{"id":27574,"date":"2026-04-09T21:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=27574"},"modified":"2026-04-09T21:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:34:13","slug":"ppcchat-should-you-advertise-on-brand-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-should-you-advertise-on-brand-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Should You Advertise on Brand Terms? | 7th April 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During this week\u2019s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini<\/a> gathered expert perspectives on brand vs. competitor keywords. Do they generally advise clients\/brands to advertise on their brand terms? And do they separate brand term advertising in your reporting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: Do you generally advise clients\/brands to advertise on their brand terms? Why or why not and can it vary? And is your answer different by platform?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I tend to be in favor of advertising on brand terms, but it depends on the situation. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I generally do advise to advertise on brand terms, but in a separate campaign with them as negatives in all other campaigns. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Favourite answer: it depends, but I don’t immediately cut off brand terms because “organic is covering that” many of my clients will straight up lose thinking that way because Gov website templates are not fast to upgrade and not very organic-friendly. Plus the competitor issue. .@JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a client needs to control their brand story, if there isn’t a lot of brand loyalty, if there is a lot of competition\u2026 those are all cases where it can be important to be on brand terms. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minus a couple clients who don\u2019t want to advertise on their brand terms. We always advertise on brand terms. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@NeptuneMoon<\/a> oh yes, definitely brand should be in its own campaign. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, if a lot of your traffic is on mobile, you want that top of screen positioning. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

imo you should show up as much as possible by paying as little as possible. think a lot of folks over the years killed their brand terms and are paying the price as the Max’s overindex on bidding on competitor terms (aka your brand terms) that said, it should be treated differently, reported differently and maintenance should be charged differently @Aaronlevy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, 100% (usually). Now, if they have a super strong organic presence or there is literally no competition, then I can forgo the brand ads. We have to remember in the day of “expanded, AARs, Pmax, etc\u2026” folks end up bidding on brand terms unless they purposely turn off those terms using negatives, which not many do unless business owners are friends (yes, I have had a couple who made sure not to bid on their friends businesses). @Ichasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have 4 scenarios: @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. New brand, stimulating traffic before organic takes hold<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Defense, only if meaningful competition<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. To promote deals that can’t\/don’t surface in organic listings<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. To model conversions for parallel non-brand efforts<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Our SEO coverage on our brand is VERY good — I think on limited budgets, in this case, it’s okay not to advertise on brand. And I am vehemently against advertising on other people’s brands. Seems that we wind up doing it anyway because of the way Google matches search terms to keywords. My bottom line tends to be: If you can spend the budget without advertising on branded terms, do that. You will miss some new customers sometimes, and your conversion rates will be lower, but you are more likely to be getting new customers who you wouldn’t have gotten anyway. @EronCohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2026having said that, we do have some campaigns where we do advertise on our brand, via broad match (non-branded keywords).  The powers that be think it’s a win. I disagree, but I can say it does lead to more new customers than I thought it would. Question is whether we’d have gotten them anyway. @EronCohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The budget needed for brand typically is VERY small compared to the non-brand campaigns. If it was more expensive, then I would try not to run brand a lot more often. I had a couple big brands who wanted to test turning off brand an in each case, we lost about 30% of top-line revenue compared to running them. You won’t lose it all, but you do lose some, and for the cost, the 30% was too big to ignore. @Ichasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Usually, check whether someone else is already advertising on those terms and share it with the client, and recommend it if competition is already bidding on those terms. More than search, I find it becomes a necessity when it comes to Amazon. But definitely needs to be reported on separately as it tends to skew the real picture. Sometimes the demand generated from Meta is captured from brand search Google. @alimehdimukadam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I can say that branded search term CPCs tend to be cheaper than non-branded, but not always. I think it’s because people search for our brand and then a service. The “service” part has alot of competition, while the “brand” part of the search term does not. I think the most important question is: Would you have gotten the conversion anyway via organic? In healthcare, I think the answer tends to lead towards YES because you were either referred to our brand or are already a patient. @EronCohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brand search is like insurance; it makes sure people looking for you get to the right place, and you can get them directly to a well-optimized page (which may not be the homepage). And in our current world of broad match and PMax, you bet Google is matching your brand name to competitor names and even general search around your specific industry\/offering. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I also feel the need to add another point–there are different types of branded searches and they aren’t equal in terms of commercial value. To delineate three of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. General branded searches where they just name your company and not much else to help you discern what they are looking for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Branded searches that also contain a product or service<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Branded searches that contain likely non-commercial terms (eg – <company name> login)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Of the three above, I think the second one would be most valuable to bid on. @EronCohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Generally, no, unless they’re having trouble ranking for their own name organically. @williamhboggs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Q1A: How do your views differ on brand vs. competitor terms?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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      Well, these days you can accidentally end up advertising on competitors\u2019 brands without knowing it as brand terms match interchangeably in Google Ads\u2026@NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I’m against bidding on own brand terms UNLESS (a) competitors are bidding on them, or (b) the brand does not show up in the top position organically for their own name (this is rare).
      Special scenario (c) the client has more budget than they can spend on cold searches (0% SLIS(b)) and just wants to capture as much as possible.       @williamhboggs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      That being said, it should be a strategic decision to advertise on competitors\u2019 brand names. If you\u2019re not deliberately doing it, then do you best to keep up with competitor negatives. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Running directly on brand terms can be an expensive and fruitless undertaking unless you have a clear landing page or proposition as to why you’re an alternative. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Though to @NeptuneMoon<\/a>\u2019s point, Google keeps matching everyone on everything these days\u2026@revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      defence vs offence! I’ll say how mine are similar – you’ll get the best results from both by being clever. Just bidding on “brand name” or “competitor name” won’t get you much of anything incremental in brand terms, and you’re q score will be so low it’s underground for competitors. bid on review terms, “vs,” specific features, “cancellation” etc. – haven’t seen many people doing it, but could be wise to explicitly exclude [competitor name], then let the max’s pick up more interesting terms. @Aaronlevy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I find competitor terms mostly a miss in my neck of the woods. Typically, if someone is ready to go to a store, they’re not going to be persuaded to swerve to your shop by one search ad. and they’re REALLY pricey! Now for Govs, we bid on all kinds of ‘thematic competitors’ because we’re trying to change behaviour and interrupt misinformation. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      “Alternatives to” can work really well @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I think we also tend to think that if a person is searching for a specific brand, they have already totally decided on that brand. I don\u2019t think that is always the case, as evidenced by competitor terms sometimes converting. But expectations should be very low for a competitor campaign. Anything you get there, I position as a bonus. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I always ask two questions: @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. How likely is it that a person searching explicitly for X brand will see your ad and instead convert with you?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Have we structured copy to appropriately command this situation?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        I’d say that for lead gen and auto, I can see it. for QSR, like, try selling someone a whopper when they want a big mac. waste of bucks. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        I have had a few brands who wanted to go after other brands (mostly because they were targeting our brand, you could tell on purpose). If you have a plan for it and make specific ads for it, I say go for it. Just understand when you do, it will be more expensive CPC wise, so have enough budget. Also, ensure your ads are something that will make them click yours vs. theirs. Why pay more? We have xyz services that others do not, etc\u2026@Ichasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        It is pretty common now to see, but I had an HVAC & plumbing client years ago that used \u201cwe answer our phones\u201d (and they really did) in their competitor copy and it was very effective. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        I’d usually be pretty bearish on brand campaigns, but after what I’ve been seeing from how Google matches brand keywords to competitors, I’m thinking the same is true for everyone else. So even if other brands aren’t running competitor campaigns, they’re likely bidding on your keywords whether they know if or not. Defensive spending almost feels like a non-negotiable (from what I’ve seen recently). @AnthonyMcDaniel<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        @AnthonyMcDaniel<\/a> good point. I’d take cues from Auction Insights. If the competition takes a <\/= 10% IS, and not consistently MoM, the risk of minimizing branded spend is low @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        Q2: What are the most effective ways for a brand to test the impact of advertising on their brand terms? Does this vary by platform or campaign type?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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        One way is definitely to turn it off for a period of time and see what happens. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        @NeptuneMoon<\/a> we call that holdout testing so you can charge more for it. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Also, take into account impression share. 80% on brand is good, but not all brands should go for 90% or 100% impression share because of how expensive the CPCs can be. @duanebrown<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        We do holdout testing, and we’ve been known to develop scores that include brand term weights as part of the calibration. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This can be a little complicated. You have to measure not just paid traffic but also organic to get the difference. It is not as easy as turn it off and just measure the paid difference, since the hypothesis is that organic will pick up the difference. Kind of like using MER to measure marketing spend efficiency with the ratio. You have to measure the impact of brand search over all other forms of conversions to see if any other channels picked up the difference (direct, organic, etc\u2026). @Ichasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        I think we also hear about more lately \u201cthese conversions would have happened anyway\u201d and that is often not based on any actual data, but more the agenda of the person making the statement, IMO. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Holdout test and\/or geo holdout. We did a handful of these in various formats at tinuiti (sometimes scientific, sometimes with engine help, sometimes uh, by accident). @Ichasse<\/a> makes a great point at measuring total impact, not just search impact https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/should-i-bid-on-branded-terms-in-sem\/373258\/<\/a> @Aaronlevy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        @JuliaVyse<\/a> You work with any catalogers, lol? I ask because that is a VERY common term to see how impactful catalogs are with groups of folks. If they got emails, catalogs, etc\u2026 We use holdout testing a lot! @Ichasse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Holdouts are the gold standard IMO, but few test in this way to reach statistical significance. Lower cost alternatives include: @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n