The Search Performance Trap (and How to Break Through It).

Performance marketing used to be predictable. You set up tight paid search campaigns, targeted high-intent keywords, optimised landing pages, and harvested demand waiting at the bottom of the funnel.

If your brand wants growth, that playbook is no longer enough.

Rising media costs, changes in search behaviour, and crowded auction spaces mean that relying exclusively on bottom-funnel intent capture leads to an inevitable performance plateau. Brands find themselves bidding against competitors on the same commercial keywords and see cost-per-acquisition climb while conversion volumes stall.

Our work with scaling brands at Launch proves that search performance is rarely fixed by tweaking search campaigns in isolation. Partners like St Eval have fuelled lasting success by building demand upstream long before a user types a query into a search bar. This article gives an insight into how we’ve worked with clients to break through the performance plateau and achieve award-winning results. It also provides practical advice for how you can do the same.  

The Bottleneck in Modern Search Capture

When growth slows, the default response is often to push more budget into high-intent channels. However, capturing demand only works if there is enough demand to capture.

When you limit activity to the bottom of the funnel, two challenges emerge:

1.    Audience Saturation

You repeatedly target the small percentage of buyers ready to convert today, ignoring the 95% of potential customers who do not yet know your brand.

2.    Loss of Trust Upstream

AI-generated content and saturated ad channels have made consumers more sceptical. If your potential customers do not trust your brand before they reach the search engine, your search conversion rates will reflect that mistrust.

To break through this ceiling we work with clients to combine experimentation, paid media  and measurement into a full-funnel strategy (we call this Connected Performance).

Proof in Practice: Upstream Investment, Downstream Impact

Our full-funnel philosophy underpins the campaigns that earned Launch five shortlists at the Global Search Awards 2026.

1.   Icelandair: Overcoming Audience Friction to Drive Search Value

(Nominated for Best Use of Search – Travel / Leisure PPC, Best use of search b2b (ppc) large / MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN (PPC): LARGE)

Qualitative research into Icelandair’s performance assets revealed an unexpected challenge: audiences on social feeds said imagery of Iceland’s natural landscapes was “too perfect to be real” and assumed it was AI-generated. This scepticism directly hurt booking intent.

Rather than ignoring the issue, Launch collaborated with Icelandair and their agencies on the This Is Not AI (TINA) campaign. We deployed authentic, human-led creative across Meta, YouTube, and Pinterest to reframe cynicism into curiosity. We deliberately optimised upper-funnel activity for reach and recall rather than targeting immediate sales.

By building trust and mental availability upstream, high-quality traffic flowed naturally into search channels.

The Results:

• Total campaign impressions reached 264 million across 17 markets.
• Remarketing conversion rates improved by +22%.
• Overall blended ROAS reached 864%, proving that upstream brand investment directly improves lower-funnel search efficiency.

3.   St Eval: Manufacturing Demand Through a Social-First Shift (Nominated for Best UK PPC Campaign)

Cornish candlemaker St Eval had historically relied on Google Ads to harvest seasonal demand during Q4. However, targeting only users already familiar with the brand meant running into a performance ceiling and rising acquisition costs.

To unlock sustainable growth, Launch guided St Eval through a strategic shift: flipping their traditional budget from a 60/40 search-first mix to a 60/40 social-first structure.

Instead of simply capturing existing search demand, we generated new demand by scaling top-of-funnel video and review-based social creative. This created a digital halo effect across the entire ecosystem.

The Results:

• Paid search revenue grew by +537% year-on-year.
• Overall annual revenue increased by +163%, exceeding the target of +100%.
• New customer acquisition rose by +125%.
• Direct website sessions increased by +159%, proving that social awareness created immediate branded search and direct intent.

What Being Shortlisted Means to Launch

Being recognised on the global stage at the Global Search Awards – where we have also been shortlisted as Best Global Large PPC Agency – validates our core belief that modern performance agencies must offer strategic clarity, not just campaign administration.

“Being shortlisted for the Global Search Awards is a proud moment for our whole team. It shows independent agencies can deliver extraordinary global impact without compromising on strategic rigour or agency values.”

— Jaye Cowle, Founder & CEO at Launch

Three Principles for Scaling Search in 2026

For marketing leaders evaluating their current search performance, three practical principles stand out from our nominated work:

1. Measure the Halo Effect: Do not evaluate top-of-funnel social or video spend in a vacuum. Track how brand building activity lifts branded search volume, direct traffic, and overall conversion rates across channels.

2. Solve Customer Friction Upstream: Use social creative and testing to identify why prospects hesitate. Address trust, pricing, or product misperceptions before users land on your conversion pages.

3. Test Media Allocation Safely: Transitioning from search-heavy harvesting to full-funnel demand generation does not have to be an all-at-once risk. Use phased testing and clear baseline metrics to validate that top-of-funnel traffic maintains acquisition efficiency as you scale.

About Launch

Launch is an independent B Corp certified performance marketing agency. We specialise in paid media, data, experimentation, and conversion optimisation across DTC fashion, lifestyle, artisan, and travel sectors. Using our Seven Levers of Growth Framework we empower ambitious, scaling brands to grow.

To learn more about our full-funnel approach, explore our case studies with St Eval and Icelandair, or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Award winning

Alongside being shortlisted for 5 Global Search Awards in 2026, Launch culture and client work has earned 25 award wins and countless other shortlistings from the likes of the Drum, BIMA and the Independent Agency Awards.