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

The Case For Brand Campaigns

Brand Protection Benefits:

• 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

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
• Competitor shopping ads for your brand searches
• Any paid placements from other advertisers

If You See Competitors: Brand protection is likely valuable—competitors are actively targeting your brand traffic.

If You See No Competitors: Testing brand campaign shutdown may be worth considering.

Step 3: Evaluate Brand Uniqueness

Factors That Suggest Low Competition:

• Highly unique brand name
• Niche industry with few direct competitors
• Brand name is not a generic term

Factors That Suggest High Competition:

• Common industry terms in brand name
• Large competitors in space
• Known aggressive competitor bidding strategies

Why In-Platform Metrics Are Misleading

Google Ads will show brand campaigns generating excellent performance:

• High conversion rates
• Low CPAs
• Exceptional ROAS

The Problem: These metrics don't show what would have happened without the ads. Users searching your brand name have high intent regardless of whether they click an ad or an organic listing.

Setting Up a Valid Test

Required Data Foundation:

Metric	Source	Purpose
Total revenue	Backend/CRM	Measure actual sales impact
New customer count	Backend/CRM	Measure acquisition impact
Order volume	Backend/CRM	Measure transaction impact

Test Structure:

1. Establish 4+ weeks of baseline data (brand ads running)
2. Turn off brand campaigns completely
3. Monitor 4+ weeks of post-shutdown data
4. Compare periods for meaningful differences

Real World Test Results Example

Before Shutdown (Brand Ads Running):

• Weekly revenue: consistent with seasonal norms
• New customers: baseline established
• Brand ad spend: consistent monthly budget

After Shutdown (Brand Ads Off):

• Weekly revenue: no decrease (slight increase in test case)
• New customers: no decrease (slight increase in test case)
• Brand ad spend: $0

Conclusion: Brand ads were not contributing incremental revenue or customers. Budget was successfully reallocated.

Clear Indicators to Keep Brand Campaigns Running

Auction Insights Show Competition:

• Multiple competitors appearing in reports
• High overlap rates with known competitors
• Amazon or major retailers present

Incognito Searches Show Competitor Ads:

• "Brand Name vs [Competitor]" ads appearing
• Competitor shopping ads for brand searches
• Review sites or comparison sites in paid positions

Industry Characteristics:

• Highly competitive market
• Known practice of competitor brand bidding
• High-value customers worth protecting

Example: Mattress Industry

Searching for major mattress brands reveals aggressive competitor targeting:

• Direct comparison ads ("Brand A vs Brand B")
• Multiple competitors bidding on each brand
• Shopping ads from alternative sellers

In this scenario: Turning off brand ads would hand first position to competitors actively trying to intercept brand traffic.

Consider Shutting Off Brand Ads If:

• Auction Insights shows zero or minimal competitor activity
• Incognito searches reveal no competitor ads
• Brand name is highly unique
• Backend data tracking is in place to measure impact
• Willing to test and monitor closely

Keep Brand Campaigns Running If:

• Auction Insights shows multiple competitors
• Incognito searches reveal competitor ads
• Industry has known brand bidding practices
• Cannot afford to lose top position to competitors
• Unable to track backend data for valid testing

Test Protocol

Phase 1: Preparation (1-2 weeks)

• Verify backend tracking is functional
• Export baseline data (minimum 4 weeks)
• Document current brand campaign metrics
• Note seasonality considerations

Phase 2: Shutdown (4+ weeks)

• Pause brand campaigns completely
• Monitor organic rankings for brand terms
• Track backend revenue daily
• Track new customer acquisition daily

Phase 3: Analysis

• Compare total revenue: Before vs. After
• Compare new customer count: Before vs. After
• Check organic traffic for brand terms: Any changes?
• Assess overall business metrics: Any negative impact?

Phase 4: Decision

If No Negative Impact: Keep brand campaigns off. Reallocate budget to customer acquisition campaigns.

If Negative Impact Detected: Re-enable brand campaigns. Brand protection is providing value.

Seasonality

Compare equivalent time periods when possible. A summer-to-winter comparison may show seasonal decline unrelated to brand campaign changes.

In-Platform Metrics Will Drop

When brand campaigns are paused:

• Account-level ROAS will decrease
• Total conversions will decrease

These are expected—they don't indicate actual business loss.

What Matters: Backend revenue and new customer metrics, not Google Ads aggregate numbers.

Competitor Behavior Can Change

Even if competitors aren't bidding on your brand today, they might start tomorrow. Consider periodic audits of auction insights and incognito searches.

The Savings Can Be Significant

Unnecessary brand spend is budget that could fund actual customer acquisition. If testing reveals brand ads aren't incrementally valuable, reallocating that budget to non-brand campaigns can significantly improve overall marketing efficiency.