• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 24, 2012

At a time when the “viewability” of display ad impressions is taking center stage on Madison Avenue, a new report suggests it is equally significant for search advertising. The report, which is being released this morning by search engine optimization firm Conductor, concludes that “millions of dollars in brand value are lost when brands fall below the fold in search engine results.”

Not surprisingly, the study indicates that the most significant “brand lift” occurs when brands appear above the fold in universal search results

“When the brand appeared above the fold of the search results, lift across all brand measurements was stronger -- up to 30% stronger -- than when it appeared below,” the report found.

Brands that appear on the first page of search results also generated higher levels of “purchase intent” from search queries.

“When a retailer appeared in the search results, respondents' intent to purchase at the retailer was increased by 20% when above the fold and 10% when below, compared to when it did not appear in the search results,” the Conductor study found.