“We do not want to run a PPC campaign for brand keywords, because we’re already in the top position in organic search anyway. It’s just a waste of money.” – PPC Client.
This is the most common argument of companies that do not want to do branded PPC campaigns (click here for more information about PPC campaigns, despite the fact that those campaigns happen to be the most profitable overall. While we would normally let the client decide whether to include their brand or not, we have started noticing a pattern among our best performing accounts lately. The one thing they all have in common is a brand campaign!
Over the past two years, Google has completely redesigned their search result page, including the ads section. The number of ads at the top has increased to four now, which pushes organic results further down the page, often below the fold on smaller screen devices. This could be a real problem if you let your competitors take advantage of that and jump ahead of you with paid ads.
So let’s find out why should you reserve a small percentage of your budget for your own brand.
Increased Visibility in Google Search Results
The first point is quite simple and straightforward. More search listings = more real estate is taken up by your brand on the search result page.
In addition to your organic listing, you also get your paid listing at the top of the page, which reduces the likelihood of visitors clicking on links of direct and indirect competitors. (discount portals, products listed in marketplaces, retail sellers, affiliate sellers etc.).
You want to make sure people are clicking on your links first.
Ad Extensions
The beauty of PPC ads is that you can edit and customise your ad text almost instantly. Want to try a different call to action, or have a seasonal sale coming up? Not a problem. The ads can be modified and set live within minutes.
Ad extensions can also be used to add more information such as:
- A phone number that customers can call directly from their mobile phone
- Sitelinks to the pages of your choice
- Several call-outs highlighting your competitive advantage
- Your local address
- Special discounts or a promotion shown alongside your ad
As you can see, Google Ads give you far greater control over the message that you show to your visitors compared to your organic results.
Brand Protection
Branded keywords generate some of your highest converting traffic, but that also makes them a prime target for trademark bidders who try to steal your clicks, drive up your costs, and even mislead your customers.
Use the Google Ads built-in tool “Auction Insights” to see which of your competitors advertise on the same keywords as you and don’t let them benefit at your expense.
Increase Average Score for the Entire Account
Quality Score and Ad Rank are the core elements of Google Ads. Since branded keywords tend to have the highest quality score possible, it is widely believed that Brand campaigns have a positive impact on the rest of the campaigns in the account, including non-brand.
That, in turn, makes the cost per click more favourable and allows for a better budget utilisation.
Low Cost Per Click
Speaking of cost per click, when it comes to bidding on your own brand keywords, there is no other advertiser positioned better from the quality point of view, than yourself. Bidding competition tends to be limited or non-existent which makes it extremely affordable. This will allow you to generate a high volume of really valuable traffic at a fraction of the cost of your other campaigns
Considering all the pros and cons, the benefits of running brand campaigns far outweigh the cost of running them and that’s why we recommend investing 5 – 10% of your budget into your own brand.
For greater transparency and faster results, we recommend always separating the results of brand campaigns from non-brand campaigns. This will instantly give you an idea about the impact on the overall performance and profitability.
To find out more or just get some honest advice about how PPC could be beneficial to your business please contact us at Anicca Digital.