3 Reasons to Use Google Ads Brand Campaigns

What Are Google Ads Brand Campaigns?

Google Ads brand campaigns involve bidding on keywords related to your own brand name. For example, my brand is Gradari. If I wanted to run a brand campaign I’d bid on terms like “Gradari,” “Gradari Performance Marketing,” or “Gradari PPC.” These campaigns will make sure that my ads appear when users search for my brand directly.  

But the big question is: Should you bid on branded campaigns in Google Ads?

The only honest answer to this question is that it depends. Some marketers want to make it a simple binary “yes, always use them” or “no, they’re a waste of money.” As with most things, there’s a bit more neuance to it than that. Based on my experience, there are three main reasons to do so:

1. Brand protection
2. Poor Organic SEO Rankings
3. Increase conversion rates

Let’s break these down further. 

1. Brand Protection

The most common reason businesses start running branded campaigns is that a competitor has started bidding on their name. You may have noticed this while searching for your business or seen it in the Auction Insights report in Google Ads. Either way, someone is bidding on your brand terms to divert traffic away from you.

The good news? Defending your position is relatively cheap and easy. A simple campaign with a minimal budget can effectively outrank competitors. Here’s why:

• Your quality score for brand keywords is typically 10/10 because your brand name appears in your ads and website content.
• Your click-through rate (CTR) is often 40%+ because searchers are specifically looking for you.
• These factors contribute to high ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience, which are the three levers for a high quality score. 
• A high Quality Score gives you the cheapest CPC possible and a higher search position, making your campaign efficient and cost-effective.

Pro Tip: If your main goal is brand protection, consider using a Max Impression Share bidding strategy to maximize your visibility across searches.

2. Poor Organic SEO Rankings

If your brand doesn’t appear in the top 1–2 organic search results on Google, you should consider running a branded campaign.

This issue is common for:

• Small businesses
• Startups
• Brands with generic names

To check your ranking, search for your brand in incognito mode to avoid personalized results. If you don’t own the top spot, running a branded campaign can help bridge the gap until your SEO improves.

Real-World Examples

• My client, The Aurora Lights, has a generic name. When searching for them, Google primarily shows results about the northern lights, making it hard for potential customers to find them.
• When I worked as Head of Marketing for a SaaS startup called Hona, Google constantly tried correcting the search to “Honda.” Until we improved our SEO, running branded ads ensured we appeared at the top.

If you already dominate the entire first page of Google, you may not need to run branded ads. However, if competitors or unrelated results appear, running a brand campaign can secure more real estate on the search results page.

Google conducted a study showing that branded campaigns can lead to an 89% incremental lift in traffic beyond organic search. While you may pay for some clicks you’d have received anyway, the additional traffic and control over messaging often justify the investment.

Source: Google Study on Incremental Traffic from Search Ads

As always, test and measure results to determine if it’s worth it for you.

3. Increasing Conversion Rate for First-Time Visitors 

Another reason to run branded search campaigns is to improve conversion rates for new visitors.

Most branded ads point to the homepage, but homepages serve multiple audiences:

• Educating new visitors
• Providing resources for existing customers
• Offering updates for investors or media
• Etc

Because of this, homepages are not optimized for conversions.

A better approach? Use CRM or web data to create audience lists of existing customers and past visitors. Then, exclude them from your branded campaign so only new visitors see the ads. You can then direct these first-time visitors to a custom landing page designed specifically for their stage in the buyer’s journey. This way you’re not spending ad dollars on exiting customers, and you can delivery a better customer journey for potential customers, maximizing your ad dollars.

Other considerations

A lot of marketers love running Google Ads brand campaigns because they convert the best, and provide great numbers that they can report on. I’ve been guilty of this motive myself. But the reason I’ve created this article is to outline that there’s a smarter way to go about it, and legitimate reasons to run branded campaigns. 

So, why pay for a lead when you wouldn’t have to? Well, now you know. 

You’d pay: 

1. If competition is trying to steal that traffic. 
2. If you’re not getting that traffic because people can’t find you organically. 
3. If you want to try to convert new visitors at a higher rate with a custom landing page. 

I hope this article has helped you know if running Google Ads brand campaigns are right for you. Let me know if you’d add anything and what you think below.