Here’s a sneaky little trick Google Ads can pull that makes your campaigns look like they’re performing better than they actually are: blending branded and non-branded activity in a way that’s not always obvious (in fact most businesses I work with have no idea this occurs until I show them)
If someone is searching for your business name directly, they’re usually much closer to converting. These searches often come with lower cost per conversion, higher CTRs, and generally stronger metrics across the board. So far, so good.
But here’s the catch: unless your campaigns are structured carefully and monitored regularly, Google will often slip your ads into branded search terms even if you never explicitly told it to. Chances are (unless you are reporting at a sufficiently granular level) you won’t even know it’s happening.
You might think you’re targeting general product or service-related keywords, but depending on how your keyword targeting is set up (and not excluding your brand name with negatives), Google can interpret those keywords very loosely.
E.g. you look at your keyword-level reporting and the non-branded terms in there are showing good performance, but it's not until you review the (increasingly limited) search term data that you discover Google considers your brand name to be a 'close enough' fit to a generic industry keyword.
Why is that a problem?
Because it can give you a false sense of success. Especially in B2B, where the pool of in-market buyers is already small, your non-branded campaigns might actually be underperforming, but the strong performance of branded queries gets mixed in, masking what’s really going on.
I see this all the time when reviewing accounts.
On the surface, the account looks like it’s performing well.
But when you dig into the search terms and separate branded from non-branded, it becomes clear: most of the results are coming from people who already knew the business. Google just helped close the loop and took credit for that, and then tries its hardest to ensure you don't cotton on to that fact.
Not sure how to check this for yourself? Send me a message and I can help.