also scored highly for ad click-throughs.
Whereas the ever-popular search for phones scored highly in both affiliate and
advertising success, they originated from very different search intentions (best-of
phone searches turned into affiliate sales and product specific phone search meant
higher click-through rates for advertising).
It’s perhaps unsurprising that the middle ground is dominated by ‘best-of’ search
intent. Where consumers are undecided, looking for advice, and open to suggestion,
so their receptiveness to all forms of marketing will increase.
TechRadar’s understanding of the data behind click-
throughs and conversion success drives our funnel
strategy, enhancing advertising and eCommerce
achievement for our partners, in some cases at the same
time.
Budgets are always being stretched, and the decision to spend on affiliate marketing
or display advertising often comes down to the loudest voice in the room but with
the right strategy, both can contribute to an effective purchasing funnel.
Techradar.com | 9

10. Middle Ground: The relationships between search queries, ad clicks and affiliate conversion.
Phones100
75
50
25
0
0 25 50 75 100
Software
Software
Tablets
PC Gaming
Cameras
Computing &
LaptopsPhones
Wearables
Audio
Computer
& Laptops
Tablets
Wearables
Best-of list Product
Affiliate Score Index
Adscoreindex
Product search type: Cameras
Search intent: Best-of List (bubble color)
Affiliate score index: 38.04 (x-axis)
Ad score index: 26.41 (y-axis)
Number of search clicks: 406,931 (bubble size)
EXAMPLE
Search queries for a list of the best cameras
generated strong affiliate sales and ad clicks with
a combined score of 64, originating from
407,000 search clicks. By comparison, the average
combined score across all product and intent
categories was 13.

11. Searching through the TechRadar funnel
The purchasing funnel is a dispassionate explanation
for what is actually a very emotional process. Behind
every click-through or ring of the till is a person - a
teenager looking for an impressive new phone, a
businessman replacing a work weary laptop, or a
grandparent looking for a camera.
Tracing these consumers to their digital beginnings by mapping search queries to
advertising or affiliate marketing success, provides valuable insight at the start of
the consumer process.
To ensure the funnel doesn’t leak immediately, the most relevant, targeted
advert or affiliate link must appear on the sites these consumers turn to – those
that consistently rank at the top for these search terms.
TechRadar does just that. It is one of the most popular online technology
publications and shows highly competitive organic search rankings for every
major tech term on both sides of the Atlantic. Once there, TechRadar’s smart
targeting ensures the right people see the most relevant advert or link, further
increasing the chances of conversion or click-through.
Techradar.com | 11

12. We have built our reputation on trustworthiness,
adaptability, editorial integrity, smart data
monitoring and hard work.
You’ll find our articles on the front page of searches for best-of lists, specific
technology, great deals on phones, laptops, cameras and software, and
almost every other tech search at the start of the purchasing funnel.
In an online market dominated by a few all-powerful algorithms, TechRadar
consistently offers a platform for above average click-through rates and
successful affiliate sales, because we have built the finest purchasing funnel.
We know what they’re searching for, now make
sure they find you.
Search
Advertisers
Affiliate
Techradar.com | 12

13. Methodology
Display Advertising
During the 90 day period (26/06-21/09), all users who clicked on direct advertising campaigns from articles that had over 50,000 impressions were traced back to their
original search engine query. These were given a score based on number of click-throughs and grouped by intent and product to produce two datasets for advertising
efficacy. The data incorporated 243,000 click-throughs and 55.2 million ad impressions.
Affiliate advertising
During the 90 day period (10/05-07/08), all users who clicked on affiliate advertising from articles that had over 10,000 affiliate clicks were traced back to their original
search engine query. These were given a score based on number of transactions and grouped by intent and product to produce two datasets for affiliate efficacy. The click-
throughs resulted in 214,000 transactions, generating revenue of £12.3 million for the merchants.
Affiliate and advertising combined data
The score for conversions and click-throughs generated above was normalised so they were on the same scale, and then added together for each product and intent
category to produce a combined score.
Techradar.com | 13

14. TechRadar USA
Stacy Gaines, Vice President of Sales
+1-415-260-5294
stacy.gaines@futurenet.com
TechRadar UK
Adam Gilsenan, Commercial Director,
Technology & Games
+44 (0) 7432 609945
adam.gilsenan@futurenet.com
techradar.com
About TechRadar
Unashamedly obsessed with tech, TechRadar empowers
consumers to make the best buying decisions and get
the most out of the products they love.
Providing enthusiasts with breaking news, expert in-depth reviews and easy to follow how-to
guides, TechRadar mixes reliable advice with entertaining content.
We follow the product lifecycle from rumors to launch, reviews and post-purchase advice. We
practice independent journalism, giving honest buying advice, scrutinizing products and only
ever recommending the ones we believe offer the best value.
Our team of journalists live, breathe and cover tech 24/7, combining the strength of our global
network with their local expertise.
Access our media pack here
23.8m
Global monthly visitors
8.7m
USA monthly visitors
4m
UK monthly visitors