Branded keywords are phrases that are directly associated with your brand. For example, a customer types your name into Google search and finds your website. A branded search just occured, and you (and potentially others) were pulled up on the front page as a result. Because you will likely show up in organic search results, why should you pay for these keywords?
Many businesses have wondered whether or not to integrate branded keywords into their Google campaigns, and their hesitancy makes sense. Companies are concerned about the possibility of wasting money on conversions that are going to happen anyway. Why spend money on branded terms that people are searching for to begin with? It seems a bit counter-intuitive when you think about it. Business owners would rather spend their budget on people who have never heard of their brand so they can exclusively bring in new customers.
Those concerns are completely valid, however, there are some excellent benefits to bidding on your branded keywords.
You are in Complete Control of Your Brand’s Message
Sometimes organic search won’t send people to the best page for what they’re looking for. So while you may have someone searching for your name, they might be put off if they can’t immediately find their solution. That’s not something you have to be concerned about when you implement paid ads. It gives you the opportunity to formulate the right message for each person and personalize their search results to specifically solve their problem. Take the time to send each customer to the best performing landing pages, and don’t leave it up to chance.
You Won’t be Letting Your Competitors Steal Your Lunch
If you are in a highly competitive market, and your competition has any idea what they’re doing, you can safely assume that they are betting on your brand name. Couple that with what was previously mentioned in the last point and you could be losing your customers. You could be potentially hand delivering money directly into your competitor’s pockets and not even realize it.
When someone searches for your term in Google, they may very well be served an ad of your competitor, bragging about how great they are. Your customer might click on that before they even see your organic result. This click could end up being the loss of your prospective client.
Branded Keywords Don’t Take a Lot of Investment
Not only will this bolster your click-through rate and quality score, but it is super cheap! There is almost no discernible reason to not allocate a small portion of your monthly budget towards ensuring that you can maintain your brand’s frame. There are no steep financial penalties if you do bid on branded keywords, but there are a lot of invisible losses if you don’t. So you can both; stick it to the competition and not even have to break the piggy bank in order to do so. That sounds like a win-win scenario. On top of that, you can use sitelinks, call outs, and even more extensions to make sure that you push your competitor’s names down and take up more screen space.
It is always recommended to cover all of your bases. You can acquire new sales, whilst claiming what is rightfully yours. Continue to grow your business the right way and dominate the search results at every opportunity. We at SmartSites can help! We utilize our years of digital advertising expertise to chart out the right course specifically for goals. Schedule a free discovery meeting with us today!
