If you’re reading this, then you’re probably curious about how brands work in contextual advertising. We’ve decided to skip the small talk and write a detailed guide that answers all the key questions: what brand traffic is, how to use other people’s brands in ads, how to avoid penalties, and how to do it safely while getting results. Let’s dive in!
The meaning of the brand. A brand is a set of characteristics of a promoted subject that remain in the memory of a potential client after communication with him. Trademarks, names, cool logos, creativity and so on were invented to package this into a single whole.
In the context of advertising, it’s all about how the customer interacts with the brand via your website. People search online, get to know the brand, and then form an opinion based on what they find.
If you dig deeper into the user’s journey, which starts with a search and (hopefully) ends with a purchase, it looks something like this:
- General search
- More specific search
- Gather info offline
- Choose a brand
- Make a purchase
At that fourth step, brand traffic and branded searches become super important. When the customer is ready to buy, you want to be the first thing they see—and keep competitors away. This makes branded traffic a no-brainer.
- More detailed descriptions.
- Announcing promotions and discounts.
- Building trust with potential customers.
- Blocking competitors.
- Maximizing sales (conversion rates on branded searches tend to be the highest).
But there’s one thing to remember: you're not generating new customers with branded ads. These are potential customers already in your circle.
Branded ads are a great way to inform customers about promotions, new products, and to add extra value to your brand.
But what if your competitors are using your brand to steal traffic for themselves? Here's what you can do:
Defending your brand in Google Ads
➊ Protect your brand.
If you’ve got a registered trademark, you can stop others from using it in their ads. Register your trademark with Google, add the owner’s contact info, and only you will be able to advertise using that brand. You can fill out the form here.
➋ Competitor using your brand in ads?
If they’re using your trademark in their ads, fill out this form and report them. Google might block their Ads account or even their domain.
➌ Competitor using your brand in keywords?
If a competitor uses your name in keywords - unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. Although, in this regard, Google writes that "the advertiser is responsible for both the content of the ad and the keywords." In this case, you are launching an ad using your brand name and simply trying to get ahead of the dishonest competitor in positions.
And there is another situation when you advertise a product of a specific brand and literally everyone on the market sells it. What to do in such a case?
👉 If the brand isn’t protected in Google (and your ads aren’t getting rejected), you’re free to use it in your ads and keywords.
👉 If the brand is protected but you have official rights to sell it (meaning you’re an authorized dealer with a contract, not just buying products and selling them in your store), then fill out the form to request permission to use the brand in your ads.
Why is this important? We have shown the user's path from search to purchase above and clearly see that the user makes a branded request when he has already put together a certain picture of the product with the maximum intention to buy it. Accordingly, the conversion for branded requests will be maximum, and the conversion price will be minimum.
Above, we talked about using brands in contextual advertising. Therefore, most of the audience reading this article will, of course, want to promote their brand in order to sell more. So, let's get to the question:
How to increase awareness of your brand with the help of contextual advertising?
It's quite simple. It all starts with the concept of your brand and ends with its communication with the user through contextual advertising and the site itself. If your concept is OK, then you can use the following tools:
👉 Video ads
Google Ads explicitly states that video ads are ideal for promoting brands. Video creates a strong, direct connection between your content and the user.
👉 Banner ads
Banners increase your visual presence online.
👉 Search ads
You can highlight your brand directly with targeted search ads.
There are many other tweaks and goals to consider, but these come into play when setting up your campaigns—something your advertising agency can handle with ease.
That covers the main points of using brands in Google Ads. If you’ve got more questions, feel free to reach out—we’re happy to help!
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