One of the most common questions I get asked by clients is, “If we rank well organically for branded keywords, why would I need to pay for paid search ads for branded terms?” The basic assumption is that paid search ads will cannibalize organic traffic.

This theory seems to make sense, but the data between paid traffic versus organic traffic actually sings a different tune. According to a blog post by Google, their statisticians have conducted over 400 studies on paused paid search accounts across numerous industry verticals to see if organic results increased in traffic when branded ads were paused. Results show that 89% of traffic generated by search ads was NOT replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused, meaning that brands were actually losing traffic when branded paid search campaigns were not enabled.

If this isn’t convincing enough, here are the top reasons why branded campaigns are a must-have in any paid search account:

Maintain dominance in your search engine results pages.

What is better than one link driving traffic to your site? Two. Bidding on branded terms will improve your chances for a click, since more results page real estate will be directed to your site. Branded campaigns will also prevent competitors from sneaking into top ad positions and stealing potential customers, since your ad will always rank highest due to ad relevance.

Capture high-quality traffic that is further down the conversion funnel.

Users who are searching with branded terms are already aware of your product or services and are researching for more information, which puts them further down the conversion funnel than those who are searching for generic terms. Branded keywords are considered the “closers” of the search engine marketing world, making the return on investment high and valuable. On average, branded keyword conversions are XX% higher than non-branded terms.

Control your messaging at the top of a SERP.

Organic search results are simply not made to be an advertisement, and you do not have control over the content that gets disseminated based on search queries. In paid search, you have the opportunity to customize your ads for specific searches and provide stronger call-to-actions than any organic result. Ads also can be tested against each other to optimize for clicks, whereas organic results cannot.

In addition, branded ads give you control how the brand is perceived. Having an ad at the top of the page can give the impression of a more established and technically savvy company, suggesting that the site is a credible source for products or services.

Branded keywords are not only cheap; they make the rest of your keywords cheaper.

It is no mystery that branded terms always have low cost-per-clicks due to high ad relevance and high-click through rates. Keyword quality scores are determined by both of these metrics, and will create a lift in average quality score for your entire account. Your account’s overall average quality score plays a huge role on how much you pay for all other keyword, as seen in this study by WordStream. To put it simply, the higher your average keyword quality score for your entire account, the lower your average cost-per-click will be, and the more money you will save!