notes

Since 14 September 2010, Google has allowed any company to buy its competitor’s brand name keywords. This means that even if a particular site ranks at the top of Google's natural search results, its competitors might still appear in the three Adwords listings displayed immediately above those results (not to mention the ads displayed on the right).

Given that over 95% of searches involve the brand name at some stage, a brand represents an acquisition channel in its own right within a company's online and offline ad investments. As an advertiser, buying your brand name keyword keeps competitors from siphoning off traffic that would otherwise come to you.

DEFEND YOUR BRAND FROMCOMPETITORS

Buying your brand name on Adwords lets you take control of the message you want associated with your brand. The Adwords format is much more flexible than SEO, and allows you to add new content in a matter of minutes (including new functionality, promotions, products, or associated services).

CONTROL THE NARRATIVE AND KEEP IT IN THE FOREFRONT

A company's brand is often the last step of a web user's purchasing decision process, and can account for up to 90% of final SEM clicks resulting in sales, often with a very high ROI (and, generally speaking, at a very low CPC). An advertiser benefitting from high traffic driven by their brand name can therefore afford to run campaigns in other marketing channels which have a lower ROI in order to win new customers. Conversely, a competitor who does not have brand name recognition must strive to hit their average ROI solely through campaigns that do not rely on their brand name.

Important: The tracking and reporting technology used to manage online ad media must have an attribution management system that is flexible enough to allow sales where the last click was the brand name to be re-attributed to the ad elements which contributed to the sale.

USE YOUR BRAND NAME AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN ATTRIBUTION

"Should we buy our brand name?" It's a disconcerting and yet legitimate question for many companies who do paid search advertising. Each brand name is a unique device that reflects the identity of a company and its products. So the answer to this question will vary depending on how widely the brand is known, its industry sector, web site, ad budget, online strategy, and other factors. To help you navigate this complex subject, here are some points to bear in mind.

INTRODUCTION

SEARCH MARKETING: SHOULD YOU BUY YOUR BRAND NAME?

According to a study by Google, linking Adwords to natural search results leads to increased traffic for advertisers (50% more clicks on average).

However, these results vary considerably from brand to brand, and the study does not differentiate between brand name results and those generated by generic keywords.

INCREASE YOUR TRAFFIC BY COMPLEMENTING SEO AND SEM

Pushing your competitors' search result rankings down allows you to strengthen your brand's position.

- The CPC for your brand name becomes progressively lower- The competition tends to disappear (campaigns using your brand keyword become less profitable for them, and getting onto the first page of search results becomes more difficult).

The Adwords format can also be used to push unfavorable news items which would otherwise appear in the top search results, off the critical front page.

PUSH COMPETITORS AND NEGATIVE INFORMATION DOWN THE RANKINGS

RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) is a Google feature that lets advertisers target users who have already visited their website. Since the brand name is often the last stop in the purchasing decision process, the odds are high that a web user making a purchase already visited the seller's website during the research stage.

When applied to a brand name, RLSA allows advertisers to pursue several strategies:

- Promo-oriented messages, used to acquire new customers- Services-oriented messages, used to engage clients over time - Convincing web users who visited the site less than X days ago to finalize their order- When it comes to online services (dating, sports betting, etc.), a subset of subscribers tend to systematically access the site through a particular sponsored link. RLSA makes it possible to remove this bias by, for example, targeting those existing users with special offers (a better subscription package, etc.)

BUILD YOUR BRAND NAME'S CAPITAL USING RLSA

Mobile traffic is booming, and now represents 15% of global traffic. By default, Google's global campaigns are disseminated to computers and mobile devices alike. However, Google assigns a contextual quality level to each targeted device, which means that ads, advertisers, and placement may vary from one device to the next. Buying your brand name ensures you have a presence in the mobile space through global campaigns.

ENSURE YOU HAVE A PRESENCE IN THE MOBILE SPACE THROUGH GLOBAL CAMPAIGNS

notes

SEARCH MARKETING: SHOULD YOU BUY YOURBRAND NAME?

www.keyade.com / contact@keyade.com / +33 (0) 1.44.79.38.13

notes

Google has not acknowledged the use of a Quality Score in Adwords placements, but some online sources indicate that it does indeed exist. If this is the case, then a brand name's popularity will have a beneficial ripple effect on all the keywords in an advertiser's Adwords account. Additionally, the more weight that particular campaign is given in the overall strategy, the more this phenomenon is pronounced.

IMPROVE THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF ADWORDS ACCOUNTS

Buying your own brand name keyword may seem counter-intuitive. Financially, it represents a commitment to certain ad expenditures. The CPC may reach €0.30 to €0.40 if it is a sought-after keyword. If it is not, the CPC tends to fluctuate between €0.01 and €0.05. In the case of a very well-known brand, purchasing its keyword can mean an investment of tens of thousands of euros each month, and consume a large part of your ad budget.

At the same time, for some advertisers, not buying their brand name can be even more costly. Relying solely on paid search to fend off competitors is not a recommended strategy, as other players will find it easy to siphon off sales originating from your online and offline advertising investments. If competition is low or non-existent, buying Adwords can increase your conversion rate (reducing your media costs) by improving the user experience and/or instilling more consumer confidence in your brand.

In short, choose the solution that fits your company best, given your strategy and goals.

SEARCH MARKETING: SHOULD YOU BUY YOURBRAND NAME?

CONCLUSION

Keyade is an independent company specializing in performance-based online media acquisition (Keyade Agency), and its conversion using dedicated technologies and services (Madmetrics). Launched in 2006, Keyade now operates in over 80 countries from its offices in Paris, France, and Dubai, UAE. Its client portfolio includes OLX, Meetic/Match.com, Air France, Jumeirah, Redoute and Voyages-SNCF.

In 2011 Keyade received capital investments from entrepreneurs Marc Simoncini (Meetic, iFrance) through his Jaïna fund, and Fabrice Grinda (Zingy, OLX).

In terms of buyer psychology, using Adwords increases web users' level of confidence in your brand. This is because a company that advertises is deemed to be a "reliable company", and the ads are a testament to the trust that Google places in its advertisers. Furthermore, Google has recently announced the launch of its "Trusted Merchant" label (currently in beta in the United States), guaranteeing web users a high level of service. Paid search rankings allow eligible advertisers to promote this label to web users. In general, Adwords helps you guide web users' purchasing decision process, thus increasing the click-through rate as well as the conversion rate once they land on your site.

INCREASE YOUR CREDIBILITY BY DOMINATING THE RESULTS PAGE