Todd Ebert

Anatomy of a Search Engine Results Page

Paying for Search Ads on Your Name - Part 2

The "Bad" - not running paid search ads on your business name

I saw this great article in Search Engine Land yesterday which dovetails perfectly with my prior post.  While my colleague Nathan Hanks put forth the logical business reasons to "own" your name by bidding on your brand keywords, David Roth gives a semi-scientific way to prove the value.  He recommends that you run a test site visits both with and without the PPC ad for your brand name and then determine the cannibalization/lift that is caused by using the text ad.  Here's his definition:

“Lift” is the net amount of traffic that is added to the mix by virtue of the PPC ad. Cannibalization is the portion of PPC ad traffic that comes at the expense of the organic link. If you can quantify cannibalization and lift in any situation, you can then begin to think intelligently about what to do.

It sounds like the research proves the value since David says he was ecstatic with the results of his test.

Paying for Search Ads on Your Name

The "Bad" - not running paid search ads on your business name

Check out this blog post by my colleague Nathan Hanks over at Local Online Marketing Gumbo who answers the question many businesses ask "Should I bid on my own business name?"

A quick excerpt below...

When it comes to search engine marketing, bidding on business category keywords (ex: “Dallas spa”) is a must if you want your business to show up in a paid ad when someone is looking for your kind of products or services. But it’s just as important to bid on your business name keywords (ex: “Sally’s Swanky Spa”).  Here are some reasons why:

It’s your business name – so why pay for it? Because your competitors are! According to Performics, leading brands only receive 87% of traffic from their business name keyword searches. The remaining 13% are “poached” by competitors!* That’s because they know that when your customers search for your business, they have an opportunity to snatch the sale straight out of your hands with a well-worded sponsored ad.  Don’t give them the chance.

Check out Nate's blog for the other important reasons why you should bid on your name.