Increase Paid Traffic through Branded Search
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      Find Branded Keywords Your Competitors are using that need defending

      This playbook provides examples and suggestions on how to use the Analytic Index data to increase your paid search traffic to your listings using your branded search terms.

      Playbook Overview

      Paid search is a great way to boost traffic to your listings and increase sales. Using branded terms in your paid search is a proven way of not only increasing the traffic but also increasing conversion rate. Using the methods in this playbook the Analytic Index dataset will help you identify branded terms that need defending from competitors, have high search volume, and are most likely to convert to drive sales.

       

      Time Required: 5 minutes

      Difficulty: 2/10

      Find Branded Keywords Your Competitors are using that need defending

      This method will help you identify the most important branded keywords to defend from competitors. Defending branded search from competitor conquesting is a critical activity in driving traffic of your highest potential converting shoppers. Competitors advertising on your branded terms can erode your hard earned brand equity with shoppers. The steps below will walk you through identifying which brands are winning bids consistently for your branded terms and then identify which of your keywords they are using so you can adjust your bids and strategies to defend your branded search. 

      STEP 1: Identify brands currently using your branded keywords

      Setting up the Report

      1. Navigate to the Brand Finder report (Pro Tools > Brand Finder)
      2. Enter your brand into the “Keyword Brand Filter” (in the “More” filters section)
      3. Optionally you can narrow your search to only brands appearing above the fold for your branded terms by selecting “Yes” for the “Items found Above the Fold” filter 
      4. Click the Load button on the report to load the data
      5. Copy the top 5 brand names you wish to analyze (to be pasted into the report used in the next step) We recommend using the sponsorship activity columns to aid in which brands you select. 

      Example using “WaterWipes” Brand

      How to use the data

      This report now contains a list of the top brands that are using your branded terms in search and rank orders them by the most items and keywords in search. Additional information is given for each brand identifying organic and sponsored keywords where the brands are showing up for your branded keywords.

      The Top Brands in Sales table takes a look at the sales performance of each of these brands and rank orders them by estimated unit sales volume and provides some additional conversion related metrics for more context.

      STEP 2: Benchmark your sponsorship activity vs the competing brands for your branded keywords

      Setting up the Report

      1. Navigate to the Competitive Sponsored Search Intelligence report (Sponsored Search Optimization > Competitive Sponsored Search Intelligence)
      2. Enter (or paste) the brands identified from step 1 into the “Brand” filter.
      3. Enter your brand into the “Keyword Brand Filter” (in the “More” filters section)
      4. Click the Load button on the report to load the data

      Example with “WaterWipes” competitors

      How to use the data

      This report will show a side by side comparison of observed sponsorship activity on a per keyword basis of your branded keywords. Look at your sponsorship activity where you are being challenged by your competitors. The data is color coded to highlight where you have strengths and weaknesses vs the competition. These keywords should be considered for your brand search strategy. 

      Big Opportunities

      Any keywords that show a null or 0 and a competitor is showing sponsorship activity should be highly considered to add to your branded search strategy since the competitor is showing up in a meaningful way when a shopper is searching specifically for your brand.

      Opportunities

      The keywords for which you are weaker vs your competitors should be considered to either increase bids or add to your branded search strategy. 

      ℹ️ Pro Tip

      You can also take a deeper look into any of the keywords in the table by clicking on them to use the drill-in function to track the full Sponsorship Activity  or run a Keyword Snapshot report.