One of the most highly debated topics in the paid search landscape is whether or not to bid on your brand terms.
A common belief is that when someone types your brand name or brand terms, the search engine algorithms should deliver results for your website. Because your website maintains the highest authority on your own brand, many organizations question why they need to be paying for traffic. But if you aren’t bidding on your own brand terms, you could be losing traffic and revenue.
Below are the top six reasons why we believe it’s essential to bid on your own brand:
1) Direct Audiences to Various Landing Pages and Messages
Your homepage will most likely be the first result for anyone who searches for your brand, and it should be an accessible point of contact for the widest potential audience. However, your brand has a story and there is always something new to say. There are times, however, when you’d like to have a specific message seen. Paid ads allow you to direct those who search your brand to a particular landing page that contains specific information. While your homepage is evergreen and an effective gateway to your organization, by bidding on branded keywords you have the ability to cycle through messages depending upon the circumstances.
2) Provide More Relevant Information
PPC allows you to create ads with customizable extensions that provide more information about your brand. These extensions can increase your CTR (click-through rate) by making useful information more readily available and allowing users to easily engage. Bidding on your brand allows you to develop ad extensions with your address, phone number, images, reviews and more. These tailored messages encompass more searches and are more likely to entice users to click.
3) Take Up More Search Result Real Estate
The search result page displays many listings and a lot of information. The more real estate your brand occupies on this page, the greater likelihood a visit to your website results. In other words, it is wise to dominate this space by not only being the first organic branded search result, but by securing the highest paid position for branded search on the page as well. In addition, paid advertising improves your search results on Google’s expanding features such as Google Maps, Shopping and Video.
4) Make Sure Competitors Don’t Steal Your Traffic
It’s a shrewd tactic, but it’s one that works. Competitors will attempt to steal your traffic by bidding on your brand’s keywords, and it can be costly if you don’t defend against it. Having a competitor appear above your brand’s listing can negatively impact your traffic and brand reputation. Paid advertising helps ensure those who search for your brand find the information and message you’d like them to see.
5) Increase Incremental Traffic
Paid branded advertising increases incremental traffic and research shows that, although it may cannibalize branded organic clicks slightly, the incremental traffic you receive from additional traffic far outweighs what may be lost in organic. Case studies have analyzed campaigns that temporarily paused paid ads of branded keywords. The results are clear. Organic traffic does not make up for all of the paid traffic that is lost. In addition, though your brand may display as an organic result from a search, it does not mean that you will receive all of the traffic from those queries. Your organic listing may even be displayed below the fold. Simply put, bidding on your brand’s keywords is better than relying solely on organic results.
6) It’s an Affordable Tactic
Bidding on your brand terms is affordable. It’s a small worthwhile investment that drives exponential benefits. Brand terms often have high CTRs and high-quality scores. Google rewards these attributes by decreasing these terms’ average CPC (cost per click) and increasing their average position at a lower cost compared to terms with low CTRs and low-quality scores.
Bidding on your brand’s keywords yields many benefits. It is one online advertising tactic that our digital experts recommend. Russell Herder maintains a comprehensive knowledge of digital advertising that comprises many more strategies and best practices. Learn about our range of services and how we can help your organization reach its goals.
