TAKE POLL Bidding on your own Dealership Name in Ads

[douglaskarr]

We've been having a great internal conversation recently about whether dealerships should spend ad dollars on their own name. Some say it’s a waste of money because you’ll show up organically anyway; others swear it’s a mandatory line item.

Here’s the breakdown of why this is such a polarizing topic in the industry:

The Argument FOR Bidding on Your Own Dealership​

• Defense Against Conquesting: If you don’t bid on your own name, your competitors definitely will. When a customer searches for "City Ford," the first thing they might see is a "Huge Sale at Metro Ford" ad. Buying your own name keeps your brand at the top of the page.
• Controlling the Narrative: Brand searches usually mean the customer has already put you on their shortlist. They are looking for your reputation, hours, or specific inventory. An ad allows you to direct them to a specific landing page (like a Current Specials page) rather than just your homepage.
• Dominating Real Estate: Search engine users are click-happy and often don't distinguish between Ad and Organic. Having both gives you more above-the-fold space on mobile devices, pushing competitors further down the screen.

The Argument AGAINST Bidding on Your Own Dealership​

• The "Cannibalization" Effect: If you already rank #1 organically for your name, you are essentially paying for clicks you may have received for free.
• Opportunity Cost: Every dollar spent on your own name is a dollar taken away from high-intent Make/Model keywords for your inventory. If someone searches "2026 SUV for sale," that’s a live buyer you might miss because your budget was spent on someone who already knew who you were.
• The "Google Tax": Many feel that bidding on your own name is just paying a tax to search engines to protect what you’ve already built.

The Bottom Line​

In many ways, having competitors bid on your name is a backhanded compliment—it means you’re a big enough threat that they want to poach your traffic. Whether you choose to defend that territory or pivot those dollars toward specific vehicle intent depends entirely on your local market's aggression.

 

[Landing Garage]

I think bidding on your own name is a waste of money. A customer searching for you will find you eventually. Usually, they might click the first result, but once they realize they’re in the wrong place, they’ll just keep scrolling until they hit your link. Customers feel betrayed when a specific keyword search lands them somewhere they didn't intend to go.
Claudio

 

[douglaskarr]

I think bidding on your own name is a waste of money. A customer searching for you will find you eventually. Usually, they might click the first result, but once they realize they’re in the wrong place, they’ll just keep scrolling until they hit your link. Customers feel betrayed when a specific keyword search lands them somewhere they didn't intend to go.
Claudio

I'm in agreement with you... and honestly wish the ad platforms wouldn't allow this. I'm guessing it's big bucks for them, though.

 

[Ryan Everson]

When it comes to worrying about another dealer conquesting your dealership name, this is usually more of a vanity concern. When you look at the stats of brand campaigns, they typically generate 70%+ fixed ops traffic and calls. So competitors bidding on your brand name are usually paying inflated CPCs and throwing away their budget on customers calling to check on their vehicle service status.

The typical knee jerk reaction is to shift $1k of your advertising budget to “defend” the dealership's name, but at that point you're either increasing expenses or pulling budget away from higher ROI campaigns, just to pay for service calls you were going to get anyway.

 

[JordanPD]

I'm connected with the CRO of a company that solves overbidding on your own brand keyword (brand pilot)

Basically, you could be paying top dollar for your own brand name, while no ones else is bidding on it.

My advice, stop bidding on it & see what happens. If thats too risky, look into similar solutions

 

[farhanmudassar]

Great breakdown. This really comes down to market dynamics and intent. In aggressive markets, brand bidding can be smart insurance to protect traffic and control messaging. In quieter markets, that budget may perform better on high-intent make/model terms. Testing, monitoring conquest activity, and letting data—not ideology—drive the decision usually leads to the best outcome.

 

[Greg_Gifford]

If you take a step back and look at the customer experience - it's honeslty a waste of money, and like Ryan said, a vanity metric. If a customer types "Everson Ford" into Google and sees an ad for a competitor, there are ONLY two possible outcomes:

1) that person is smart enough to say "hey, that's not who I'm looking for" and they simply scroll past the ad and click on your website (which will be the #1 organic result) or your GBP (which dominates the right side on desktop and is right up top on mobile)

2) that person isn't paying attention or isn't savvy enough to realize the top listing is a competitor's ad and clicks on it. They land on that competitor's home page (let's be honest, that's where these ads go) and says "wait, this isn't Everson Ford..." - and they click back to Google and end up on your site anyway (and your competitor just wasted $3-4)

If you're the only dealer selling the brand you sell in a market, you NEVER need to run ads on your own name. Really, the only time it's even worth doing defensively is if it's a larger market and multiple competitors are running ads on your name. And even then, it's less about being defensive and more about just making it easier for customers to find a link to your site since ads take the top 3 or 4 spots on the search results page

 

[douglaskarr]

I'm connected with the CRO of a company that solves overbidding on your own brand keyword (brand pilot)

Basically, you could be paying top dollar for your own brand name, while no ones else is bidding on it.

My advice, stop bidding on it & see what happens. If thats too risky, look into similar solutions

Great approach!

 

[douglaskarr]

If you take a step back and look at the customer experience - it's honeslty a waste of money, and like Ryan said, a vanity metric. If a customer types "Everson Ford" into Google and sees an ad for a competitor, there are ONLY two possible outcomes:

1) that person is smart enough to say "hey, that's not who I'm looking for" and they simply scroll past the ad and click on your website (which will be the #1 organic result) or your GBP (which dominates the right side on desktop and is right up top on mobile)

2) that person isn't paying attention or isn't savvy enough to realize the top listing is a competitor's ad and clicks on it. They land on that competitor's home page (let's be honest, that's where these ads go) and says "wait, this isn't Everson Ford..." - and they click back to Google and end up on your site anyway (and your competitor just wasted $3-4)

If you're the only dealer selling the brand you sell in a market, you NEVER need to run ads on your own name. Really, the only time it's even worth doing defensively is if it's a larger market and multiple competitors are running ads on your name. And even then, it's less about being defensive and more about just making it easier for customers to find a link to your site since ads take the top 3 or 4 spots on the search results page

I don't disagree, but I'd love to see some stats that consumers actually DO return to the SERP. I feel like many are lazy and will see some inventory and just start shopping. No?

 

[Ryan Everson]

I'm connected with the CRO of a company that solves overbidding on your own brand keyword (brand pilot)

Basically, you could be paying top dollar for your own brand name, while no ones else is bidding on it.

My advice, stop bidding on it & see what happens. If thats too risky, look into similar solutions

Another solid strategy is to run a brand campaign with a $1/day budget. It keeps you in the auction and lets you monitor auction insights so you can see which competitor(s) are bidding on your name and how aggressively.