Due to recent developments in the search engine ecosphere, our attitude toward running paid search ads for branded keywords is changing. With Google’s updated algorithms and matching criteria, what once worked seamlessly may no longer deliver the same results.
By staying ahead of these changes, we can ensure that your ads reach the right people and convert more effectively, driving growth and securing a stronger foothold in your market.
If any of this seems unclear, our glossary of PPC terms is here to guide you >>
Key Google Ads Changes and How It Impacts Your Business
1. What Has Changed in Google Ads?
Google’s matching criteria/algorithms have clearly changed. Exact match keywords now perform like phrase match keywords, and phrase match keywords perform more like the former board match modified keywords.
For a couple of years, Google Ads has been pushing broad match keywords, arguing that using Google’s smart bidding strategies in conjunction with broad match keywords and Google’s AI-driven signals and algorithms will lead to more conversions and purchases. Google has recently begun offering to assist advertisers in running broad-match keyword experiments rather than wholesale changing to broad-match keywords only—which they have been pushing since 2022. We suspect this is in response to savvy advertisers, and even some novice advertisers, refusing to go to broad-match only. Regardless, more advertisers are utilizing broad match keywords and showing ads for their competitors’ branded search queries.
The data shows that these loosened keyword matching criteria and the strongly pushed adoption of broad match-only keywords are increasing matches to our keywords and, left unchecked, are leading to increased ad spend. Our experience is that much of this ad spend is wasted. Our PPC experts see it repeatedly in existing ad accounts that we take over for new customers, and we also see it in our small, controlled experiments much of the time.
Our industry/product/service keywords are very frequently matched with competitor brand searches. Competitors’ ads can show up without running ads for your branded keywords. Branded keyword CPCs appear to be rising—we don’t appear to have the full “home team” advantage anymore.
The SERP itself continues to change, and the changes depend on Google’s experimentation (including the usage of AI results) and whether Google perceives the search as for hyper-local, local, regional, or national products or services.
2. What hasn’t changed?
Alphabet/Google is in business to make money through advertisers showing ads on their various platforms. It’s no secret that Google Ads and other ad platforms appear to be losing ad spend to competing ad platforms, other media buys, or reduced ad spending caused by a perceived reduced effectiveness. Google Ads is naturally responding by trying to regain ad spend dollars, as are other ad platforms and competing media.
Google is continuing to make it easier and more accessible for novice advertisers to run Google Ads, which helps to attract more advertisers.
Google’s goal is still to show searchers what they want – valuable content that answers their questions (including the implied questions behind their search queries). Giving them more options (including competitors’ ads) is probably on the cards, and if users reward that behavior from Google, then Google will continue and/or expand on that behavior.
Google is continuing to push the use of Broad match keywords. Broad match keywords are still somewhat of a crapshoot – some do well, but most don’t in our experience. Running broad match keywords is leading to more competition for branded search queries.
Disciplined, controlled, limited testing is required to find the broad-match keywords that work.
Understanding Why Your Ads Appear on Competitor Branded Searches
So you might ask, “Why are my ads showing when I’m not running my competitors’ branded search queries (keywords)?”
While we cannot find anything definitive published on this topic, our review of search terms reports on all of our customers’ Google search ad campaigns indicates the following facts, along with some educated speculation on our part:
- Google’s Association of Brands and Services:
- Google is clearly associating our customers’ brand/domain names with their products and/or services, and the same is true for our customers’ competitors.
- Google is clearly associating our customers’ brand/domain names with their products and/or services, and the same is true for our customers’ competitors.
- Common Scenario:
- Let’s say our client, “XYZ Roofing,” specializes in residential roof repairs and replacements.
- XYZ Roofing has a direct competitor in their service area called “ABC Roofing”.
- Both XYZ Roofing and ABC Roofing are running Google search ads.
- XYZ Roofing is using the keyword “roofing companies near me” to trigger search ads.
- How Ads Appear:
- A local Google search engine user searches for “ABC Roofing,” a branded search query (keyword). XYZ Roofing’s search ad is shown to this searcher, triggered by their use of the “roofing companies near me” keyword.
- If ABC Roofing is running the same keyword or an “ABC Roofing” branded keyword and has a budget available to serve ads for the same user’s search, its ad may also show in the same SERP result.
- Alternatively, if ABC Roofing does not have the budget available to serve an ad for this user’s search if they are not serving ads for the branded keyword “ABC Roofing,” or if they are bidding much lower for the keyword “ABC Roofing” than XYZ Roofing is bidding for the keyword “roofing companies near me,” then their ad may not show or perhaps may show in a lower position.
Google’s algorithmic associations between brand names and services can lead to your ads appearing on competitor-branded searches, even when you’re not directly targeting those specific keywords.
Why are the average CPCs rising for my branded search keywords?
Similar to our question in the last section, there are no published reasons we have found. But again, we have factual data observations and informed speculations.
In the hypothetical example in the above section, we observed Google’s search engine is essentially treating the search queries/keywords “ABC Roofing” and “roofing companies near me” as equals. If the competing advertisers bidding on the keyword “roofing companies near me” are bidding more than ABC Roofing is bidding for “ABC Roofing,” then it logically follows that the two keywords and advertisers are competing against each other and that ABC Roofing will have to increase their bid to maintain their impression share for their branded keyword.
What are we doing about this?
We’re increasing our customers’ ad budgets and bids for branded search queries, as they historically have the highest CTRs and CVRS, and our customers do not want to lose impression share to their competitors.
For our customers with smaller ad spend budgets, where we were not running branded search keywords, we most likely are now. If additional budget is not available, then we may be losing share on non-branded keywords, but we’re retaining the best performing keywords (branded keywords) and fending off competitors the best that we can.
We’re sticking to our tried and true best practices:
- We test in a controlled fashion with small budgets. This includes testing broad match keywords.
- We monitor our customers’ accounts like “a hawk.”
- We look for and fight against wasted ad spending every time we touch our customers’ ad accounts.
- Conversely, we continuously promote and enlarge what is working well every time we touch our customers’ ad accounts.
We don’t accept Google Ads’ recommendations like automatons. They are in business to make money through ad spend, and sometimes, this is in conflict with what our customers need and want.
We are in business to help our customers:
1) build their businesses
2) find more qualified customers
3) make more sales and make more money
When we analyze ad performance and make decisions, we follow the data—and especially the conversion or purchase results. We do what’s right for our customers’ businesses and what drives better results for them—not for us, Google Ads, or other ad platforms.
Optimize Your Google Ads Strategy
By understanding and adapting to the latest developments in Google Ads, you can ensure your campaigns remain effective and efficient. To dive deeper into how we manage and optimize PPC strategies, explore our comprehensive PPC services. Let’s work together to keep your business ahead of the curve. Start here >>
