you paying too much for your brand keywords? There are 5 ways to find out (and fix it!) //
I’ve seen thousands of Google Ads account as a Googler and Google Ads Coach for the past two years. Almost all of them are running branded campaigns (search campaigns using variations of your company name as keywords) and one in ten complains that the CPCs for their brand keywords are too high.
WordStream’s recent search benchmark data indicates that the average cost per click increased in 61% of industries, and that there was a general increase of 5% year-over-year.
Click here to download the complete benchmark report for Google Ads in 2023.
Brand keywords have historically had a lower cost per click. This, combined with the fact branded keywords convert at 100% more than non-branded terms, is why businesses are looking to get the most out of them.
You’re not alone if you think your branded keywords costs per click are high this year, but don’t want them to go away. Here’s a list of five reasons your branded keyword costs are high and what you can do to fix them.
The 5 factors that cause high costs for brand keywords (and what to do about them)
This guide will help you diagnose and treat Google Ads brand keywords that are costing excessively.
1. You have mismatched your match type
You’re not advertising for searches that are aligned with your brand.
Imagine you have entered your brand keywords in your search campaign as follows:
Joe’s Awesome Business
Joe’s Business
This is called broad match and tells Google you want to advertise when people search for Joe’s Awesome business. This does not tell Google to advertise your business when someone searches for it specifically. You would need to use phrase or exact match.
How to tell if your match type is wrong
Click Search Keywords in Google Ads. Look at the match type and make sure that phrase match or exact matching is next to each keyword in your brand search campaign. It’s possible to leave out a bracket or quotation mark, even if you thought you had selected the correct match type.
This free guide will show you how to improve the performance of Google Ads.
2. You are not adding negatives
Just because you have the correct match types doesn’t mean that you are only advertising your branded queries.
In the past year, Google’s definition of “close variants” has become more liberal. It is so liberal that I have heard of Google Ads matching competitors names with brand names even when using phrase match or exact match.
Say you’re searching for “joe’s amazing business”, and Sara’s Fabulous Shop, located down the road, sells similar products. Google may match your “joes awesome business” keyword to “sara’s fabulous shop”, even though it is clear that the two phrases are not similar.
Google’s search algorithm will recognize the similarity of these two keywords and treat them as synonyms. This will turn your branded campaign into a rival search campaign. CPCs for competitor keywords can be quite high, due to the low Quality Score and high competition.
What to do if you are adding negatives?
Go to Key words and then click on negative keywords in Google Ads to see if you have added any negatives to your brand search campaign.
You can sort by Impressions for the past 30 days or 90 days if you have a low search volume. You may have noticed something surprising. Add it as a keyword.
With the WordStream free keyword tool, you can find negative keywords and keywords for your brand searches!
3. You are being bid on by your competitors
Suppose you have the right match types and you are adding negatives where necessary. Your Search Term Report is looking good, but your CPCs are still very high .
Your competitors bidding for your brand is the next most common cause. There’s competition on your brand keywords. It’s possible that your brand is so generic that you are bidding with other businesses to get customers who may or may be unaware of you. )
It’s legal to do this, as long as your trademarks are not used in the text. You can get rid of these people by defending your brand. Make sure you have a share of impression above 90% in your branded campaign. You can do this by increasing their CPCs until they are no longer profitable to bid on your brand.
How to tell if your competitors have bid on your brand
Don’t google yourself! Go to Keywords in Google Ads and then auction insights. You’ll be able to see the domains of your competitors if they are bidding for your brand.
4. The wrong bid strategy
CPCs can be high for a variety of reasons. You may be paying too much for brand keywords because you have chosen the wrong bidding strategy.
Google Ads Recommendations often recommend Target Impression Share. However, in my experience this is an easy way to waste a lot of money. Maximize Clicks and Maximize Conversions are my preferred solutions for branded campaigns. However, these solutions may not work for all accounts.
If you find that your CPCs have gotten out of hand, try switching to Manual CPC and turning on enhanced CPC. Set a Max CPC at least 25% below your current CPCs. Search Impression share should be monitored carefully, especially if you have competitors bidding in your auctions. Reduce your bids by 25% increments and your CPCs will drop.
How to tell if your bid strategy is wrong
When you are in Google Ads and you are not within an adgroup, go to Settings to the left to find out which bid strategy is being used.
5. You may have a problem with your Quality Score
Your bids as well as your quality will determine the amount of money you pay for each click. It’s important to check your Quality Score, even though it is not as common with branded campaigns.
You may have not included your brand name in the ad copy. This could be why your click-through rates are lower than they should be. Your ads may be fine, but the landing page you’re using is so bad that it hurts your Quality Score and, in turn, increases the CPC Google charges for showing your ad.
If you are running a search campaign for a brand, the Quality Score (if it is reported) of each keyword should be 9 or 10.
How to tell if your Quality Score is off?
Search keywords in Google Ads. Add four columns to your report – Quality Score, Expected Clickthrough Rate, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience. The Quality Score for each keyword should be 9 or 10. Expected CTR, Ad Relevance and Landing Page Experience should all be “above the average .”
Brand keyword optimization: Consider all your options
The factors that affect your brand keyword cost go far beyond standard keyword settings. Keep in mind that many factors in your account can impact your brand keyword CPC. So, when optimizing your branded terms, keep an open-minded approach. If you’ve looked into these five possible culprits and still haven’t found the right solution, then see how WordStream solutions could help you maximize brand keyword ROI.
When you are dealing with high CPCs for brand keywords, it is important to consider the following five factors:
- Match type
- Negative Keywords
- Competition
- Bid strategy
- Quality Score
What if you are paying too much for your brand keywords? There are 5 ways to find out (and fix it! The first to appear on WordStream was.