Many companies already rank #1 in search results under their brand name. So what is the point in wasting money on bidding on your own brand name? The experienced among you will know that every campaign is different and getting the best out of them is down to small tweaks, but there is one rule of thumb that is beneficial to almost everyone. Bidding own your own brand name.
“41 out of the 100 individuals tested did not know that Adwords were paid-for adverts, believing them instead to be the most authoritative links.” Econsultancy
Running a campaign with your own brand name as the keyword may seem a little strange, especially if you’re performing well in organic searches, but the benefits have been proven time and again. Let’s look at a few of them in detail.
Dominate the page
Having a campaign on your brand name will take up more space on the first page. This will give users more validation of your business, brand exposure and reassurance, which in turn encourages more click-throughs plus offering more opportunities for users to click. There is also the added bonus of pushing any negative customer reviews further down page, reducing the chance of your target audience finding them.
More control
In organic results you have the title and description to get your message across. A paid ad gives you more options to play around with. You have the opportunity to create an attention grabbing message which can focus on promotions or special offers to further encourage click through to your website. Using ad extensions enables you include additional information, such as contact details of the nearest store and customer reviews. It’s also possible to guide users to the highest converting landing pages, whereas organic search may not always send them to the best landing page.
Competitor bidding
It may not be something that you are doing but it does happen. By bidding on your own brand name you can limit or stop your competitors bidding on your brand. It can serve as a relatively cheap insurance policy which can help avoid losing clicks to your competitors. This is an essential tactic if your business name contains a generic search word which risks another company indirectly advertising on your name.
It’s super cheap traffic
The holy grail of PPC is finding cheap keywords that actually have good search volumes. Look no further than your own brand name. It’s true that some of the clicks may have not cost you a penny, but it’s worth it not to lose out to a competitor and conversion rates are normally high. You can also bid on specific products and even you URL.
High quality leads
Users who are searching for your brand already know about your company. Whether it be a recommendation from friends or family, previous research they have done or even a past customer. They are aware that you can offer what it is they are looking for, so they are probably further along their journey and closer to making a purchase.
Positive affect on the whole account
Officially Google states there is no account level quality score. However Google has also stated that if successful campaigns are running then a new campaign from the same account is likely to be considered favourably.
Branded search terms are going to be highly relevant, and as such branded campaigns are likely to have the highest quality scores. These counter-balance campaigns with lower quality scores increasing the average of the account. Because quality score is weighted on impressions, higher search volumes of branded terms result in boosting the quality score across your campaigns.
Things to think about
-If your website has lots of users that regularly visit, you should consider using negative keywords such as “login” to hide the ads from those users.
-Always create a separate campaign for your brand. This way, when evaluating the performance of the campaigns, you can remove your brand campaign so that the numbers do not affect the other campaigns.
Conclusion
Every account is unique and the best way to find out if it works for you is to test it. Branded campaigns can enhance your brand’s reputation, can block your competitors, provide more tailored messages and bring you qualified leads; all without breaking the bank.
Atelier is an award winning digital marketing agency in Hampshire. If you need some advice on PPC, SEO or any aspects of your marketing strategy, why not get in touch.