Brand bidding: what marketing professionals need to consider

The current legal dispute between Birkenstock and Amazon regarding the admissibility of typos in Google search ads puts the spotlight on the long-standing marketing practice of brand bidding. To what extent does it make sense (and when does it not) from a marketing perspective to place search engine ads for brand terms? Britta Kristin Böhle, marketing expert at Trusted Shops*, provides answers to these and other questions.PrerequisiteThe basis of Google AdWords is the booking of keywords for which you want to appear with corresponding ads. Individual ads can be created for each keyword set so that the most suitable ad is shown for the respective query. If an online retailer sells a certain brand in its store, then you can of course also advertise this accordingly in AdWords. But what happens when you bid on a third-party brand? Three problems can arise here:1. problem: dissatisfied visitorsIt can be problematic if search queries for a popular brand that is not or not fully in the range want to generate visitors. This can disappoint and frustrate users who come to the store by clicking on the ad. Example: A retailer sells sports shoes, but mainly those of brand X, which is still unknown. The retailer also has a few sports shoes from the well-known and popular brand Y. As there are significantly more search queries for "y Sports shoes" than after "x Sports shoes" is the strategy, "y Sports shoes" By placing the ad itself and the wording, the retailer clearly fulfills the expectations of the searcher. He will certainly get some visitors as a result - but they will then be disappointed in the store. Anyone who has searched for something that they cannot find will most likely not buy and will not keep the store in good memory.2nd problem: Poor quality signals & increased CPCDisappointed visitors lead to the second problem: Google AdWords recognizes that visitors do not linger in the store and return to the search results page. This reduces the quality factor for the keyword. As the actual click price is made up of the bid and the quality factor, among other things, the click price increases if the quality decreases (all other things being equal). Whether the third-party brand is included in the ad or not also has a direct impact on the quality factor; if it is included, the link between the keyword and the ad is greater - but then you are taking a legal risk. If the brand is missing from the ad, the quality is also lower due to the missing link. In general, AdWords checks whether the keyword, ad and landing page match thematically.3. problem: competitionIf you look at another example in which an online retailer bids on the store name of its competitor as a keyword, another problem arises. The competitor, who is normally the only bidder for his own brand, has competition in the auction. With several bidders, the price for a click increases. This means you are spending unnecessary money, as you will normally never get as good a quality score as the actual brand owner, who usually has a much stronger link from keyword to ad to landing page. In addition, the competitor may also start bidding on the retailer's brand, which also increases the click price for their own ads. If the brand even appears in the ad itself, there is also a risk of legal consequences.ConclusionIn the long term, brand bidding on third-party brands makes very little sense. You can try to attract attention with popular brands or annoy your competitors. However, this does not usually result in truly satisfied and high-converting visitors.* About Trusted Shops: Trusted Shops is Europe's trusted brand in e-commerce. With its seal of approval, including buyer protection, the customer rating system and protection against warnings, the Cologne-based company is a "All-round secure package" ready: Based on strict individual criteria such as price transparency, customer service and data protection, Trusted Shops checks its members and awards its coveted seal of approval. With the buyer protection offered by every certified online store, consumers are protected in the event of non-delivery of goods, for example.