How to Set Up a Branded Search Campaign the Right Way (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 1: Campaign Structure + Setup

Build separate branded campaigns for Search and Shopping.

For Search, target every brand variation:

– Brand name

– Brand name + product category (like “Nike running shoes”)

– Brand name + specific products (like “Nike Air Force 1”)

– Misspellings

– Proprietary terms

Use exact match for core brand terms. Use phrase match for brand + product combinations.

Separate these into different ad groups for better control.

For Shopping, set branded campaigns to low priority and exclude brand terms from your prospecting campaigns.

Step 2: Bidding

Stick to manual CPC 90% of the time.

Set max CPC on your exact match group 5-10% higher than the keyword average.

Set max CPC on your phrase match group 5-10% higher than the exact match group.

If phrase match starts eating too much budget, pull bids down to push spend back to exact match.

The second bidding option is Target Impression Share.

Select Absolute top of results page.

Set the impression share to 99%.

Then set a maximum CPC and increase it by 10% above your current average CPC.

Branded clicks typically cost 60% less than non-branded clicks in the same account and in many cases, up to 90% less.

If your branded CPC is close to (or the same as) your non-branded CPC, something is wrong with your setup.

Step 3: Landing Pages

Brand searches should go to your homepage.

Brand + product searches should go to specific product pages.

Brand + category searches should go to collection or category pages.

Step 4: Maintenance

Every week, filter brand terms out of prospecting campaigns and generic terms out of brand campaigns.

Step 5: Exclusion lists

Create an exclusion list for the branded keywords and apply it to all new and active prospecting campaigns.