The Hidden Cost Of Google Ads: Stop Wasting Budget Bidding Against Yourself
Why are you paying high CPCs, even when there’s no competition? If you’re running branded paid search campaigns, there’s a good chance you’re bidding against yourself. It’s a hidden flaw inside Google Ads that quietly drains budgets across industries, and most advertisers don’t even know it’s happening. Watch this webinar for a data-backed session where we break down how to detect, diagnose, and eliminate unnecessary branded ad spend. Is Your Brand Paying the Google Tax? In this session, BrandPilot AI’s Jenn Paterson and John Beresford will walk you through what they call “The Uncontested Paid Search Problem” and how to stop it before it eats your budget alive. You’ll learn: - Why your CPCs are inflated even in the absence of consistent competition. - What the Uncontested Paid Search Problem is, and how to detect it. - The scale of impact on your budget. - Tactical strategies to fix waste and reclaim performance.
The Hidden Cost Of Google Ads: Stop Wasting Budget Bidding Against Yourself
- 2. The Hidden Cost of Google Ads: Stop Wasting Budget Bidding Against Yourself
- 3. Meet the Speakers John Beresford Chief Revenue Officer Jenn Paterson Sr. Client Partner
- 4. What you need to know What drives high CPC? The value of Paid & Organic on the SERP The Uncontested Paid Search Problem
- 5. What Drives up CPC? CPC = $1,090 FUN FACT: The most expensive cost for a click in history to date: “Houston Maritime Attorney”
- 7. Ad Position and Quality Score
- 8. Brand Reputation and Search Intent
- 9. Seasonality and Demand Fluctuations
- 10. Bid Strategy
- 11. SERP Domination with Paid + Organic 30-50% higher CTR 82% more brand recall 40-50% incremental clicks 70% more likely conversions 50-60% loss of clicks to competitors
- 12. Branded Keywords: Must-have or money pit? Let’s poll the audience!
- 13. The Uncontested Paid Search Problem
- 14. is an auction.
- 15. Did You Know? 20-30% of Branded Google Search Ads have no competing bids. In other words, there are no competitors present at the auction.
- 16. The Problem “Uncontested Google Search Ad” Branded keywords 20-30% Non-branded keywords 5-10%
- 17. This means that brands are overspending on Google Ads Estimated Annual Overspend $5.4M Estimated Annual Overspend $1.2M
- 18. How much could I be overspending? To give you an idea based on your branded ad spend...
- 19. can afford to let this happen Can you? Optimize branded ad spend manually
- 20. Negative Keywords Filter out variations of branded terms that don’t convert. Focus on Brand Protection & Bid Strategy Adjust bid strategies on seasonality or market demand. Use manual bidding or a target impression share with manual limits to control costs. Use exact match and/or phrase match keywords.
- 21. Brand-Specific Audiences and Retargeting Limit wasted ad spend with audience targeting and retargeting. Monitor Competitor Bidding Monitor your auction insights to understand competitor behavior and adjust your strategy accordingly. Leverage Organic Search to Reduce Dependence on Paid Ads Invest in SEO to ensure that your website ranks high organically for your branded terms.
- 22. Optimizing the Uncontested Paid Search Problem
- 23. Solving the Uncontested Paid Search Problem Step 1: Monitor competitor activity in real time. Step 2: React accordingly when competitors are absent from auction.
- 25. AdAi Starts Lowered CPC by 48%, No loss in ad clicks November (Before): $2.82 CPC February (After): $1.46 CPC
- 26. Lower CPC = Lower Cost = More Growth Budget * Monthly costs of $750k+ dropped to under $400k
- 27. Key Takeaways Investment in branded search campaigns is the way to go, or risk losing to competitors if you’re not dominating strategically for your brand. Branded CPCs inflate drastically as a result of competition in the auction, you shouldn’t have to pay high CPCs when it’s not there... The Uncontested Search Problem is very real and costing brands money.
- 28. Free Google Ads Audit Find out exactly how often your Search Ads are uncontested. Get a complete list of all the advertisers bidding on your keywords. No Budget Required Performance Based Pricing BrandPilot AI is a risk-free solution. Only pay a % of what you recover from Google Ads each month.
- 29. Google Savings Calculator Sign up to get a free report of how much you could be overpaying Google each month for Uncontested Search Ads!