We were really pleased to see published research on the web that has checked advertising results with Google advice.
The weight of evidence now suggests that bidding on your brand name or company name is the way forward. This is based on:
- Video advice from Google; turn off PPC ads and natural search will only gain 11% of the lost traffic - so 89% of PPC traffic is extra traffic (sometimes known in marketing circles as incremental traffic).
- Research by ExtraDigital PPC team - this actually showed a larger difference in local markets (where location is important) - with only 8% of traffic picked up by natural search. For non local searches the opposite was true with slightly more nearer 18% moved across to natural search traffic. So we reckon 82%-92% is extra traffic.
- Data reported by Tad Miller (April 2013) that was very similar to Google - showing 88% extra traffic by bidding on company name withing PPC.
Again, similar advice is reported by all, that bidprices are usually cheap and conversion rates high so the benefit in terms of revenue is even higher.
It seems that bidding on brand name or company name in PPC is a win->win-> situation.
This is also an instance where Google AdWords advice does benefit advertisers. ExtraDigital are very wary that when it comes to AdWords, the Google advisers are actually sales people with targets to be met, and advice is not always 100% impartial. This is why it is important to independently verify and check claims. It is also worth seeing if different markets behave differently.
More info:
- Google video advice on branding keywords in PPC
- Why bid on your own brand in PPC?
- Blog Article by Tad Miller
But the main point is:
Remember to include your brand name or company name in your list of keywords for PPC advertising.
Article by Rachel Cornish
