What are branded search terms?
Branded words are phrases containing the name of a brand; for instance, “Nike shoes” would be considered one such term.
Branded words are vital to businesses as they increase brand recognition and stimulate demand for their products or services. Branded terms often perform better at driving conversions than generic terms do.
If your business has an established brand identity, branded keywords could be an effective component of its marketing plan. You must keep an eye on their usage so you can adapt as necessary and refine your approach as required.
If people are searching for your brand + coupons, perhaps conducting a promotional campaign would be beneficial. Or if people are searching for your brand + reviews, perhaps creating additional content based on product reviews could be worthwhile.
Monitoring keywords associated with your brand can provide helpful insights into how customers engage with it and help guide decision-making for marketing strategies you employ.
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What does it mean to bid on branded terms?
Bidding on brand terms means paying to have your advertisement appear whenever someone searches for your company name online. It can be an effective way to ensure that potential buyers can easily find you and see it before other competitors do.
Consider several points when bidding on these terms. First and foremost is making sure your ad is relevant and useful to potential buyers, then set an amount you are willing to pay per click and keep an eye on any branded terms to ensure they’re generating leads effectively.
If you want to increase your visibility and engage potential customers, bidding on terms with brand recognition may be the perfect solution. Just be sure to do your research carefully and submit an offer that maximizes return for investment.
What are the advantages?
Branded keywords offer many benefits when bidding on them via search engine marketing (SEM). First and foremost is their high volume of searches; as a result, you are likely to reach many more people when bidding on them. Furthermore, CTR rates of clicks for these terms tend to be high, and your ads could receive greater click-throughs when displayed for these terms; furthermore, branded terms could help build brand recognition and equity over time.
Although bidding on brand-name keywords requires upfront costs, its long-term rewards could be substantial. By bidding on such terms, you’re increasing reach and building brand recognition while improving SEO (SEM) results over time.
What are the disadvantages?
Advertisers sometimes question the wisdom of bidding on brand keywords in paid search advertising. While bidding might initially appear attractive, bidding could prove costly over time for three main reasons.
1. Bidding Process Could Waste Money
Bidding for branded keywords may only yield minimal returns in return on ad spending; since many users searching for your brand already know your name and are more likely to purchase without even seeing an advertisement.
2. Bidding on Branded Keywords
By bidding only on terms that are branded, you risk missing out on bidding for less expensive yet still relevant long-tail keywords which have lower search counts but can generate leads and traffic more effectively than their branded counterparts.
3. Your Quality Score Could Suffer
Your quality score reveals how relevant and effective your ad is with its audience; higher scores mean lower costs per visit; however, using brand terms could potentially damage it by signalling to Google that they do not match up to user intent.
Are You Worried That Competitors Will Try Bidding On Your Trademarked Keywords? Don’t worry. While technically possible to bid, it is highly unlikely they would gain popularity and become successful bidders.
Why: When someone searches your brand, they have already established an association between you and them and are likely searching for specific products or services from your business. If a competitor appears amongst their search results, chances are high they’ll ignore them altogether.
Branded keywords tend to be very costly to purchase, and companies usually won’t make that investment unless they are confident that people searching for their brand could become customers. Your competitor likely won’t bid on these keywords unless they truly desire to take them from you!
But that does not mean you should completely relax regarding the terms you choose for your brand. Instead, be sure to actively bid on each term so you can be at the top of the list; and if someone starts bidding against you on one or more terms of service, don’t hesitate to act and raise bids as necessary in order to stay ahead.
Is it worth bidding on a competitor’s branded terms?
There are various schools of thought regarding competitors’ branding terms; some companies believe bidding on brand-named terms to gain some of their competitors’ traffic; however, others consider this an ineffective use of time and money as people searching for certain brands are likely to come across them regardless of where they search.
What’s the Most Efficient Way? Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer; each situation and goal must be assessed individually to provide effective advice.
For example, if your company is small and competing with larger ones, bidding on branded terms may be an effective strategy to attract some of their customers. On the other hand, established large businesses with well-known brands may not need to bid on these terms at all.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you and your business to decide if buying branded terms is beneficial or not. If uncertain, test out smaller-scale purchases first to see if it works effectively.