Brand Search & Branded Keywords

What is Brand Search and Branded Keywords?

Brand search is your product name and all related keywords (e.g., for company "Salesforce": "Salesforce," "Salesforce CRM," "Salesforce pricing," "Is Salesforce worth it"). These typically have high search volume and extremely high intent—people search for your company because they already know you exist.

The question every B2B must answer: "Should we bid on our own brand keywords in Google Ads, or let organic dominate?"

Should You Bid on Your Own Brand Keywords?

The classic argument against brand bidding: "Why pay for clicks if users find us organically? That's wasted money."

The reality in B2B:

Reason 1: Competitors bid on your brand. If you don't bid but your competitor does, you lose lead probability. A prospect searches "HubSpot alternative"—competitor ad is top-positioned—competitor wins the lead. You have only organic ranking, but below the ad.

Reason 2: Paid dominates organic links. A Google Ads ad with "free trial" or "limited offer" in the headline increases click probability against an organic listing.

Reason 3: Misspellings and variations. "HubSpot" is also searched as "HubSpot app," "HubSpot pricing," "HubSpot competitor," "HubSpot free plan." Bidding on these variations is valuable.

Conclusion: Defensive brand bidding is essential. You don't need a large budget (often 5-10% of your total Google Ads budget), but you need presence.

Brand Bidding Strategy

Competitor Brand Bidding: Ethics and Best practices

Is it legal to bid on competitor names? Yes, with restrictions. In the USA and EU, it's legal to bid on competitor brand keywords—the ad just can't be trademark-infringing (e.g., claiming "we are Salesforce"). Google Ads has policies against this.

Google Ads policy: You can't claim you are the competitor or copy their branding. But you can have "Salesforce alternative" as a keyword and messaging like "Switch from Salesforce—get more features, 50% less cost."

Ethically: It's acceptable to bid on competitor brands if:

• Your messaging is honest ("alternative to X")
• You don't attack competitor unfairly
• You solve real use cases ("Salesforce is too expensive"—fair if your price is actually lower)

It's not OK if: You claim "we are Salesforce" or copy their branding or messaging exactly. That's trademark infringement.

Best practice: Use competitor brand bidding defensively, not aggressively. "Switch from X" is OK. "X is garbage" is not OK.

Brand Search and SEO

A common question: "If we rank 1 organically for branded keywords on Google, do we need ads?"

Answer: Often yes, for several reasons:

• Ad real estate: A Google Ads ad is at the top with CTR often 2x higher than organic ranking 1.
• Brand messaging: Ads allow promotions ("limited offer," "free trial" in headline). Organic snippets can't.
• Competitor defense: If you don't bid but competitors do, you lose prospects.
• Variations: You can bid on many long-tail brand variations you don't rank for.

However: If you rank 1 organically AND bid on brand, your CPC is low (often 0.50-2 euros per click) because quality score is very high (ads are highly relevant). Incremental cost is low; ROI is often very positive.

Brand Search KPIs and Measurement

Metrics to track:

• Search impression share: If you have 100,000 brand searches, what % show your ads? Goal: >90%.
• Branded click-through rate: Typically 10-20% for brand keywords (very high). If you have <5%, your ads/title/description are weak.
• Cost per click (CPC): Brand should be 20-60% cheaper than non-brand. If not, check keyword match type (should be broad with negation).
• Conversion rate from brand: Typically 5-15% (people are already interested). If much lower, your landing page is weak.

Mistakes not to make: Too many ads per keyword group. If you have branded keyword "HubSpot," you need 2-3 ad variations (not 10+). Turning off best performers and testing changes too often makes data noisy.

Brand Search and Multi-Channel Attribution

A common mistake: You calculate ROI of brand ads only as "direct conversions from this ad click." But in B2B, brand ad might be just top-of-funnel. Prospect sees ad, clicks, leaves. 2 weeks later, email conversion.

If you use only "last-click attribution," you massively underestimate brand ads. Use multi-touch attribution to see brand ads' true impact.

Brand Search Budget Allocation

Defensive brand (minimum):
- Larger company (>10M euros revenue): 5-10% Google Ads budget for brand
- SMB (<10M euros): 3-7%
- Startup: 2-5%

Offensive brand (if revenue-positive):
If you can show brand ads have ROI >3:1, increase to 15-25%.

Competitor bidding (optional, if budget left):
5-10% additional. Only do it if messaging is genuinely better.

Practical Setup: Brand Search Campaign

Campaign 1: Exact brand
Keywords: "HubSpot" (exact match)
Ad messaging: Feature-focused, e.g., "Free CRM, sales, service tools in one platform"
Landing page: Main product page

Campaign 2: Brand variations
Keywords: "HubSpot pricing," "HubSpot features," "HubSpot app" (broad match with negation)
Ad messaging: Specific to keyword, e.g., "See HubSpot pricing—flexible plans for all sizes"
Landing page: Corresponding page (pricing, features, integration)

Campaign 3: Competitor brand (optional)
Keywords: "Salesforce alternative," "best HubSpot competitor"
Ad messaging: Positioning vs competitor, e.g., "More features, lower cost than Salesforce"
Landing page: Comparison page

Bidding strategy: Use "target impression share" or "maximize conversions" with a max CPC bid. You want good share, but not overspend.

Brand search is defensively necessary. Invest in it properly.