Source: Search Engine Land
Search performance metrics are systematically misleading because they ignore the upstream funnel work that paid social performs—awareness, consideration, and audience qualification that converts into high-intent search traffic. When marketers cut social budgets based on ROAS comparisons alone, they're cannibalizing the demand generation that makes search efficient. Search ROAS often deteriorates months after social budget cuts, despite appearing as the stronger channel. This attribution gap creates a structural incentive for budget misallocation, favoring the last-click channel while starving the channels that create searchable audiences in the first place.