TPE #99: Branded Search: necessity or a total waste of money?

GM, Miles here!

A while back, one of our PPC Hub members asked if you always need a Branded Search campaign, and why.

And recently, I’ve seen an increasing amount of discussions about this topic on LinkedIn.

So in today’s issue of The PPC Edge, I want to address whether Branded Search campaigns are a necessity or a total waste of money.

Let’s dive right in!

Branded Search: necessity or a waste of money?

Branded Search campaigns contain branded keywords to capture the demand around your brand.

This traffic is actively searching for your brand.

Some PPC Experts say Branded Search campaigns are a waste of money if you have a top organic position.

While there might be truth to that, I believe there are 5 key reasons why I think you should run them, even if you have that top organic position.

Reason 1: Protect your brand from competitors.

As an advertiser, you want to protect your brand at all costs.

The last thing you want is for a warm lead to get snatched by your competitors.

A Branded Search campaign can help you retain that top position and protect your brand.

In most cases, lots of competitors advertise on your brand (just check the Auction Insights):

• Sometimes directly with keyword targeting.
• Sometimes indirectly with Broad Match/DSA/pMax.

Here’s an example of ClickCease directly trying to steal traffic from Lunio (completely legal, btw):

Lunio did a great job at protecting their brand with a Branded Search ad.

It would've been a waste for them if Clickcease got the top position (even if they lost 1-5% of their customers, that could be huge).

Let's look at another example where Asos (a retailer) tries to indirectly “steal” traffic from G-Star RAW (a brand):

G-Star is a DTC brand but retailers also sell their products.

So they need a Branded Search campaign to stay on top of the search results.

Without it, they would lose out on a lot of valuable traffic, and a percentage of customers would buy from retailers.

Sure, this would still drive attention and revenue from the G-Star RAW brand, but sales via retailers are always less profitable.

So this just proves that whenever there is any competition, you simply need a Branded Search campaign (otherwise you’re gonna lose out on a lot of missed sales, both directly and indirectly).

Reason 2: Dominate the search results.

With a branded search ad, you can dominate the search results because you (likely) also have the highest organic position.

Let's look at the Lunio example again:

They dominate the search results with extensions (ok I guess I’m supposed to call them assets lolz) like sitelinks, callouts etc…

Leaving less space for the competitors.

As a brand, you want to maximize your visibility and push competitors down as much as possible and you can do that with a Branded Search campaign.

Reason 3: Control your landing page.

In addition to using up more inventory on the search engine results page, you can also control your landing page with branded search clicks.

• Got a special offer you want to send paid traffic to?
• Or just the homepage?

It's up to you - complete freedom to decide what's best.

Reason 4: CPCs are low (and so are costs).

When you advertise on your branded keywords, you'll have low CPCs.

Therefore, defending your brand with Branded Search campaigns is relatively cheap.

The potential up- and downsides of running Branded Search campaigns:

• Potential upside: protect your brand at a relatively low price.
• Potential downside: you spend 5-10% of your budget on traffic that might’ve converted anyway.

The potential up- and downsides of NOT running Branded Search campaigns:

• Potential upside: you save 5-10% of your budget.
• Potential downside: you allow competitors to steal your traffic.

In my opinion, the potential downside of NOT running Branded Search campaigns far outweighs the potential downside of when you DO run them.

Someone called Branded Search the "Google Tax", and I think it's quite fitting.

I don't remember who but I got it from Bob.

Protect your brand at all costs!

Reason 5: Performance Max can eat up branded traffic.

If you don't exclude Branded Search terms from your Performance Max campaigns, they will get matched there.

In other words: pMax will eat up branded clicks and inflate its own data.

Without you knowing it, you're already likely advertising on your brand name through Performance Max...

And it's making the data look better than it actually is (because pMax takes credit for conversions that would've happened anyway).

By setting up a Branded Search campaign, pMax gets deprioritized in the auction and branded search terms will be matched on the right campaign.

But regardless, it’s better to exclude branded traffic from pMax altogether (here’s an article on why you can’t trust pMax data and 3 simple steps to fix it).

Branded Search campaigns are a necessity, not a waste of money.

And there you have it — 5 reasons to create a Branded Search campaign:

1. Protect your brand from competitors.
2. Dominate the search results.
3. Control your landing page.
4. CPCs are low (and so are costs).
5. Performance Max can eat up branded traffic.

In my opinion, the potential downside of NOT running Branded Search campaigns far outweighs the potential downside of when you DO run them.

But as always, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for your client-specific strategy.

Good luck, and protect your brand at all costs!

That’s all for today — have a great week!

Cheers,

Miles (& Bob)