Demand Gen undercuts costly competitor clicks
Advertisers chasing competitors on search are paying a steep premium for the privilege. As Sarah Vlietstra recently argued in Search Engine Land, people who type a rival brand into Google are often at the end of their buying journey, which makes a bid on that brand little more than a detour and an expensive one at that. Her piece outlines two lower-cost alternatives that deserve a place in every marketer’s playbook: Demand Gen campaigns and negative-intent conquesting. See the original analysis by Sarah Vlietstra on Search Engine Land. (https://searchengineland.com/competitor-traffic-demand-gen-negative-intent-conquesting-481004)
Why the timing problem matters
The problem is timing and intent. Bidding on a competitor’s brand reaches users who have usually already narrowed their options. That means cost-per-clicks that are high and limited scalability. By contrast, Demand Gen and negative-intent approaches aim to intercept potential customers earlier or at moments of reconsideration, when persuasion is still possible and acquisition costs are often lower.
Demand Gen: reach competitor-aware audiences earlier and cheaper
Demand Gen campaigns combine precise audience targeting with creative assets to build demand among users who may not yet know your brand. Two targeting levers are essential: custom segments and lookalike audiences. Custom segments let advertisers reach people who have searched for specific terms on Google or who show intent signals and interests related to your sector. In practice, that means you can target users who have demonstrated interest in competitors without paying the premium of brand-search clicks.
This is not guesswork. If you are unsure which competitors to include, run a simple Google search for your product and see who appears. Those are the businesses you are competing with and the audiences you can reach across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. Google’s documentation on Demand Gen campaigns offers practical setup guidance and best practices for segmenting audiences and designing creatives.
Conquesting creatives and landing pages
Getting the impressions is only half the job. For Demand Gen to convert, creatives must be on point and the landing experience must validate the promise in the ad. Conquesting landing pages should highlight key differentiators, social proof, and a clear call to action. This is familiar digital marketing hygiene, but it is often neglected when teams move quickly from search to display or video formats.
Negative-intent conquesting: exploit competitor weaknesses, not just names
Not every advertiser has high-quality video or image assets for Demand Gen. For those teams, negative-intent conquesting on the search network is a practical alternative. Instead of bidding on the competitor brand itself, you bid on search terms that reveal dissatisfaction or comparison intent, such as “companies like X” or “cheaper than X.” These queries frequently appear in the consideration phase and can be more affordable and fruitful than direct brand bids.
Target pain points with surgical precision
The strength of negative-intent campaigns is the ability to target specific pain points. If a rival has a reputation for poor customer service, consider building a single ad group around variations of that complaint, then use ad copy to demonstrate how your service addresses that weakness. Be careful with trademark rules and avoid naming competitors in ad text where policy prohibits it. Pair these keyword tactics with a custom audience so you can follow users across Google’s networks and reinforce the message.
Practical steps for Irish and regional advertisers
1. Audit competitor search results. Use a simple Google search for your product and note the recurring names and ad behaviors. These are the competitors to include in custom segments.
2. Prioritise creative investment. If you can produce short, targeted video or rich image assets, Demand Gen will usually deliver a better cost-per-acquisition than aggressive brand bids. Guidance on creative formats and specs is available from Google Ads and industry partners.
3. Build targeted landing pages. Whether you use Demand Gen or negative-intent keywords, the landing page must validate the claim in the ad and present a clear, differentiating offer.
4. Test negative-intent keywords at small scale. Start with a single ad group focused on one competitor pain point, measure intent and conversion, then scale the winners.
5. Monitor legality and policy. Trademark and advertising rules vary between jurisdictions. If you operate in multiple markets around Europe, check local advertising rules and platform policies before running large-scale conquesting campaigns.
What this means for budgets and strategy
The practical implication is that marketers should think more like investors. Chasing competitor brand terms is a defensive, high-cost tactic that inflates acquisition numbers without guaranteeing margin. Demand Gen and negative-intent conquesting are offensive plays that can capture audiences earlier or when they are actively reassessing options, often at a substantially lower cost. For resource-constrained teams, prioritising audience design, testing a handful of negative-intent themes, and investing in a single well-crafted landing page will deliver more predictable returns than broad brand bidding.
Final take
Vlietstra’s analysis is a useful reminder that the most obvious search tactic is not always the smartest. Irish advertisers, and those operating across the UK and EU, should adopt a more nuanced approach to competitor audiences: intercept earlier with Demand Gen where possible, and use negative-intent search to target reconsiderers. Both approaches demand better creative and landing-page discipline, but they offer a clearer path to scale and improved ROI than relying solely on expensive brand bids.
Sources and further reading
Sarah Vlietstra, Search Engine Land: Competitor traffic, Demand Gen, and negative-intent conquesting. (https://searchengineland.com/competitor-traffic-demand-gen-negative-intent-conquesting-481004)
Google Ads documentation on Demand Gen campaigns. (https://support.google.com/google-ads)
Semrush analytics for paid-search competitive intelligence. (https://www.semrush.com)
