It’s a common conversation we have with prospective clients and during conversations in general about ppc campaigns, “Why should we pay for brand ads when we have an organic listing showing already?”
It’s a very valid question because, at first glance, it wouldn’t make much sense. But, similarly to most things, scratch the surface and you always find out more.
Take a look below at some very good reasons to include your brand terms in your paid search campaigns.
Brand Ads Don’t Cost Much
Compared to other search terms, bidding on your branded keywords will usually cost only a fraction of your unbranded keywords. We work in certain industries where the cost per clicks (CPC’s) can get into double figures for the most valuable keywords. The branded terms in this vertical, however, cost just pennies.
A little bit of ad budget could go a long way.
Control
With a paid ad, you control exactly what the ad says and where it goes to. With an organic listing, Google may choose to show a different page and the text used in the listing may be dynamically generated from your page, not necessarily the page description you set.
Organic listings may also show links (sitelinks) to other pages within your site. With a paid ad, you can specify which sitelinks are shown and give those their own description too.
Two Links Are Better Than One
Bidding on your brand term in your pay per click campaigns means that you will get two bites of the cherry. Double the chances of a user seeing your brand message in the search results and you get twice the chance of the user clicking one of your links.
Location, Location, Location
With such a large percentage of users being on mobile devices, the real estate on a smaller screen is more important than ever. Google Ads will show not just your ad but a whole host of other “Ad extensions” means that position one on a mobile screen will be the only thing most smartphone users will see when they do a search. Make sure your potential customers see what you want them to see.
Up To Four Ads Appear Above Organic Results
Don’t bother to bid on your brand name and there could be up to four paid ads show before your organic listing. Is it worth the risk that a potential customer might be swayed by a competitors offer, or an existing customer could be convinced to switch all for the sake of a few pounds on a brand campaign?
Which leads us onto the last and most important reason for including your brand in your paid search strategy.
Your Competitors May Be Bidding On Your Brand
As mentioned in the previous point, a number of paid ads could be displayed above your organic listing. If you have competitors that are actively targeting people searching for your business, then you will almost certainly lose customers or potential customers. If a competitor has crafted a specific offer and ad targeting your customers, they could be very persuasive.
Many people have the attitude that if someone is searching for their specific brand, the user would not be distracted by a competing brand. This could be true for some premium brands such as Apple or Mercedes (But even these companies bid on their brand terms) but these are huge brands that invest millions and millions a year in advertising. Does your product or service really command this much loyalty?
So there you have it. Six very good reasons to invest a small percentage of your ppc ad budget to protecting your brand.
If you would like to discuss this, or anything else about your ppc campaigns with us, just click below, we’d be happy to hear from you.
