There’s nothing worse than watching your personal merchandise compete in opposition to one another.
When your paid media technique begins pitting your product strains in opposition to each other, you’re not simply inflating prices; you’re undercutting your personal possibilities at conversion.
That’s the query this month’s “Ask A PPC” will sort out:
“I work for a corporation that has three manufacturers in the identical area of interest with a excessive ticket merchandise for home renovation. All firms have excessive spend on search advertisements, however we’re focusing on the identical key phrases and we’re seeing cannibalization.
What can we do with our bidding technique to attempt to scale back our CPC and nonetheless compete on the identical merchandise/key phrases, however not cannibalize one another?”
Let’s break down the best way to keep away from key phrase cannibalization, significantly when coping with premium merchandise, and the best way to construction campaigns in a method that retains every part working collectively.
The Exhausting Fact: You Can’t Keep away from All Cannibalization
Let’s begin right here as a result of that is what nobody needs to listen to: Should you’re focusing on the identical non-branded key phrases, the identical geographies, and comparable audiences with comparable worth props, some degree of inner competitors is inevitable.
Search campaigns don’t know your product strains are siblings. All they see are bids, relevance scores, and conversion knowledge. Some key phrases/advertisements will win. Some received’t.
The objective is to mitigate the interior crossfire and make strategic choices that give each product its finest shot to shine.
Prioritize: Which Merchandise Get Which Key phrases?
We don’t prefer to play favorites with our merchandise, however in the case of generic, high-volume key phrases, you might need to.
Until you will have contractual obligations to spend equally throughout product strains (attempt to keep away from this), you’ll have to assign sure non-branded queries to 1 product or one other.
Right here’s how you are able to do it:
- Section by market: Allocate geographic zones to completely different merchandise based mostly on efficiency tendencies, gross sales reps, or product-market match.
- Use key phrase analysis as a compass: Each Google’s and Microsoft’s key phrase planners can present you which of them search phrases have higher affinity with which product.
- Set up thematic lanes: If Product A is extra “entry-level” and Product B is the “professional model,” allow them to personal completely different phases of the funnel.
Use Class Pages, Not Product Pages
One workaround, particularly with Dynamic Search Adverts (DSA) and Efficiency Max (PMax), is to keep away from pushing folks on to product pages. As an alternative, drive them to class or assortment pages.
Why this works:
- It provides customers choices with out forcing them to select one.
- You may nonetheless management focusing on and advert inventive on the marketing campaign or asset group degree.
- It creates a extra balanced distribution of visibility with out inflating cost-per-click (CPCs) by bidding on the identical SKUs.
DSAs and PMax campaigns do that significantly properly. You’re not bidding on key phrases within the conventional sense; you’re letting Google’s (or Microsoft’s) AI decide which queries to match based mostly on content material and intent.
On Google, AI Max permits you to information that intent extra narrowly via advert group-level settings.
On Microsoft, PMax can do one thing comparable, particularly for those who feed it clear, structured knowledge and lean into visible inventive.
Construct A Branded Security Web
You doubtless have already got branded campaigns in place, and for those who don’t, this is a vital go do.
Branded search and Procuring ought to be sure that anybody searching for a selected product by title sees solely that product. That is the place you possibly can (and may) be strict about marketing campaign segmentation.
Branded campaigns provide you with clear efficiency knowledge, defend your CPCs from cannibalization, and supply the clearest attribution path.
Leverage Visible Differentiation
That is the place platforms like Google Demand Gen and Microsoft Viewers Adverts actually shine.
Visible content material permits you to sidestep key phrases altogether and lean into product storytelling. You may goal by curiosity, matter, or customized segments – not search intent – which implies you possibly can:
- Run one marketing campaign per product and assign every a price range.
- Or run one massive marketing campaign and let the inventive information person alternative.
You need to use PMax right here, too, particularly on Microsoft, the place PMax makes it extra more likely to safe Copilot placements throughout cellular and desktop.
Copilot has been proven to have 25% extra relevancy than conventional search, in accordance with Microsoft inner knowledge.
The secret’s to deal with these upper-funnel performs as viewers builders. Then, as soon as customers have interaction, you possibly can section them with remarketing throughout each platforms.
Professional tip: On Microsoft, even simply an impression is sufficient to construct an viewers. Which suggests your remarketing and exclusions can get very exact, in a short time.
As long as there’s no less than one viewers advert marketing campaign in your impression-based remarketing sources, you possibly can permit PMax to remarket to PMax and Search/Procuring to remarket to Search/Procuring, i.e., you possibly can seize intent from Copilot even when they didn’t have interaction with you there.
Does This Actually Clear up Cannibalization?
The one surefire strategy to absolutely stop cannibalization could be to run fully separate advert accounts, one per product. However that opens up a Pandora’s field of compliance dangers.
Google and Microsoft are each very conscious of efforts to double-serve, and in the event that they understand your accounts as making an attempt to sport the system – even for those who’re simply making an attempt to remain organized – you may find yourself suspended.
So as an alternative, your finest transfer is to handle the overlap, not eradicate it. Concentrate on:
- Utilizing class pages for non-branded queries.
- Proudly owning branded queries with tightly segmented campaigns.
- Differentiating merchandise visually via audience-first codecs.
- Utilizing geographic and thematic separation when assigning generic key phrases.
When accomplished proper, the buyer makes the ultimate resolution, not your CPC technique. That’s not cannibalization. That’s only a person selecting which of your nice merchandise suits their wants finest. And both method? You win.
Remaining Takeaways
To recap:
- You may’t absolutely eradicate cannibalization with out risking violating platform insurance policies.
- Sensible segmentation of campaigns by geography, theme, and intent, helps mitigate overlap.
- Class pages + visible advertisements can information customers to the precise product with out inflating CPCs.
- Branded campaigns are your finest pal; hold them clear, tight, and product-specific.
- Viewers-based focusing on provides you management with out competing on search phrases.
On the finish of the day, your campaigns ought to mirror how your customers store: exploring, evaluating, deciding. Make that course of simpler for them, and cheaper for you.
Extra Sources:
Featured Picture: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
