When it comes to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, brand bidding is a vital strategy for many companies.
Brand bidding protects your brand identity and captures traffic from those actively searching for your business. With the right approach, this technique can drive high returns and prevent competitors from leveraging your brand name. So, let’s explore the steps necessary for an effective PPC brand bidding strategy to ensure you get the best results.
What is PPC brand bidding?
PPC brand bidding refers to targeting keywords associated with your brand name and related variations. This can include misspelt brand terms, brand + product keywords, and brand + service keywords. By bidding on these keywords, your ads occupy prime real estate on the search results page, directing high-intent traffic to your site and maintaining your brand’s visibility.
What are the benefits of brand bidding?
One of the primary benefits of brand bidding is that it ensures you’re capturing users who are directly searching for your brand. This tactic can effectively protect your brand against competitors who might otherwise capture that traffic. Especially in industries where competition is high (like eCommerce or hospitality) competitors often bid on each other’s brand terms to increase visibility.
Additionally, brand bidding reinforces brand authority and control over messaging. Unlike organic search results, which pulls in content from multiple sources, PPC brand bidding allows you to highlight key selling points and position your brand in the best light.
What are the disadvantages of brand bidding?
While brand bidding has many advantages, there are some potential downsides. One common concern is that it may cannibalise organic traffic, as users who would have clicked on an organic result may instead click on a paid ad, incurring a cost. Testing can help determine if cannibalisation is a significant issue in a particular campaign. Additionally, if competitors aren’t bidding on your brand terms, the investment in brand bidding might be better allocated to other parts of the PPC funnel.
6 effective brand bidding strategy tips
Now, let’s dive into the six steps to set up a brand bidding strategy that works.
1. Define Brand Bidding Objectives
Before diving into brand bidding, clarify what you hope to achieve. Is the goal to increase brand visibility, protect brand integrity, or generate revenue? Understanding these objectives will help shape your strategy and determine how much budget to allocate. For instance, a primary goal of brand protection will require a different approach than a purely revenue-driven strategy.
2. Conduct SERP Analysis
A competitive analysis is essential to understand the landscape for your brand keywords. Use tools like SEMRush to check if competitors are bidding on your terms. It’s also helpful to perform manual searches for your brand, as some competitors may not appear in automated tools due to limited visibility.
SERP analysis should cover both search and shopping auction insights (for eCommerce). Identifying patterns in competitors’ bidding behaviours, like timing their bids around sales or major campaigns, allows you to adjust your strategy accordingly.
3. Identify the Value of Your Brand Ads
Once you have competitive insights, it’s time to determine the worth of your brand bidding campaigns. Decide what performance metrics matter most, such as return on ad spend (ROAS) or cost per acquisition (CPA), and set acceptable thresholds. A brand bidding campaign’s CPA might need to be lower than other campaigns to ensure it’s financially sustainable.
4. Build a Strategic Framework
With objectives and competitor insights in hand, the next step is to build a framework for the campaign. This involves deciding which landing pages to drive brand traffic to—often a homepage or a specific sales page for high-intent users. Define your messaging strategy to counteract competitor ads and highlight unique aspects of your brand, like superior customer ratings or exclusive offerings.
5. Implementation and Testing
The key to effective brand bidding is thoughtful implementation, followed by thorough testing. Start by running incrementality tests to assess the impact on brand bidding ROI and check for any potential cannibalisation. This allows you to measure whether paid brand clicks are indeed incremental or if they’re drawing from organic traffic.
It’s also beneficial to create a system to track changes. For example, set up alerts in your internal communication channels (e.g., Slack) to notify you when competitors appear in auction insights. This can help your team respond quickly and reallocate budget if needed.
6. Monitoring and Optimization
Finally, establish a routine for monitoring the performance of your brand campaigns. Use insights from performance metrics to optimise bids and identify patterns over time. Additionally, ensure your campaign remains aligned with other marketing efforts, like Performance Max campaigns or display ads. These integrations allow for holistic performance tracking and provide a clearer picture of your brand’s overall health.
PPC brand bidding is a robust strategy that safeguards your brand’s presence on search engines, maximises visibility, and captures high-intent traffic. By following these six steps—from defining objectives to continuous optimisation—you can implement a brand bidding strategy that protects your brand and yields measurable returns.
Brand bidding isn’t without its challenges, but with a strategic approach, testing, and frequent analysis, it can be a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal.
