A list member asked me this question today:
“How do you feel about Brand bidding? (on your own brand)”
Here’s my response:
“If you want to maximize profits, don’t care about market share, and don’t need to control the brand messaging: Don’t do it.
Reason is: people searching for your brand will almost certainly be able to find you organically (free clicks), and your competitors’ ads will most probably have little impact on them converting on your site.
(Note: for branded searches, it is your business that GENERATED the search query in the first place)If competitors are bidding on your brand and you want to maximize market share, or you want to control the brand messaging: Do it.
Reason is: first, even if conversion rates for your competitors are gonna be low, there’s still a small portion of your audience that will go for plan B if their ad shows up. Second, your PPC ads’ messaging is almost 100% in your control. You can’t say this for competitors showing up or even your organic listing.
(I love to use sitelinks in my brand campaign to highlight that new product/latest event/black Friday deal/…)“
Now, bidding on your competitors’ brands, that’s a completely different story…
In the end, my conclusion is that Brand bidding mostly benefits the party that allows it.
Cheers to Google.
– Nils