Everyone knows the importance of having your brand terms as registered domains so that people can find you easily online.

However, it's one thing to know that if someone puts “yournamehere.com” into a browser they'll get to your site, but quite another to know if it will reap rewards in terms of SEO. That's where the idea of getting a top page listing as a paid-for search ad comes in – but is it really worth the cost?

Perception

Of course, many people who find a paid ad at the top of their search enquiry listing may not even be aware that that is what it is. However, it can become blatantly obvious if the same result actually comes top of the search and is repeated underneath the ad.

In these cases, it would be a reasonable thing to ask the question of whether the company is paying for traffic they would get free due to already successful SEO techniques taking them to the top of the page.

Quality score

Brand search campaigns generate high-quality scores, which are increasingly important in terms of wider online campaign visibility.

As well as this, brand bidding can mean that competitors are pushed even lower down the rankings, which can help fight against leaked traffic due to similarly phrased searches.

Rich snippets are also becoming increasingly important, particularly to Google, and this kind of organic action can give an extra boost.

Result manipulation

Obviously, there's no guaranteed way to make less-flattering search results disappear, but if you did want to push another result further down the page – perhaps a highly indexed review that was less than complimentary – then a tactical bid on your own brand terms could help bury bad news.

Sitelinks

Organic sitelinks can't be fully controlled because if Google chooses to ignore one of your key pages, you can lose vital traffic where you need it most.

By replicating your organic listing in a paid-for listing, you can determine your own sitelinks and highlight the ones that you want to grab the most attention.