Benefits of Bidding on Branded Keywords in Paid Search

When considering your marketing strategy, you may have asked yourself: “Why run brand in paid search?” Well, that is a question we get a lot at Be Found Online. And the truth is that bidding on branded terms may be undervalued, but this tactic can have a significant impact on your paid search campaigns. Here we discuss the five benefits of leveraging branded keywords in as part of a  successful brand paid search strategy: 

1. Expand Reach with Branded Variations
2. Take Control of your Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
3. Defend your Brand 
4. Invest your Ad Budget to Maximize ROI 
5. Boost your Account-Level Quality Score 

1.  Expand Reach with Branded Variations

Contrary to popular belief, a website will not automatically appear 100% of the time for all variations of branded search queries e.g. misspellings, locations, products, etc. Bidding on brand keywords does have its benefits. Brand keywords allow advertisers to drive incremental traffic to your website, so it reaches users at every stage of the conversion funnel.  Thus,  you can cover all possible variations of branded terms by including misspellings, locations, products, long-tail keywords, etc.

Understanding your target audience allows you to write target-specific copy to users at various points in the conversion funnel.  For instance, they can include different targeted messaging for users searching for contact information, product specifications, pricing, locations, and more. Ultimately, your reach is fundamental to your overall sales. 

2. Take Control of your Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)

With many marketing efforts, there is a lack of control in organic search rankings. Branded search queries can help a website’s search rankings and increase organic traffic. However, search engines choose which titles, descriptions, and landing pages to show to users. You cannot solely rely on organic results because they always appear below paid ads. Google constantly makes ads look like organic listings, making people more likely to click those before organic ones in SERP. 

Fortunately, paid search ads compensate for the lack of control with organic search rankings. Bidding on brand keywords in your paid search campaigns can help you deliver a clear message, create target-specific ads, and ensure all of your landing pages are relevant. With paid search, you can ensure the right message is conveyed to your users. It also ensures that users are sent to the right landing page after their search inquiry. You can also use branded keywords for promotions, sales, deals, and other special messaging. Having more control increases awareness of promotion, which increases your conversion rate. 

3. Defend your Brand 

When you opt into paid search for branded keywords, you can defend against competition, negative reviews, etc.  Defense is critical for growth. Advertisers can defend their brand by owning the search results for all branded terms, serving copy that drives users to their website, while simultaneously increasing brand credibility and perception, and pushing out competitors bidding on those same branded terms. 

Without defense, competitors have free reign over bidding on keywords containing your brand name. In that case, your competitor’s paid ad could appear first in the SERP, even if users are searching your name. Bidding on your brand terms is a cost-effective way to defend against your brand and to stay ahead of your competitors. 

4. Invest your Ad Budget to Maximize ROI   

Generally speaking, the cost for branded keywords is well worth the benefits. Branded keywords are typically cheaper than non-brand paid search keywords, because there is greater relevance between the keywords and ad copy to the landing page. Furthermore, branded keywords are very valuable because they usually have a high CTR (click-through rate) and a higher CTR for your brand terms equates to a higher quality score. Therefore, investing in branded keywords is highly cost-effective – it can save your business money and provide higher long-term ROI.

Competitors will pay more for your brand keywords, because in most cases, competitors don’t include your brand name on their landing page which impacts relevancy. Thus,  they would receive a lower quality score than your company.

5.  Boost your Account-Level Quality Score

People often pay attention to keyword quality score, which is the relevancy between the keywords and the ad, and the relevancy between the landing page and the keyword. Your keyword quality score is often the most instructive metric and should be a main focus. Brands can optimize their keyword quality score by ensuring all of their copy and landing pages are relevant to the targeted keyword(s). 

Your account-level score is Google assessing how relevant the goods or services you provide are to the user’s search inquiry. What makes Google different from other platforms is that they want to optimize search results that are beneficial for both consumers  and the business. For instance, TV advertisers try to fill commercial spots because they receive a payment each time they air an advertiser’s commercial. However, Google makes money based on the number of actual clicks, not just displaying the ads. So, Google benefits from good quality and relevancy because it gets the most clicks. 

The Takeaway

When it comes to paid search, all brands should bid on their brand keywords. The benefits greatly outweigh the costs. If you take the time to invest in branded keywords, you can experience a significant increase in clicks, CTR, and ideally, ROI. However, to get it right, you need a trusted marketing partner to help you deliver the results you deserve. If you would like to learn more about branded keywords in paid search and how Be Found Online can help your business grow, contact us today!