While setting up a recent Paid Search (PPC) campaign, the client asked, “Why should we spend money on branded terms? We’re already in the top positions in natural search.” This is a common question, especially for site owners that have spent considerable resources in SEO. Many companies believe that if they’re number 1 in the natural search listings (through SEO efforts), their work is done. There are three reasons we’ll discuss why almost every company should include branded keywords in their PPC campaigns.

Customized Landing Pages. One of the drawbacks to SEO is the inability to set custom landing pages. Recent advances in the search engines, including site links and nested search results, attempt to provide the ability to access a deep page directly. However, there is no possibility of testing new landing pages or microsites without waiting for the page to get crawled. Paid Search, on the other hand, allows one to set custom landing pages. Utilizing this feature, you can quickly test new landing pages at will. You can also customize the messaging of each landing page to match the ad copy, creating the most relevant user experience possible.

Two Types of Search Listings are Better Than One. Most companies will appear above the fold in search results for their branded terms, leading many to believe PPC isn’t necessary. However, research has shown that natural and paid search listings for the same brand leads to a synergistic effect, increasing the click-through rate compared to either listing on their own. For example, if you look at heat maps of Google SERPs, you will see that the brands with both text ads and natural search listings for a given search query are the “warmest” for that SERP. Heat maps (such as the one shown below) provide the levels of user interaction with links on a website (or in our example, SERPs).  Owning high-visibility real estate in the natural and paid search listings is believed to increase perceived brand trust, leading to the higher click-through rates.

Sample of SERP Heat Map

Competition. With SEO driving 75% of all search traffic, some companies choose to focus their efforts exclusively in this area. While this may seem to be the most cost-effective approach, it leaves a company vulnerable to paid search “poaching”. In the example below, a search for “Nike” reveals several other companies bidding on their branded term. While generally looked down upon, bidding on competitors’ branded keywords is a common practice. Bidding on your branded keywords not only gives users two opportunities to visit your site, they also ensure competitors aren’t stealing your traffic.

When it comes to making the decision to incorporate branded keywords, there are three key points to remember:

1. You will pay less for the number one position in Paid Search than your competitors, since you’ll have a much higher Quality Score for your branded keywords.
2. The higher the position a competitor has in Paid Search, the more likely they are to steal your potential customer (especially if they include a lucrative offer in their ad copy).
3. Paid Search links are 17% more likely to convert than natural search links.*

As you can see, including branded keywords as part of your strategy can add extra benefits that far outweigh the extra setup time and cost. It will provide you with the opportunity to test new landing pages, increase click-through rates (through perceived brand trust) and ensure your competition isn’t taking advantage of your invisibility in Paid Search.

More From RiseInteractive

• Quality Score – The Key to Ranking First in Paid Search
• PPC and SEO in Harmony: Why Advertisers Should Bid on Branded Terms
• Paid Search Coverage: Why it is Important

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Tags: paid search, ppc

This entry was posted on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing Strategy, Paid Search (PPC). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.