A strategic view from both sides.
It’s one of the longest-standing and most hotly debated questions in PPC: “Should you bid on your own brand name in Google Ads?”
At face value, it might seem unnecessary. If your SEO is strong and you already appear in position one organically, why pay for a click you were about to get for free?
But the answer, like most things in marketing, isn’t black and white. With the emergence of Performance Max (PMax), increasingly aggressive competitor bidding, and now Google’s AI Overviews muddying the waters of the SERP, this question demands scrutiny.
At Black Lab, we approach brand bidding not as a default tactic, but as a lever, one that can protect visibility, reinforce messaging, and drive results, but, only when used intentionally.
The Case for Brand Bidding: Visibility, Control, and Defence
1. Protecting Your Brand in a Crowded SERP
Even if your organic listing sits in first position, it doesn’t guarantee top billing anymore. Paid ads typically occupy the highest slots, and increasingly, your competitors know that. Conquesting, aka when rival advertisers bid on your brand name, is becoming more commonplace, especially in competitive sectors like finance, insurance, and ecommerce.
“We’ve seen countless examples where strong organic rankings are displaced by competitor ads,” says Nick Bardsley, our Digital Marketing Director. “It’s not just about being seen, it’s about being perceived as the most relevant option. If a competitor appears above you on your own name, they’re effectively hijacking your brand moment.”
Running branded campaigns ensures your name dominates both paid and organic positions, shielding you from poaching tactics and preserving your digital storefront.
2. Maintaining Top Positioning Amid SERP Shifts
There’s also the question of SERP real estate. Over the years, the Google search results page has shifted dramatically. Featured snippets, shopping ads, maps, videos, and now AI Overviews have pushed organic listings further down… in some cases, below the fold.
Bidding on brand terms can help reclaim that lost space, putting your brand back in the immediate view of users, right where their attention lands first.
3. Control Over Messaging in a Time of Rewrite
Let’s not forget messaging.
Google is now rewriting up to 71% of meta titles in organic listings, according to Moz and Ahrefs. That’s a problem, especially if your listing promotes a sale, deadline, or key differentiator.
“When a customer searches for your brand, the last thing you want is a vague or irrelevant description,” says Nick. “With branded ads, you control exactly what shows, whether that’s a campaign strapline, urgency-driven offer, or trust signal like reviews or guarantees.”
Paid search gives you a predictable, consistent space to tell your story.
4. Cost-Efficient Clicks with High Intent
In many cases, branded clicks cost far less than non-brand traffic, sometimes pennies per click, and deliver stronger conversion rates. Think of these as warm leads, actively looking for you.
As part of a well-structured funnel, brand bidding can offer incredible ROAS and help Performance Max campaigns remain focused on true acquisition, especially now that brand exclusions are available in PMax.
The Case Against: Cannibalisation, Cost, and Context
1. You May Be Paying for What You’d Get Anyway
If no competitors are bidding on your brand, and you’re ranking organically in position one, you might just be paying for a click that would have happened for free. This is classic budget cannibalisation.
Martin Jeffrey, Head of SEO at Black Lab, shares this perspective:
“If your organic listings are performing well and there’s no clear competitive threat, branded paid activity could be redundant. The smart move is to test. Pause the brand campaign, measure the impact, and make your decision based on data, not fear.”
Incrementality testing is key here. Without it, you’re flying blind.
2. Wasted Budget That Could Drive Growth Elsewhere
Paid media budgets aren’t unlimited. Every £500 spent defending your brand name is £500 not spent reaching new audiences. In some cases, reallocating that budget to prospecting, shopping, or remarketing campaigns might deliver far stronger commercial outcomes.
As Nick puts it:
“Brand bidding makes sense when it adds value, not when it’s the default. If it’s not protecting traffic, driving action, or controlling a narrative, we look for better uses of spend.”
3. Bidding Wars and Unintended Consequences
In hyper-competitive sectors, brand bidding can spark retaliation. A competitor may notice your activity and start bidding on your name in response, driving up CPCs and potentially igniting a bidding war that benefits no one, except Google.
A Reuters report from Q4 2024 highlighted this exact trend, noting how brands like Temu and Shein inflated costs across multiple verticals during key sales periods by engaging in aggressive brand bidding.
The Wild Card: AI Overviews and a Changing SERP
Perhaps the most disruptive force in this debate is Google’s AI Overviews.
Launched as part of Google’s broader push into AI-powered search, these summaries appear at the very top of results pages, often answering user queries in full, without a single click needed.
What does this mean for brand bidding?
- A recent study by Ahrefs found that position-one listings lose up to 34.5% of clicks when AI Overviews are present.
- A separate study from Amsive put the average CTR drop at 15.49%.
Both studies confirm a downward trend in organic engagement, even for top spots.
This has major implications. Even if your SEO is bulletproof, AI Overviews can steal your traffic by answering queries on the spot, often without even linking to your site.
“The SERP is no longer ten blue links and a paid ad or two,” says Martin.
“It’s a fluid, AI-generated experience that can bury organic listings or remove the need for a click entirely. Brand bidding may be the most reliable way to ensure visibility in an increasingly unpredictable SERP.”
Brand bidding is no longer just about clicks, it’s about presence in a search environment that’s increasingly unpredictable.
Final Thoughts: Test Everything, Assume Nothing
So, should you bid on your brand name?
The answer isn’t yes or no. It’s: what are you trying to achieve, and what are the risks if you don’t?
At Black Lab, our recommended framework is:
- Audit your organic performance
- Check for competitor activity
- Run incrementality tests
- Evaluate messaging needs
- Consider SERP shifts (like AI Overviews)
- Monitor cost vs value continuously
“Don’t make assumptions,” says Nick. “Run the tests, do the analysis, and then build your brand strategy on solid ground, not myth.”
If you’d like help conducting a branded keyword audit, running incrementality tests, or building a smarter PMax strategy, get in touch. Our team specialises in blending performance marketing with SEO intelligence to protect and grow your brand, no matter what Google throws at us next.
