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Firstly. It’ s important to note that there is some flexibility in terms of bidding on trademark or brand terms where the term itself is not feature in the body of the advert.
Technically this means you should be able to bid on terms like“ Russia World Cup” with ad copy that simply offers( for example) football betting or tips with no specific reference to the tournament.
Even so, there’ s evidence to suggest that Google is more stringent than usually about brand term bidding during major sporting events like the World Cup.
It all comes down to who pays who.
Official brand partners complain to FIFA, who pay them for exclusive use of trademark terms, while FIFA complains to Google who rely on being able to enforce trademark protections to continue as a leading platform.
Due to the restrictions on trademarks associated with the World Cup, we predict a lot of headaches for companies that have not done their research, and an AdWords landscape dominated by official partners who, like McDonalds, really don’ t have a strong and direct relationship to the sport.
For marketers in betting and gaming, it’ s not enough to rely on Google to fairly enforce its normal policies. During the World Cup, the official brands get the run of things and gaming brands need to be more creative.
For gambling, the terms with the highest propensity to convert are always ones using“ bet” and“ betting” prefixes. They will naturally be more competitive, so it then comes down to how strong an offer you have and your brand. Brand loyalty is not as strong for events like this, so a strong offer can make the difference- if the company can afford it.
AdWords During Major Football Tournaments
Opportunities- increase audience, new FTDs
Unlike many other industries, sportsbook marketers have a variety of very specific challenges when it comes to AdWords. For a start, betting-related sites need to be approved by Google, in addition to abiding by all the other usual regulations around licensing and audience-targeting. Google policy for betting sites means that personalisation of ads based on customer data is to be avoided, which limits the segmentation and offers that can be made.
While we’ d all like to ensure that returning customers click through at a lower cost than wholly new customers, again this isn’ t possible at the bid level due to this being seen as a form of personalisation.
What sportsbook marketers can do is ensure that ad copy is explicit and guides the search engine user about whether it’ s something they should click or not. For example, specifying in the ad copy that certain odds are only open to new customers( or indeed focused on existing customer with a login link) will shape the traffic generated.
When focusing in on the best possible customers, the potential lifetime value should be considered but it’ s a balancing act- a term like‘ football bets’ may cost more to bid on than‘ free bets’ but your data may tell you that customers using the first keyword will be of a higher value, rather than bonus-hunters.
As we can see, there’ s a certain amount of complexity in sportsbook PPC purely in terms of regulations- adding in the drama and intensity of the World Cup only makes things more challenging- but there’ s plenty of information to inform a profitable strategy.
World Cup PPC Strategies Blueclaw Report 2018