Paid Search Brand Defense ROI Calculator

Decide if defending your brand terms in paid search is worth the spend. Enter impressions, ad engagement, CPC, conversion rate, order value, and your estimated organic replacement rate to surface incremental conversions, revenue protected, cost-per-acquisition, breakeven CPC, and ROI after cannibalization.

Search impressions for your brand keywords.
Percent of branded impressions that click your ad.
Blended CPC across branded ad groups.
Percent of branded clicks that convert.
Optional. Defaults to $75 if left blank.
Optional. Defaults to 40% of conversions replacing via organic if left blank.

Blend these results with attribution reporting to validate incremental performance before scaling budgets.

Examples

  • 220,000 impressions, 28% CTR, $1.85 CPC, 6.5% conversion rate, $95 AOV, 40% replacement → Protected conversions 2,402; Incremental revenue $228,190.00; CPA $28.46; Breakeven CPC $3.70; ROI 100.27%.
  • 90,000 impressions, 22% CTR, $3.50 CPC, 4.8% conversion rate, $120 AOV, 55% replacement → Protected conversions 428; Incremental revenue $23,011.20; CPA $72.92; Breakeven CPC $2.59; ROI -25.94%.

FAQ

How should I pick an organic replacement rate?

Review brand search lift studies or analytics holdouts to estimate what portion of conversions land organically when ads are paused.

Can I include lifetime value instead of order value?

Yes—swap in LTV for the average order value input to evaluate ROI on a customer basis and see how customer value shifts the breakeven CPC.

What if my ROI shows negative?

Reduce bids or tighten match types until the breakeven CPC exceeds your actual CPC, or reconsider running ads on low-value brand terms.

How can I account for assisted conversions?

Increase the organic replacement percentage if assisted conversions normally close without paid ads, or run a controlled holdout to refine the input.

Additional Information

  • Organic replacement estimates how many conversions you would retain without paid coverage.
  • Breakeven CPC multiplies conversion rate, incremental share, and order value to show the maximum efficient bid.
  • ROI treats incremental revenue less spend as the numerator, highlighting whether defending the term pays back cash.
  • Incremental revenue multiplies protected conversions by order value so you can compare ad spend to sales protected from competitors.

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