Brand Campaign Decision Guide: Should You Run Brand Ads on Google?

The Case For Brand Campaigns

Brand Protection:

• Prevents competitors from dominating search results for your brand name
• Maintains top position when competitors bid on your terms
• Controls messaging when users search specifically for you

Perceived Benefits:

• Extremely high ROAS (often 1000%+ reported)
• High conversion rates
• Low cost per conversion

The Case Against Brand Campaigns

Potential Waste:

• Users searching your brand name likely would have found you organically
• High ROAS metrics may be misleading—you're paying for traffic you'd get anyway
• Budget could be allocated to true customer acquisition instead

The Key Question

If no competitors are bidding on your brand, are you just paying Google for clicks you would have received for free through organic search?

Step 1: Check Auction Insights

Location: Campaign → Insights and Reports → Auction Insights

What to Look For:

• Competitor names appearing in auction data
• Overlap rates with other advertisers
• Position above/below rate

Interpretation:

Auction Insights Finding	Indication
Multiple competitors listed	Brand protection likely necessary
Few or no competitors	Testing brand ad shutdown may be viable
Amazon, major retailers present	Industry has brand term competition

Step 2: Incognito Search Testing

Process:

1. Open incognito/private browsing
2. Search for your exact brand name
3. Search for brand name + product category
4. Search for common misspellings

What to Look For:

• Competitor ads appearing above organic results
• Your organic position (are you #1?)
• Ad-heavy SERP vs. organic-friendly SERP

Run Brand Campaigns When:

• ☐ Competitors actively bid on your brand terms
• ☐ Auction Insights shows other advertisers
• ☐ Incognito searches show competitor ads
• ☐ You're in a competitive industry (e-commerce, SaaS, professional services)
• ☐ Affiliate or reseller network bids on your terms
• ☐ Major retailers (Amazon, Walmart) compete on your brand

Consider Reducing/Stopping Brand Campaigns When:

• ☐ No competitors appear in Auction Insights
• ☐ Incognito searches show no competitor ads
• ☐ You dominate organic results for brand terms
• ☐ Industry has low brand term competition
• ☐ Budget severely constrained (better spent on acquisition)

Testing Brand Ad Shutdown

Phase	Action	Duration
1	Reduce brand budget by 50%	2 weeks
2	Monitor organic traffic for brand terms	Ongoing
3	If organic compensates, reduce further	2 weeks
4	Consider full pause if no revenue impact	2 weeks

Smart Brand Campaign Management

If you decide brand campaigns are necessary, optimize them for efficiency:

Bid Strategy:

• Use Target Impression Share (90-95%) rather than Maximize Clicks
• Set maximum CPC caps to prevent overspending
• Monitor for competitor activity changes

Budget Allocation:

• Keep brand campaigns separate from non-brand
• Allocate only what's needed for top position
• Review monthly—reduce if competition decreases

Regular Monitoring:

• Weekly Auction Insights check
• Monthly competitor search tests
• Quarterly full brand strategy review

The Incrementality Question

How many of these conversions would you have gotten anyway through organic?

Incrementality Test:

1. Record baseline branded organic traffic and conversions
2. Pause brand ads for 2-4 weeks
3. Measure change in organic branded traffic
4. Calculate true incremental value of brand ads

Calculation Example

Metric	With Brand Ads	Without Brand Ads
Brand ad conversions	100	0
Organic brand conversions	50	120
Total brand conversions	150	120
True incremental value	30 conversions (20%)

In this example, brand ads are only truly generating 30 incremental conversions, not 100.