We’re spending 60% of our budget on branded search and my boss thinks it’s ok

[BeginningBlock2447]

Maybe instead of turning it off entirely, you can do a blackout test – just exclude a region and see if conversions/traffic from there take a meaningful dip?

It’s just about making it palatable to your boss in small doses. How do you rank organically?

[FluxChiller]

It is not your money.. don’t worry about it so much. Why but heads and create a problem with your boss over it. Think about you first, always.

[ppcbetter_says]

You might check the brand campaign for non brand leakage

[MediumKitchen2483]

I agree that 60% on branded terms is excessive. Instead of completely eliminating branded terms, isolate it and run it in a separate campaign. This way, you set aside a fixed budget on branded terms, but maintain the incremental conversions, protect your brand, and continue to capture relative audience.

[ppcwithyrv]

More importantly what is your impressions share?

60% seems aggressive, however if your impressions share is too low….sub 65% its probably being targeted.

[adsaremykink]

Yeah 60% on brand is usually just paying a “Google tax” unless you’ve got competitors bidding on you or you’re in a super generic category.

That 36x ROAS is the trap. Brand always looks insane because those people were already looking for you. The question isn’t “does brand convert”, it’s “did we gain sales we wouldn’t have gotten anyway”.

If your boss won’t turn it off, do a baby test so he doesn’t freak out: pause brand in a few states/cities for 2–3 weeks and watch total revenue/leads (not just Ads). If nothing moves, you’ve got your answer.

Also pull the search terms. If it’s literally just your name and misspellings, that’s not growth, that’s defense. If it’s generic stuff being labeled as “brand” because of broad/PMAX weirdness, it needs to live in non-brand campaigns anyway.

I usually keep brand on a small leash (10–20% tops) unless there’s an actual brand bidding war.

[WabiMatcha]

I suggest reading Peter Fields research on this entitled “Long and Short of it”. In brief, your boss is not wrong. Depending on your category will dictate the weigthing to brand.

Source: Maynard Paton https://share.google/lcvBzpf1HhWj150hu

[bumblewacky]

Google some of your top branded keywords. If you show up organically top of page, screenshot it and tell him he’s wasting money on people that would land on your page 100% of the time without ads.

[Toasted_Waffle99]

Your boss has a lead what’s to hit and he doesn’t care where they come from

[DazPPC]

Unless your budget is tiny or your brand has a ridiculous amount of search volume and high competition, I doubt 60% of your budget is really going to brand.

[TNT-Rick]

I’ve tested this before and we didn’t see the production pick up anywhere else, and there were only negative effects. Might depend on your product and industry though.

With how Google is de-prioritizing organic search results and emphasizing paid spots, your boss might be right.

[shitalimalviya]

The world is strange sometimes.

I once had a client who didn’t want to spend anything on branded search. After a lot of discussion, we agreed on ~20% of the budget on brand.

Over time, most closed deals came from brand search not because it created demand, but because it captured trust at the decision stage. It was a high-ticket business, and users searched the brand again before converting.

That said, 60% on brand (with no competitors bidding) is usually optimizing for ROAS comfort, not incremental growth.

Brand captures demand.
Non-brand creates it.

A simple brand holdout or geo test would settle this debate I believe.

[bt_wpspeedfix]

% means nothing without a dollar a amount, $60 a month is completely different to 60k a month

Google is a paid search engine with free results, as much as it sucks, brand ads are just par for the course now is search is important to you

[Illustrious_Music_66]

Depends on what the brand is. If the brand is city name plus service then you will want to pay for that.

[Loud-Lawfulness6476]

god, it’s so exhausting working with bosses like this. They think they know better than you. In this case if you already presented all the facts and data and he still wants to keep it that way-do so.
The only thing I am worried about is you getting the blame later. Get it in writing, have a proof of 60% of the budget being spent on branded keywords his decision, not yours. Confirm this with him either in email or a chat. Have a screenshot ready for any possible situation.