Understanding Combat Conquesting

Understanding Conquesting

Conquesting is a frustrating strategy when you discover it is being done to you. This scenario involves a competitor of yours choosing to purchase pay-per-click advertising under your brand name: so when customers search for you by name, meaning they are well aware of your brand, they see your competition first.

Conquesting has a few negative impacts on your business: of course, some eyeballs and clicks are going to your competition, but more importantly, the algorithm senses that those are popular keywords and makes them more expensive per click. Listing for your own keywords can be more expensive at that point. Fortunately, there are a few ways to combat conquesting of your web traffic.

Fight SEM With SEM

• One of the great methods of listing for your own brand keywords is to go all-in on organic search engine optimization; creating a website that lists first underneath the advertisements can be a great way to draw in the people who already recognize your name. This method will also help you take up more real estate on the SERP, taking up space with your paid ad as well as your organic listing.
• Fight “fire with fire,” and look at how you can rank for some of the keywords that matter to your competition. One important strategy for avoiding wasted cash, however, is to aim for the “at-risk customer,” rather than trying to show up on the “brand name” keyword, look for “brand name alternative” or “products like brand name” so that you can capture only those who are already looking for someone other than your competition.
• Get creative with your keywords, timing, and budget: if your competition is driving up the price on the most obvious keywords, start experimenting with small-budget campaigns on longer, more detailed keywords. Keep an eye out for the rare keywords with wonderful click-through rates and low cost; once you identify which keywords are working and which aren’t, up your budget on the winners and start testing a new round.
• Work with an experienced SEM specialist from SocialSEO to get the best up-to-the-minute advice for dealing with PPC conquesting.