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Seu cliente digitou sua marca no Google: ele chega até você?
BranddiIP Team ·
Brand search on Google is still a critical point in the purchasing journey, because there the customer is looking for exactly you, ready to validate your existence and decide whether to proceed or give up.
Today, consumers can use social networks to search for products and services, but Google still reigns supreme when it comes to discovery. With around 91% of the search market, it continues to be a decisive part of most purchasing journeys.
However, even with good SEO work, competitors may be stealing your traffic from Google. Do you want to understand how to ensure that your customer reaches you, and does not end up in the hands of third parties? Check out the complete guide we prepared!
What happens when your customer searches for you on Google?
Google search is today the first stage of the consumer journey, the so-called zero moment of truth (ZMOT – Zero Moment of Truth), when the customer validates whether the company is real, whether it has authority and whether it is active in the market. If at that moment the brand does not appear in the first positions, the consumer tends to look for another option.
According to analysis of Backlinko, the result in first place usually receives around 27.6% of all organic clicks, and the click rate (“CTR”) drops sharply as you move down the results.
The practical effect is: if your brand does not appear among the first results, it almost automatically loses the chance of being discovered by customers.
How do competitors capture their audience with paid ads in brand search?
Some brands capture an audience by purchasing keywords related to the name of the most famous companies on Google with the aim of display sponsored links at the top of search results page.
The practice, known as brand bidding, works like this: after typing your brand in the Google search bar, the user comes across ads from other companies before the organic results.
Many consumers do not differentiate between what is an advertisement and what is an organic result. If the competitor appears prominently at the top of the page, there is a high chance that the user will click on the link without even realizing that they are not accessing the brand they were looking for.
The buying competitor terms happens because Google Adsoperates in a keyword auction format. By acquiring the right to display ads whenever your brand's name is searched, your competitor is able to appear in privileged positions.
What is the impact of unfair competition on Google?
The effect of unfair competition on Google can be great and affect both your brand's visibility and consumer trust:
When your brand disappears from the top, the consumer interprets that you are less trustworthy
The customer who searches for your company's name already is at an advanced stage of the journey. If, at that moment, he sees a competitor occupying the prominent space, the immediate interpretation is that your brand does not have the same strength or digital presence. Word of mouth and all investment in marketing generate interest in your brand. But, when the user searches for you and clicks on another ad, the competitor is the one who reaps the rewards. own territory. This means paying to appear in searches that, in theory, should already be naturally yours.
The result is an artificial increase in the CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), reducing the profit margin and making the game more expensive for you, while the competitor gains customers at a lower cost.
The loss of organic space generates a feeling of digital invisibility
Even if you are well positioned organically, the ads paid always appear first. This hierarchy of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) creates the impression that you do not have a relevant digital presence.
The average consumer hardly goes down to the bottom results, much less to the second page. This means that, without protective ads, your brand may appear non-existent to those who are ready to act.
Customer diversion weakens your authority and opens up gaps for future attacks
When a competitor repeatedly captures consumers who were looking for you, they not only increase their own customer base, they also weaken yours. This process reduces your digital authority, making it more difficult to maintain the market's trust and leaving you vulnerable to new aggressive strategies. on Google:
Invest in defense campaigns with ads that use your own brand name
The most direct way to prevent competitors from taking over your space is to create brand protection campaigns within Google Ads, configuring exact and phrase match keywords with your company name and its variations.
This type of campaign typically has low CPC (Cost Per Click) because the relevance is high and the Quality Score tends to be higher than that of competitors, after all, you are the true owner of the brand.
Monitor competitors' ads to identify misuse of your name
Often, the dispute is only noticed when traffic or conversion metrics begin to fall. Therefore, monitor your search results and check whether competitor ads are showing for searches related to your brand.
Competitor analysis tools and alerts set up in Google Ads help you quickly detect when this happens.
Use Google policies to dispute ads that misuse your brand in text
Technically, Google allows companies to buy competitor terms as keywords, but does not allow use of trademarks within the ad text.
If you identify that someone is using your name explicitly in the title, description or visible URL, you can open a dispute via the Trademark Complaint Form of Google Ads.
Did you see the importance of appearing for the customer in a brand search on Google? active monitoring is what ensures that your best clicks reach you, and not to the rival who is ready to intercept your audience.
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