The teens in this study considered search of equal value to magazines as a way to discover new brands, Mendez says, and that's why brand advertisers who want to reach this group should be thinking about their presence in search, in both paid and organic forms.

That seems to contradict the popular conception of search as a goal-oriented activity—something you do to find out more about something you're already aware of, not to discover it for the first time. But Mendez says that search is not passive; every search has a goal. And for increasing numbers of people, discovery is one possible goal of search.

"The general search can be on a keyword high in the purchase funnel, like 'jeans' or pocketbooks'," he says. "That's where the discovery takes place, and where the branding opportunity is. If I get some prominent positioning on a keyword like 'jeans', then even if I've got a small site, then rest assured I'm going to raise awareness of my brand among a good number of those searchers. I'm going to get a lot of impressions and a large number of clicks."