The right way to target competitor brand terms
While it’s not generally our go-to strategy, targeting your competitors terms as keywords in Google Ads can be a smart way to grow your account if you are achieving goals and looking for alternate traffic, as long as they are set up carefully.
When they’re done well, they can help you capture additional demand and reach people who are already in the market for a solution like yours. When they’re done poorly, they can create reporting headaches, waste budget, and even lead to policy issues.
If you’re thinking about testing competitor terms, here are three best practices we recommend.
1.Keep Competitor Terms Separate
Competitor keywords deserve their own campaign, not just their own ad group.
A dedicated campaign gives you much better control over budget, which is important because competitor traffic is often more expensive and less efficient than your standard brand or non-brand campaigns.
It also keeps reporting much cleaner. Rather than mixing competitor data into your regular search campaigns, you’ll be able to clearly see whether this strategy is delivering worthwhile results.
If creating a separate campaign isn’t possible, a dedicated ad group is the next best option.
2. Avoid Dynamic Keyword Insertion in Competitor Ad Copy
Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) is a handy feature in many search campaigns because it automatically inserts the keyword that triggered your ad into the headline.
The problem? If you’re bidding on a competitor’s brand name, Google may insert that competitor’s name into your live ad.
Not only can this create an awkward situation, it can also breach Google’s advertising policies.
For competitor campaigns, we always recommend writing your ad copy manually and never including the competitor’s brand name.
3. Exclude Competitor Terms Everywhere Else
Once you’ve created your competitor campaign, build a negative keyword list containing those competitor brand names and apply it to your other campaigns.
That includes your:
- Brand campaigns
- Non-brand search campaigns
- Performance Max campaigns
For Performance Max, use Brand Exclusions for those competitor names, while allowing Shopping ads to continue serving where appropriate. This helps prevent your campaigns from competing against each other.
Set Realistic Expectations
Competitor Google Ads campaigns are usually an expansion strategy rather than a core campaign.
They often have:
- Higher cost per acquisition
- Lower conversion rates
- Smaller profit margins
That’s completely normal. People searching for a competitor have often already formed a preference, so convincing them to switch takes more effort.
For most businesses, we’d recommend getting your brand and non-brand campaigns performing consistently before experimenting with competitor targeting.
When you do decide to test it, keep the structure clean, measure it separately, and give yourself realistic benchmarks. A well-built competitor campaign can become a valuable addition to your account—but only when it’s treated as a strategic test, not the foundation of your Google Ads strategy.
