Putting the Brand Bidding

Debate to Bed

Arianne DonoghueP a i d M e d i a M a n a ge r | i c e l o l l y. c o m | @ a r i a nne dono ghue

A bit about me

• 10 years in paid media• Client and agency side

LOVES• Cats!• Marmite• Making stuff• Cycling

A bit about icelolly.com

As seen on TV!

Let’s talk about…

Hands up…

Are you…

Agency? In-House?

Are you…

Pure Paid

Media?

Both PPC

& SEO?

Do you bid on your brand?

Ever tested not doing it?

What were the results?

Tell me…

It’s a contentious issue

So…… why do we keep pushing it?

• Incremental gains

• Competitor protection

• Tactical messaging

• Testing potential

But honestly?

Higher conversions

Lower CPAs

It makes us look good!

So, is it right for you?

… it depends!

Go nuclear!

NO!

So then what?

We’re on a journey

Our story so far

Bidding on all Brand, except for some very broad KWs which had no competitor activity

Previous testing (the nuclear option) had delivered mixed results

Our story so far - Google strangeness!

• We thought we’d excluded some terms

• Navigational keyword we felt PPC added no value to

• Excluded in July 2015• Organic CTR still only 17%• Nothing in the SQRs for this

keyword• Google treats “ “ and “.” as the same

& matched traffic to a similar KW instead

Our story so far

Bidding on all Brand, except for some very broad KWs which had no competitor activity

Previous testing (the nuclear option) had delivered mixed results

Organic converted better than Branded PPC

We knew we had

to keep testing

How do we handle…

Seasonality? Competitors? Incrementality?

Google Weirdness?

Measurement?

Change ONE

thing at a time

Where to start?

Keywords!

cat in tent

User Intent

How do we decide what

keywords to test and in what

order?

User Intent

Where does paid search add

the most value?

Determining intent & valueDividing keywords into segments

Exact

• thomas cook

• expedia

Navigational

• thomson.com

• onthebeachcom

• icelolly website

Destinations

• sunmastertenerife

• icelolly from glasgow

Holiday Types

• icelolly cruise

• icelolly ski

• icelolly all inclusive

NOT OFFERED

• icelolly flights only

Our plan this timeWe had a theory

• Intent-dependent, brand should be a mixof paid and organic

• Broadly put, if a keyword goes to:

Homepage/other easily crawled page:

SEOSearch results/customised page:

PPC

Our plan this timeHypothesised outcome

Exact

Navigational

Destinations

Holiday Types

NOT OFFERED

Don’t Bid

Don’t Bid

BID

Don’t Bid

Don’t Bid

Caveats:

1. Competitor activity

2. No TV advertising or sponsorship

3. Organic rankings

Other considerations

Competitor Presence

Tactical Messaging

Message Testing

Incrementality Device

And above all…

User intent!

Challenges

• [not provided]

• GA SEO/Direct reporting issue

• Adwords “close variant” matching

• Account structure

• Competitor bidding

• Tying up calls and traffic

• Device differences

Systematic – create our list of KWs and work through it

1 keyword at a time, engine at a time

Monitor impressions, clicks, CTR

Nail down Adwords negative keywords & restructure

Competitor intelligence – monitor & adjust

Process

Building your hitlist of

keywords

Hitlist of keywords

1. Check GSC2. High impressions + low

CTR = high potential!3. Check against PPC4. Check competitor

bidding5. Create a hitlist of terms

to test6. Keep checking this as it

can change!

Beware!

Body text

Putting it into practice

Organic traffic went up!

Visible in GSC & AdwordsTraffic appeared to migrate to organic

Interesting side effects

• Other terms benefited• Organic Brand terms we weren’t testing showed

increases in:

Listings per query

CTR – up by 10% points

What about calls?

• Definitively, no way to know• Either flat, or minimal loss• Any missing calls at a very high incremental cost

What we did

Our hypothesis was being borne out

Move on to the next!

Each keyword monitored & analysed, across devices

Over the course of several months

Several keywords tested in this way

Pressing Pause

We paused testingWith a view to resuming

• We went back on TV• Activated more keywords• Difficult summer trading

• Lowcostholiday• Terrorism• Turkey coup• Euro 2016

• Outstanding challenges• Competitors• Call tracking/YoY data• Devices

Testing againTime for Round 2

Could we:

1. Save money?2. Minimise loss of

clicks?3. Maintain call

volumes?

Testing againTerms tested

• Exact• Navigational• Holiday Types• Faux Brand –

“lollipop” keywords

Uptick in OrganicOvernight differences

Uptick in OrganicOvernight differences

Desktop

Mobile

Tablet

MeasurementGoing beyond CTR

What about calls?

MeasurementGoing beyond CTR

• YoY analysis proved tricky

• SEO/PPC Brand/Direct grouping

• Compared performance vs the site average

• Did the proportion of traffic change?

• Look at relative vs absolute numbers

MeasurementGoing beyond CTR

No loss in call volumes

Where we’re at right now

• Brand terms back on

• Competitors present

• Maximising trading performance

• Analysing PPC Brand/Organic/Direct together

• Faux Brand terms will remain live

• Brand campaigns being restructured

Where we’re at right now

• Broad conclusions for turning off Paid Brand terms:

• Minimal traffic loss

• No loss in calls

• Savings can be reinvested into other paid channels

• Big differences in performance by device

• Moving to a mobile base bid

Device differencesActivation &

deactivation of brand keywords

• Organic traffic profile differed by device• Desktop profile less pronounced – less gained by running

Brand PPC

Competitors

Competitors – how to monitor

£-£££Fancy Software

•Automated Alerts

•Ad copy tracking

•Other benefits

FreeAuction Insights

•Easy-to-get device data

•Accuracy

•Not automated – manual

•Harder to react

•Google & Bing

Competitors – how to actConsiderations

DeviceAutomated

RulesScripts

Automated RulesHow can you react quickly?

• Rather than pause all keywords, set 1 core term at a low bid• 2 variable to monitor

• Average position• Impression share

• Increase bids and/or activate keywords

• Runs max once per day• Device agnostic• Only amends base bid

Adwords ScriptsWhat else can you do?

• Take Automated Rules a step further• Increase frequency & complexity

• IDEA• Combine scripts with screen-scraping tech• Monitor the SERPs for changes• Reactivate keywords if competitors present• Pause when no competitors present

What’s next for us?

Paid search is a living,

breathing, organic thing

It’s changing all the time

So our campaigns should

change too

What’s next for us?

• Keep testing

• Keep monitoring ALL THE THINGS

• Adjust as required

• Start applying the learnings to generic keywords

• Be prepared to change and make big changes!

Next steps for you

Running your own test

1. Review current paid keywords, negatives & structure

2. Pull an SQR – categorise them & assign intent/value

3. Review competitor landscape

4. What’s your hypothesis/ideal outcome?

5. Create your target test list

6. Devise methods to validate your results

7. Test one-by-one and move on!

Remember…

1. Don’t worry if you have to pause the test

2. Keep a very close eye on your SQRs

3. Be prepared to revisit your account structure

4. Get ready to play whack-a-mole!

5. Keep checking GSC in case of changes

Last but not least

There’s no one right answer

Only the right answer for your business

It might be fluid and change over time!

Thank you!

Arianne DonoghueP a i d M e d i a M a n a ge r | i c e l o l l y. c o m | @ a r i a nne dono ghue

A n d h e l l o t o J a s o n I s a a c s