Negative keywords and ‘Brand Bidding’ on Google Shopping: Best practices for advertisers

Comparison Shopping Service (CSS partners) started joining the Daisycon network at the beginning of 2018. A CSS partner can boost an advertiser’s incremental sales by strategically placing Shopping ads and product listings on Google. As an affiliate network, we want to bring clarity to the often controversial practices around ‘brand bidding’ and the correct use of negative keywords. With experience in working with both brand retailers and resellers, we share practical guidance to help advertisers manage negative keyword strategies effectively.

Understanding CSS Partners and their role

What are CSS partners?

CSS partners are Google Shopping specialists who work with merchants (advertisers) to increase product visibility to more shoppers. They use their expertise and Google’s tools to show advertisers’ products in different sections of Google Shopping.

Unlike traditional Google Shopping advertising, where you pay upfront, with CSS partners in the Daisycon network you only pay commission when a sale is made. This performance-based model incentivises CSS partners to optimise campaigns for results. For more insight, read our blog post on partnering with CSS partners.

What is brand bidding?

Brand bidding is where publishers bid on a company’s brand name in search advertising. For Google Shopping, this would mean authorised resellers bidding directly on a brand name to appear in Shopping ads. However, this is not how the Google Shopping auction works.

Google Shopping does not rely on keyword bidding in the same way as search ads. The auction uses many data points from a merchant’s product feed to match queries to the most relevant products. That means the best match is determined by relevance and feed data, not by bidding on brand terms.

Understanding negative keywords

Negative keywords are a Google Ads functionality that helps campaign managers improve traffic quality by excluding irrelevant searches. For example, if a camera retailer’s ads appear in searches for security cameras, negative keywords like “security” and “surveillance” can prevent that mismatch.

Negative keywords and brand exclusion

Negative keywords can also be used to prevent ads from appearing for searches that include your webshop name (brand) or common misspellings of it. The idea is to avoid paying to reach users who already intend to visit your store directly, and instead focus on incremental reach through Google Shopping.

Negative keyword strategies for advertisers

Brand stores: the dilemma

Brand retailers often ask CSS partners to exclude brand (store) names to reduce costs and ensure incremental growth. However, adding brand terms as negative keywords can also harm performance and in some cases undermine the purpose of working with a CSS partner.

There are scenarios where excluding a brand name can make sense:

• Brand exclusivity: if you are the only seller of a branded product and the brand name is not fully descriptive of the product, excluding the brand name may reduce unnecessary overlap while still keeping relevant reach.
• Webshop name: if your webshop name is unique and well known, excluding it can prevent ads from showing on navigational searches from users who would likely visit you directly anyway.

In both scenarios, Google is likely to continue showing Shopping ads from competitors.

Effects of using branded negative keywords

Once implemented, branded negative keywords prevent Shopping ads from appearing in search results that include those terms. As a result, resellers, competitors, and marketplaces may gain more visibility within the Google Shopping carousel and achieve a more competitive position.

Recommendations for brand retailers

Brand retailers should carefully consider the impact of providing branded negative keywords to CSS partners. Google typically treats a retailer’s CSS campaign as branded, giving priority to the retailer’s own campaigns. Since bid costs cannot increase due to the inability to bid against oneself in the Shopping auction, maintaining branded keywords can be beneficial.

Leveraging CSS for direct traffic

One key benefit of working with CSS partners is driving traffic directly to your website without incurring CPC (cost per click) costs. This keeps customers within your ecommerce ecosystem and away from competitors, giving you more control over the customer experience.

Reseller strategies

As Google Shopping becomes more competitive, shoppers see more offers and become more price-conscious. When resellers use negative keywords, they can unintentionally limit reach and give competitors an advantage.

For resellers, evaluate your negative keyword strategy with these questions:

• What is the market landscape for your products?
• Is there significant competition for your listings?
• Are users likely to find similar products from other resellers?

If competition is high and alternatives are easy to find, overly strict negative keywords may do more harm than good.

Implementing a data-driven negative keyword strategy

Managing negative keywords requires a strategic approach that goes beyond simply excluding traffic on brand terms. That’s where data becomes essential.

• Search term reports: use Google Ads search term reports to identify the queries that triggered impressions.
• Focus on performance: find terms that drive clicks but do not lead to sales, these often indicate irrelevant intent.
• Regular analysis: review performance continuously and refine negative keywords based on what changes over time.

With this approach, you can balance brand protection with reach and performance.

Final recommendations and future outlook

Develop a balanced strategy that fits your business goals when promoting products through Google Shopping. Smart negative keywords focused on product relevance, rather than only brand terms, can improve efficiency while protecting long-term brand strategy.

Overall, the topic of ‘brand bidding’ in Google Shopping is nuanced. Close collaboration between advertisers and CSS partners is key to achieve incremental growth while maintaining a healthy brand approach.

Want to know more? Contact us now. Or read more about Product Listing Ads (PLA) / CSS:

• Partnering with Google CSS partners (3 key takeaways)
• Setting up a successful performance based Google Shopping campaign (tips and tricks)
• The power of good quality product feeds in Online Marketing