The Top 10 Reasons To Include Your Company Name In Your Sponsored Link Keywords

We regularly get questions and opinions from clients about why we would or would not want to include their company name or trademarks in the keyword lists for their sponsored link (PPC) campaigns. We hope you find these useful.

  1. A company name will often have a relatively low cost-per-click unless it includes high demand keywords such as loan, credit card, lawyer, etc.
  2. You control the messaging on search results pages, because ads allow control mechanisms that natural search algorithms do not offer.
  3. You control the landing page on your web site that your prospective customers will see after they click a result, which is not typically true in natural search.
  4. Using misspellings of your company name as PPC keywords will reach prospective customers who use inexact searches that might not trigger natural search results. Searches on your company name or trademarked products/services can be “low hanging fruit” in some cases. Think of a referred client who does not know how to spell your company name or trademarks correctly.
  5. Sponsored links work great for seasonal specials, special events, short notice opportunities and more.
  6. You can “prime the visitor” to look for a message or desired action that will be seen elsewhere, such as on your home page or other media.
  7. Two listings on the first page of search results (one natural and one PPC) creates synergy that neither a single natural search result nor a sponsored link or text ad alone will do.
  8. You are likely to rank highly (top of page) for your own company name as a sponsored link keyword, which prevents a competitor or even an unapproved reseller or affiliate from getting that position.
  9. You can use a sponsored link keyword buy as a predictable, controllable counterweight in messaging and SERP space to address viral or even negative press about your company.
  10. If you have a top of page natural ranking for your company name and a top of page sponsored link, about 20% of your total traffic will be the result of the sponsored links. However, if you want to prevent ad display and click costs for correctly spelled searches on your company name, you can use an exact match negative keyword at the campaign or ad group level.