In my recent SearchEngineLand “Analyze This” column, I discuss the Subtle Science of Bidding (Part 2); this time for brand keywords. In this post, I discuss some special considerations that come up when managing branded keywords that are often bid at or close to average position 1. I have shown that contrary to popular belief, a "bid high and forget" type strategy is not a good way to manage brand keywords. Good bid management of brand keywords requires an active sophisticated approach.
Some key takeaway points from my article:
(1) Bid management for brand keywords is complicated. Due to the subtleties involved one needs a very sophisticated approach to managing brand keywords.
(2) An off-hand approach to brand keyword bid management will not work. The traditional brand bid management strategy of biding all brand keywords very high can be very detrimental. Smart brand keyword management requires a highly accurate and precise bidding strategy—just as with non-branded keywords.
(3) Position 1.0 is usually very expensive. The commonly held notion is that average position 1.0 and 1.2 are very similar. This is simply wrong. The search engines will charge you a much higher CPC if you want to be seen at position 1 all day. Almost always, its better to be at position 1.05—or somewhere lower than position 1.0.
This is part 2 of my "subtleties of bid management" series. I will be concluding this series in my final post next month where I will talk about "Second Order effects" of bidding.
Some key takeaway points from my article:
(1) Bid management for brand keywords is complicated. Due to the subtleties involved one needs a very sophisticated approach to managing brand keywords.
(2) An off-hand approach to brand keyword bid management will not work. The traditional brand bid management strategy of biding all brand keywords very high can be very detrimental. Smart brand keyword management requires a highly accurate and precise bidding strategy—just as with non-branded keywords.
(3) Position 1.0 is usually very expensive. The commonly held notion is that average position 1.0 and 1.2 are very similar. This is simply wrong. The search engines will charge you a much higher CPC if you want to be seen at position 1 all day. Almost always, its better to be at position 1.05—or somewhere lower than position 1.0.
This is part 2 of my "subtleties of bid management" series. I will be concluding this series in my final post next month where I will talk about "Second Order effects" of bidding.
Dr. Siddharth Shah
Director, Business Analytics
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