Why don't national brands have PPC ads that target their names, while smaller brands do?
-
Google's policy is to allow other businesses to run PPC ads against your business name, even when trademarked, so long as the ads don't include the trademarked name. At least that's what I have experienced and read online.
Source: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords/thread?tid=55e2b4bf90ae9585&hl=en
Why do so many national brands have no PPC ads showing on their names in Google searches?
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=best+buy
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=victorias+secret
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=office+depot
And so on.
Smaller brands, even when trademarked, are awash in competitors targeting their names:
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=nally+used+cars
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=la+jolla+cosmetic+surgery+centre
Consider these two hotels:
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=ritz+carlton+new+york
- http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=hotel+3030+new+york
There are two slightly different questions in play here, as I have clients I'd like to better protect against this type of PPC poaching:
- So, are there any different policies at Google Adwords RE: national brands and having competitor's ads show on their names?
- How do the major brands block the advertisers on their names?
Thanks!
-
Something I experienced when running an in-house ppc campaign for a smaller brand was that big companies aren't afraid to send out C&D letters from their very expensive lawyers if you bid on their branded terms (not using their name in the text). While there is certainly no law saying you can't bid on a branded term, a smaller brand is going to cave because they won't be taking on a giant in court.
-
The ads that rank best may appear at the top of the page. In the screenshot you've attached, the top result there with the orange background is an Office Depot ad. Branded searches rank very well, so you'll usually see that companies result up there at the top of the SERPs.
In my experience, bidding on competitors branded terms does not convert well. People are looking for that site, and not your site. My experience is not in e-commerce though; if you sell shoes, and you bid on "buy nikes", you're may be doing it right.
-
Excellent point.
-
Thank you for your good responses.
It is the last situation mentioned - why PPC advertisers are not targeting other national brands (Brand A paying to show on Brand B) that I was primarily asking about.
It may be that I am simply being filtered out by the PPC ads that are in the system for brand keywords (wisely, I might add, if that's the case). But I can reproduce these results using proxies, and I can reproduce them using different geographic locations. The brand pages are often much quieter than any small brand keyword search and my mentioned ones show almost devoid of competing ads.
If a brand were paying for top position, that hardly precludes other ads in the lower positions on the page.
Any other thoughts? Is the lack of competing PPC ads perhaps the result of lots of direct contact, asking other advertisers to lay off their trademark targeting?
Are you able to reproduce my national brand searches with PPC ads each time? Here's a screenshot. I see only one brand ad for each of my big brand examples:
http://markup.io/v/s46jhgayjdbn -
John nailed it.
The examples you shared where small companies searches show competitive ads are highly influenced by the search term. For the first three searches you used the company names "best buy", "victoria's secret" and "office depot". The other searches you used more generic terms which naturally trigger ads. "Nelly Used Cars" is showing ads, but "Nelly" isn't the trigger. "Used Cars" is the trigger. Try the search again for just "Nelly", then try another search for "Used Cars". The ads have nothing to do with "Nelly". The same feedback applies to "La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center".
-
I believe you are asking why 'BIG BRAND A' doesn't have competitors bidding for 'BIG BRAND A' related search terms -- vs why 'BIG BRAND A' doesn't bid on their own brand name. On first read I thought it was the latter, but now I see your intent (correct me if I'm wrong).
For the latter, big brands are in paid search for their own brand queries all the time. The examples you showed even have it. The cost is so low, and there are some added brand positioning arguments.
The trickier question is with competitors bidding on other competitors brand terms. e.g. Fredrick's of Hollywood bidding on 'Victoria's Secret' etc. I think some of the other responses addressed this.
-
Just opinion here...
Big brands are often arrogant and presumptuous that you will look for their website before clicking - and they are often correct with that thinking.
The little guy often must stand on a chair, waive his hands, jump up and down while shouting to get the consumer's attention away from the big brand.
... and most importantly... these aggressive little guys are often very smart.
(this post is written assuming that the little guy is advertising his own brand name and NOT the brand name of the big competitor)
-
First, in answer to your questions:
- There are no different policies other than what you stated above. You can not use a companies trademarked name in ad text, but you can use their names in keywords.
- They don't block them. By entering the auction, they'll drive up the price for their competitors. Since their quality scores are higher, they'll win the auctions with cheaper bids.
If your sales are pretty steady, you can run a test to see if running a branded campaign bidding on your own name is worthwhile. Your organic traffic will go down a bit, but since people are looking for your company, your keyword quality scores will be very high, and you should be winning the auctions with relatively cheap bids. If anyone else is bidding on your brand keywords, it's almost always a good idea for you to be in there as well. Otherwise, it's worth testing to see if it has a positive ROI.
Your examples are a bit flawed... a query like "Nallys used cars" is going to trigger for all broad and phrase keywords targeting "used cars", which many companies are going to target. Also "la jolla cosmetic surgery centre" has "cosmetic surgery" which lots of people are bidding on.
Also, I saw ads for all of your examples above which you didn't see ads for (Best Buy, Victoria's Secret, and Office Depot).
-
Hi Cake --
Google's AdWords trademark policy is pretty extensive, and is summarized here: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=16316. The policies apply regardless of business size.
As someone who has had the conversation many times with clients, I can tell you that whether or not a company bids on their own brand terms is an ongoing debate. The "PPC poaching" that you point out is the very reason that I almost always recommend setting up a brand campaign in PPC, but some clients refuse to "pay" for clicks on their brand terms when they have such a strong organic presence. My view? It's a very, very inexpensive way to ensure that you at least have the top paid spot on searches for your own brand name.
Bottom line: If you don't see a PPC ad on a business' brand name, it's either (1) ignorance, or (2) them not wanting to pay super cheap CPC's for brand protection.
Hope that helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Running Google Ad Grants? How Much Is Your Monthly Spend?
Hi all - here's a question for everyone running Google Ads through the Ad Grant. How much of the $10,000 available to your account per month do you actually end up spending? I'm trying to see if I am in line with others in the industry. Would you mind sharing with me the type of nonprofit and the amount you're able to spend of the grant per month, on average? Thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | newwhy0 -
3 domains, Same keywords targeting - Best way of managing this?
Hi, I manage 3 domains and am just about to start doing some Branded PPC (to start with) to promote these the problem is that that 2 of the domains sell the exactly same products under the same brand names. What is the most efficient way of setting this up. Obviously by setting up separate accounts and using the MCC I can manage the accounts accordingly, but i am going to be increasing my competition for my own brand terms. As far as i am aware google is not happy with you mixing 2 domains in one account? We also sell our products via a wholesale channel so there is competition with other competitors as well. The 3 sites is slightly different so has less overlap and its not until we hit generic terms that there is some form of competition, between site but i am not worried about this. Can you help? Regards Ben
Paid Search Marketing | | benjmoz0 -
Facebook ads to people who like a particular brand or page
Can I target my facebook adds to only those users who like a brand or page? I have an exhibition coming up next year and would like to target those who like the brand page. I know I can target on interests etc but cannot see how I can target a particular page. Any advice greatly appreciated as I am sure others would be interested if this can be done. ThanksJames
Paid Search Marketing | | tempowebdesign0 -
Social Ad Extensions
Hello everyone. I was recently reviewing the potential of social extensions for PPC ads. Can this extension include a snapshot of Google places reviews? Have your found that using social extensions increase click through rate? Thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | PeteW0 -
Top Ad in Google Adwords
Hello. How much of a difference does it make in click-throughs to be the first listing in Google Adwords versus the second or third (still at the top of the page)? Thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | nyc-seo0 -
What are the best ways that PPC and SEO can work together?
This has come up recently internally as we are an agency that traditionally only focuses on SEO. However, when asked to articulate the benefits of how they can work together I normally see rather vague and non-actionable answers that don't really translate to real life always. I can understand how you can use SEO techniques to improve the ROAS of a PPC campaign by improving the quality of a landing page. I am also aware of a number of ways you can use Adwords data from your campaign to improve your SEO campaign but I am curious to know. How else can the two channels work together to help each other out?
Paid Search Marketing | | SearchAcademy0 -
Starting Out With PPC, Need Some Advice
We are starting out with PPC for our site. I wanted to know what the best starting point is for our site. First, some basic info: We sell thousands of products from a large number of manufacturers We can offer the same prices as competitors, but we can't beat their prices Here are my questions: What would be my USP if my prices are the same, and we have the same store policies as competitors? Is it best to start with product pages (as opposed to keywords)? Meaning, setting up a feed via MC and connecting to our adwords account. Any advice is appreciated 🙂
Paid Search Marketing | | inhouseseo0 -
SEOMOZ of PPC?
Hi The site I'd been following over the years last updated in May, so it's clearly not the authority it once was, I know there's a PPC post here about once a month but I was wondering where do the PPC brigade spend most of their time? My work is 50/50 atm but was once much more PPC focused, is there an SEOMOZ equiv. in the Paid Search world?
Paid Search Marketing | | xoffie0