An issue in SEM that has been raised by many of our clients is whether or not advertisers should be bidding against branded keywords. The first impression is that these keywords may appear against pages in which the advertiser’s site is already organically ranking against. A recent article in Search Engine Land suggests key reasons why advertisers should be investing in brand keywords.
Brand Protection & Trust
Advertisers who don’t cover their own branded keyword phrases become more vulnerable to competitors who may be seizing the opportunity. Also, having both the organic and paid positions results in a higher level of trust for the brand.
Dynamic Messaging
Advertisers who don’t cover their own branded keyword phrases become more vulnerable to competitors who may be seizing the opportunity. Also, having both the organic and paid positions results in a higher level of trust for the brand.
Dynamic Messaging
The fluid nature of paid search allows advertisers to update and optimise ad messaging in real time, which can ensure that the right message is delivered at the right time. This ensures that advertising is relevant, as well as allowing for testing of different messages.
Value Ads Within CPC
New engine features including sitelinks, location extensions, product extensions,
New engine features including sitelinks, location extensions, product extensions,
PLAs and Rich ads in Search typically only display on highly relevant keywords
with high quality scores, aka your brand keywords. Without them, these
opportunities become harder to seize and benefit from.
Shrinking Efficiencies
Brand terms often can form the basis of testing, optimisation and expansion plans of SEM accounts by allowing the less efficient components of the campaign to be floated. Removing brand terms can result in shrinking efficiencies in terms of the reported return. These keywords are likely to have higher quality scores benefiting the entirety of the campaign.
Brand terms often can form the basis of testing, optimisation and expansion plans of SEM accounts by allowing the less efficient components of the campaign to be floated. Removing brand terms can result in shrinking efficiencies in terms of the reported return. These keywords are likely to have higher quality scores benefiting the entirety of the campaign.
Increased Real Estate
By bidding on brand keywords, advertisers can take up greater coverage of individual search engine results pages. A single advertiser can and should appear in multiple instances on the same page.
These are all valid propositions for why brand keywords should form part of a SEM campaign, but we always keep in mind to assess the individuals client’ needs and situation to provide a recommendation. Factors such as budget, targeting, level of competitor activity are all need to be taken into consideration.
