One thing I get asked a lot is my opinion on brand bidding and whether businesses should do it.
Firstly, what is ‘Brand Bidding’?
Well, brand bidding is simply the practice of bidding on your own brand/business name within Google Ads.
So, what are the pros and cons for brand bidding?
Let’s start with the pros;
First and foremost, bidding on your own brand terms will help to ensure those who are searching for your business, find your business.
There is always a risk that a cheeky competitor or two could bid on your brand name, and steal traffic that was meant for you. Bidding on your own brand terms, helps protect against this.
You’ll be amazed how many people will not read an Ad, they will simply assume they are clicking through on the right website because it was at the top of the search results.
Bidding on your own brand terms, also allows you to dominate the Search Engine Results Page (SERP’s).
When you appear in the SERP’s for both organic and paid search results, it gives the person searching greater opportunity to find you and click through to your website, whilst pushing your competitors further down the page.
If you utilise brand bidding, you are also in more control of your messaging in the search listings.
This means you can tailor the Ad copy to promote a seasonal offer, for instance, something you can’t do with such ease in your organic listings.
We also need to remember Branded terms in Google Ads tend to be a lot cheaper to bid on than the more generic search terms.
This is typically due to there being less competition, plus the fact that you’ll be receiving a high quality score from Google for these search terms, due to the high levels of relevance.
This means a higher position for a lower Cost Per Click!
So, what about the cons?
The most common argument I hear against bidding on your own brand terms, is that most of this traffic should simply come directly through your organic listings anyway.
Why would you pay for someone to click through your paid link when they could come for ‘free’ via your organic listing?
Your advertising budget could therefore be stretched further to attract new customers, as opposed to retaining customers or prospects already familiar with your brand.
However, if you are sat in the fifth position on the page, with four paid ads from competitors sat above you, is it worth the risk of missing out on that perfect referral because you didn’t want to pay £0.20 for a brand click?
My Opinion
Personally, my opinion is that you should brand bid. We do it for Pixal and continue to do it, even when our competitors Ads aren’t showing.
Why? Well I want to set out my stall nice and early and let any competitors know that if someone wants to find Pixal Marketing, they will not be tricked into clicking elsewhere.
We are fortunate enough to receive a lot of referrals, but these referrals aren’t always handed a business card with all our details. I’m sure your business is the same.
So, what do these prospects do? They turn to Google and type the brand name in, they haven’t been to your website before and if they are not particularly web savvy, you can easily lose a lot of customers each year by sitting in the cheap seats, under the paid Ads.
That could be worth hundreds, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands to your business. I know it may hurt having to bid on your own brand terms but for me, it would hurt a lot more to miss out on all those perfect customers by trying to save a few pounds on click cost!
I personally prefer to stand strong and cement our position.
It’s your call!
Would like a FREE Performance Review of your Google or Facebook Ads activity, from a multi-award-winning expert?
We’ll give you good, honest feedback on your paid ads performance, including what’s good, what’s not so good and the untapped potential in your account, to get more customers each day/week/month… without spending a penny more on clicks!
Just call us on 01420 408054 or email Steve on steve@pixal.co.uk