Brand Bidding Works

Brand bidding on competitors’ keywords is an advanced Google Ads strategy that involves bidding on your competitors’ brand names to capture their traffic.

While it may seem aggressive, this tactic can be a highly effective way to attract new customers, increase sales, and grow your market share.

It’s a strategy used by every top company running ads on Google, from Amazon, to Lululemon. And now hopefully by you to increase your affiliate commissions.

Brand bidding on competitors’ keywords means running ads on search terms that include the names of your competitors or their branded products.

For example, if you’re selling a fitness tracker you can create an ad bidding on the keyword variations of “Fit Bit,” ensuring that your ads appear when potential customers are actively in the market for a fitness tracking device.

Why Brand Bidding on Competitors Works

1. Capture High-Intent Traffic: Users searching for your competitors’ brand names are already interested in products or services similar to yours. This high-intent audience is primed for conversion, making them ideal targets for your ads. By placing your ads alongside or above your competitors, you can intercept these customers at the moment they’re ready to make a purchase.

2. Position Your Brand as an Alternative: Brand bidding allows you to present your products or services as a compelling alternative to what your competitors offer. You can highlight unique selling points, special offers, or better pricing in your ad copy to sway customers who may be on the fence about their purchase decision.

3. Lower Cost Per Acquisition: I’ve noticed in my campaigns ad groups that are brand bidding tend to get a lower cost per acquisition than ad groups that are focusing on generic keywords. For example, in last week’s newsletter I broke down the profitable red light mask niche. Below are my ad groups for that niche, and you can see the “Brands” (brand bidding) ad group is outperforming the rest.

Highest Converting Landing Pages For Brand Bidding

In my experience the best landing pages for brand bidding are “best of” lists, aka editorial lists.

This is because when users search a brand they’re often in the decision-making phase and looking for validation, comparisons, or alternatives.

"Best of" lists provide exactly that - relevant options, reviews, and curated content that feels trustworthy and informative.

They attract clicks by appearing helpful and unbiased, and they convert well because they guide users toward making a purchase decision (through your affiliate links embedded within the list).

This is what I’m doing for all of my campaigns, including Red Light Masks (see image below).

To use the first example above, where you're selling fitness trackers and bidding on the brand keyword “Fitbit,” creating an ad titled “Top 5 Fitness Trackers of 2024” that directs users to your curated list of fitness trackers (with yours ranked #1) would be an effective approach.

Especially with higher cost to consumer purchases. The more money consumers have to spend the more research they’re willing to do to make sure they make the right decision. 

And if your landing page comes off as an authority on the subject, like you’ve done your research by curating a list of the products customers are looking for, they’ll be more likely to trust you and purchase .

You can even put the brand you’re bidding on (like FitBit) in 2nd place on your “best of” list, putting your affiliate product at #1, to show it beat the product the user was searching for.

Conclusion

Brand bidding on your competitors' keywords is a powerful strategy to attract high-intent traffic to your landing page and boost affiliate sales. Every affiliate marketer should consider this tactic to enhance their commission earnings. When executed correctly, brand bidding can be a highly profitable tool in your affiliate marketing arsenal.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, and if you have comments head over to commissioncrew.co and comment on the posts, email me back, or reach out on X! I’ll talk to you next week!