Showing up on the first page of Google is critically important for growing e-commerce brands, especially for those in competitive industries like apparel, cosmetics or home decor.
Showing up first on Google when people search for your brand is easy - you create a "Branded Search" campaign with no cost-cap. The real question is, "how do I show up first when people search for my competitors". That's what we'll address here.
First, if you're brand new at Google Ads, here's how to setup a Branded Search campaign: Go to ads.google.com > click Campaigns > click on the blue "+" > New Campaign > Sales > Continue > Search > Website Visits > paste in your URL > click Continue.
Optimize for Conversions and turn off the target Cost Per Action.
Click Next, then select your location, language, audience segments & search settings.
From here, you'll be able to add in your first set of keywords and ads. In the keyword section, only add keywords that include your brand name. For example, if your brand is called "ABC Apparel", you might add the following terms: ABC Apparel, ABC Apparel Sale, ABC Apparel Reviews, etc.
Now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about what you came here for: How to show up first when people Google your competitors.
It's not as easy as you think, but this one simple trick will help you out tremendously! That is; include your competitors name within your own website.
To elaborate, the only keywords you can effectively target in your Google Ads are words that appear somewhere on your website. That is why you'll often see brands write blog posts comparing their brand to their largest competitor. For example, if Nike wanted their ads to show up when someone googled UnderArmour, Nike could write a blog post comparing their activewear to UnderArmour.
By doing this, Nike can include the term "UnderArmour" in their Google Keywords. And since Google Ads usually show up before non-sponsored websites, Nike can effectively capture more market share from UnderArmour.
Here's a great example from the company, Freshworks, comparing their CRM platform to their largest competitor, Pipedrive. By writing a compare/contract article between Freshworks & Pipedrive, Freshworks has successfully added the keyword "Pipedrive" into their Google Ads.
After you write & publish the blog post comparing you to your competitor (mentioning your competitors name in the URL and as many time as possible within the post), the next step is to setup your Google Ads.
Follow the same steps above when creating your Branded Search Campaign, only instead of adding your keywords, add keywords related to your competitor.
For example, if your brand is "ABC Apparel", and your competitor is "XYZ Wear", your keywords may look something like: ABC Apparel vs. XYZ Wear, "difference between XYZ Wear and ABC Apparel", XYZ Wear Alternatives, etc. The more variations of search terms, the higher your likelihood of stealing your competitors market share.
As you might have expected, this is a simplified version of competitor keyword targeting and it can get infinitely more complex. If you'd like help setting up your Google Ads in a way that allows you to capture your competitors market, and prevent them from doing the same to you, then book a time below and we'll share all the dirty details!
