Brand Search Campaigns: When to Bid on Your Own Brand Name
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Most online stores should keep a brand search campaign, but bare brand searches and brand + product searches deserve different treatment. Across more than 20 accounts I run, brands usually spend 5 to 10% of their budget on branded searches, at a CPC 2 to 5 times cheaper than generic traffic. The real lift is in searches like “Bosch cordless drill”; a search for “Bosch” alone is the one I sometimes pause.
This guide covers what the research says about brand ads and what brand search costs. It also covers where the lift comes from, and how to keep brand searches out of your other campaigns.
What is a brand search campaign?
A brand search campaign is a Search campaign that only targets searches containing your store or brand name. That includes the bare name (“Bosch”) and the name with a product or category (“Bosch cordless drill”).
It belongs in its own campaign, with its own budget. Brand searches convert far better and cost far less than other searches, so mixing them with non-brand keywords makes everything else look better than it is. In one of my case studies, separating branded and non-branded campaigns was one of the main fixes.
What does the research say about bidding on your own brand?
The evidence points in two directions, and both are worth knowing.
| Study | What it found |
|---|---|
| Blake, Nosko & Tadelis, eBay field experiment (Econometrica, 2015) | “Brand-keyword ads have no measurable short-term benefits” (NBER) |
| Google, Search Ads Pause studies (2011) | Across more than 400 paused accounts, 89% of paid clicks on average were not replaced by organic clicks (Google Research) |
| Chan, Kumar, Ma & Koehler, Google (2012) | Across 390 pause studies, about 50% of ad clicks were incremental when the advertiser already ranked first organically, and 100% when there was no organic result (Google) |
Google’s studies measured all search ads and didn’t separate brand keywords. The 2012 follow-up is the closest to a brand search. When an advertiser already ranked first organically, as stores usually do for their own name, about half of the ad clicks were extra.
So the honest answer is that brand ads bring some extra clicks, and how many depends on the search and on who else is bidding.
How much does brand search cost?
Brand search is the cheapest traffic most stores buy. Across more than 20 accounts I run:
- Brands usually spend 5 to 10% of their budget on branded searches.
- Branded CPC is usually 2 to 5 times cheaper than generic traffic, depending on the brand.
If brand takes much more than that, check whether other campaigns are pushing spend into brand searches, or whether the brand campaign covers searches that aren’t really brand searches.
Which brand searches bring real lift?
Brand + product searches. In my accounts, searches like “Bosch cordless drill” are where brand campaigns really earn.
A brand + product search tells you what the person wants. Your ad can send them straight to that product or category, show the price, stock and delivery, and win the order before a reseller or a competitor does. The organic result for that search can be a general page, or a marketplace selling your product.
A bare brand search, like “Bosch” on its own, has no extra context. The person is usually looking for your homepage, and your organic result already gives it to them.
When should you pause bare brand keywords?
I rarely pause a whole brand campaign, but I do sometimes pause the bare brand keyword in exact match, such as [bosch], when it has no extra context. Brand + product keywords stay on.
Before pausing a bare brand keyword, check:
- Does anyone else bid on your brand? Look at Auction insights for the brand campaign. If competitors or resellers show up often, pausing hands them the top of the page.
- Do you rank first organically for your name? If you don’t, the ad is doing real work.
- Can you measure the result? Pause it for a fixed period and compare total brand orders, including organic, against the period before.
The competitor search guide covers the other side: when you bid on someone else’s name.
How do you keep brand searches out of other campaigns?
Use brand exclusions. Performance Max and AI Max will otherwise match brand searches too, and take credit for orders your brand campaign would have won more cheaply.
- Performance Max: add your brand as a brand exclusion. The Performance Max brand post shows how to check whether this is happening in your account.
- AI Max: use its brand exclusions as well. See AI Max for online stores for the other settings to check.
- Your brand campaign: keep brand + product keywords in exact or phrase match, so you can see which searches each order came from.
FAQ
Should an online store bid on its own brand name?
Usually yes, but treat searches differently. In my accounts, searches for the brand plus a product are where the real lift is. Searches for the bare brand name alone are the ones I sometimes pause.
How much of the budget should go to brand search?
Across more than 20 accounts I run, brands usually spend 5 to 10% of the budget on branded searches.
Are brand clicks cheaper than generic clicks?
Yes. In my accounts, branded CPC is usually 2 to 5 times cheaper than generic traffic, depending on the brand.
Do brand search ads bring extra sales?
It depends on the search. A field experiment at eBay found brand keyword ads had no measurable short-term benefit, while Google's pause studies found most ad clicks were not replaced by organic clicks. Brand plus product searches are where I see the real lift.
How do I stop Performance Max taking my brand searches?
Add your brand as a brand exclusion in Performance Max, and use brand exclusions in AI Max too, so brand searches stay in your brand campaign where you can see what they cost.