Google Ads · focused work
Brand search campaigns for ecommerce
Someone typing the store's name has already chosen where to shop. Paid ads on that name buy the top of the result page, control the message and protect the click when another advertiser bids on it. They are also the easiest line in an account to spend money on a visit that was arriving anyway, which is why the campaign and the test of its worth belong together.
This is the right work if
- Another advertiser is appearing above the store's own listing when people search its name
- Brand and non-brand keywords share a campaign and the blended return looks better than it is
- The brand campaign is collecting queries that contain the name but nothing the store sells
- Every brand ad sends the visitor to the homepage no matter what they searched for
- Nobody has ever tested what happens to total revenue when brand ads pause
What it is
What brand search work covers
A brand campaign covers the store's own name and everything attached to it: the name alone, the name with a category or a product line, the name with service words such as returns, sizing, store hours or discount code, and the misspellings people actually type. Each of those is a different intent wearing the same word, so the build is mostly about routing. The ad and the landing page for a shopper looking for the returns policy should not be the ad and the landing page for someone about to buy a specific range.
The second half is honesty about what the spend produces. Clicks on a store's own name convert well by definition, so a brand campaign lifts every blended figure it is folded into. The work keeps brand reporting separate from prospecting, decides what portion of those visits would have arrived through the organic listing, and runs a genuine test where the budget justifies one. There is also a policy layer. Trademark rules restrict what another advertiser may write in ad text, and they generally do not stop anyone bidding on the term, so defending the position is a practical matter rather than a legal one.
How it is done
The work, in order
What changes
- The store's own name is defended and the message shown on it is chosen
- Blended return figures stop being flattered by demand that already existed
- Brand searchers land on the page that matches the words they typed
- The account holds evidence for how much of the brand budget adds revenue
Give brand its own campaign
Move brand terms out of every mixed campaign into one that holds the name, its variants, common misspellings and the modifier phrases. Add negatives both ways, so brand stays out of prospecting campaigns and prospecting terms stay out of this one.
Route each modifier to its own page
Name alone goes to the home page or the strongest range. Name plus a category goes to that category. Name plus returns or delivery goes to the policy page. Name plus a product line goes to that collection, because a searcher who typed it does not want to navigate again.
Say something the organic listing cannot
Use the ad space for a live promotion, current delivery cut-offs, a new range or a stock statement, and add sitelinks to the destinations returning shoppers ask for most. If the ad copies the organic result word for word, it is paying for a click that was already free.
Stop other campaigns absorbing the traffic
Exclude branded queries from automated campaign types that would otherwise take them, so the brand line reports on its own and prospecting efficiency can be read without it. Keep a negative list for unrelated products and phrases that share the brand word.
Test whether the spend is incremental
Where the budget is large enough to justify it, hold brand ads back in a set of regions or pause them on a schedule long enough to cover the store's normal time from first visit to order, then compare total revenue rather than campaign revenue between the periods.
Is paying for clicks on your own name wasted money?
Not automatically, and not always worthwhile either. It earns its place when competitors are bidding on the name, when the organic listing does not occupy the top of the page, or when the ad can carry a promotion. It is weakest when the store already owns the whole result page uncontested.
Can another retailer bid on our brand name?
In most markets, yes. Trademark protection in search advertising typically restricts using a mark in ad text rather than as a keyword, and the details vary by country and by program. If a reseller or affiliate is doing it, the practical remedy is usually a term in the partner agreement, not a complaint.
Should a brand campaign use exact match only?
Start with exact and phrase together so misspellings and natural modifier phrases are caught, and keep a tight negative list. Broader matching in a brand campaign tends to pull in generic queries that then get credited to brand, which is the reporting problem the campaign exists to avoid.
How much budget should a brand campaign carry?
Enough to hold position on the searches that matter and no more, since the volume is bounded by how many people search the name. Watch impression share on the exact brand term rather than spend. When it is close to full, extra budget buys broader queries, not more brand traffic.
Do brand ads reduce clicks on the organic listing?
Some clicks move from the free listing to the paid one, which is exactly why the test matters. The question is not whether cannibalisation happens but whether the total is higher with the ad running, and only a holdout or a scheduled pause can answer that for a particular store.
Related work and answers
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