A more politically correct naming would be “Developing a Shared Keyword Strategy,” based on feedback from Center of Excellence clients as the mere mention of arbitration makes it sound defensive and punitive.
Large organizations with multiple business units (BUs), verticals, and product segments run parallel paid and organic search efforts, often without coordination. This fragmented approach results in inefficient budget allocation, internal competition, and a confusing search experience for users. A shared keyword strategy brings cohesion by aligning keyword ownership, intent, and campaign execution to serve both the searcher and the business more effectively.
The Problem: Competing with Ourselves
Most enterprise search programs suffer from keyword fragmentation caused by internal silos. Common symptoms include:
- Internal Competition: Google only allows one ad from a single root domain per keyword. When multiple segments bid on the same term, costs escalate, and only one message is shown.
- Budget Misalignment: Keyword allocation often follows historical or proportional budgeting, not business priorities or opportunity size.
- Broad Match Blowback: Excessive use of broad match spreads keyword exposure across irrelevant terms and segments.
- Inconsistent Messaging: Different offers and creatives appear at different times, leading to message fragmentation.
- Missed Organic Opportunities: Low-quality or non-optimized pages often rank for high-value search terms.
- Budget Depletion Issues: Some BUs lack the funds to compete in high-volume areas, leaving valuable demand untapped.
Real-World Examples
- Intel discovered 35% of its PPC budget was cannibalizing itself, costing tens of millions in waste.
- A global travel brand found four of its portfolio companies bidding against each other for the same terms, artificially inflating CPCs by 200x.
- A Fortune 50 B2B company noted a decline in user satisfaction when BU-specific campaigns failed to represent the broader product suite.
- A consumer electronics brand missed $25M in sales opportunities due to misaligned keyword targeting and a lack of content strategy coordination.
Strategic Solution: Unified Keyword Planning
I developed this approach 25 years ago at IBM, dealing with the problem of cannibalization and content fights across verticals and business units. Our paid search agency had no method or any desire to manage this problem, resulting in significant keyword and budget cannibalization. In the end I had a desktop under my desk where I managed tens of millions of keywords and their associated data and before any campaign changes, we validated ownership in this application.
Step 1: Aggregate and Audit
- Merge all PPC and SEO keywords into a centralized database.
- Identify overlap, gaps, and opportunities for consolidation.
- Analyze performance by keyword, intent, and alignment with business objectives.
Step 2: Intent-Led Allocation
- Categorize keywords by Searcher Intent (awareness, consideration, conversion).
- Allocate based on what the customer needs, not internal structure.
- Consider shared ownership models for keywords with ambiguous or broad intent.
- Ensure proper tracking and end-to-end metrics to monitor performance across segments.
Step 3: Governance and Arbitration
Establish a repeatable Duplicate Keyword Review Process:
- Option 1: Collaborate across BUs to combine campaigns or drop redundant bids.
- Option 2: Develop centralized or hybrid landing pages with segmentation pathways (e.g., “Consumer or Business?”).
- Option 3: Use scoring criteria to determine keyword ownership based on ROI, engagement, and business need.
Sample Keyword Segments
| Segment Type | Description | Owner | Goal |
| Brand | Company name + variations | Corporate | AlwaysOn, visibility & control |
| Brand + Product Category | Dell Laptops | Shared | Hybrid ROI & engagement |
| Product | Model-specific | Product BU | Conversions |
| Generic | High-volume, unbranded | Central or shared | Awareness |
| Conversion | Buyer-intent keywords | Closest sales-driving BU | ROI-focused |
Operational Tactics
- Central Landing Pages: Offer users self-segmentation options (e.g., “Looking for business solutions?”) and measure outcomes.
- Shared Metrics & Governance: Align agency and BU teams to optimize toward company-wide goals, not just segment performance.
- Creative Rotation Testing: Leverage a shared management account to rotate messages and measure best-performing combinations.
- Avoid Broad Match Overuse: Tighter match types reduce overlap, irrelevant clicks, and CPC inflation.
Special Considerations
- Google Ad Rules: Only one ad per domain per keyword. Avoid internal competition.
- Geo & Language Nuances: Multilingual and regional campaigns require additional coordination.
- Google Sitelinks: High-quality score keywords may benefit from sitelinks to route searchers effectively.
- SEO Synergy: Score preferred landing pages based on content quality, link equity, and conversion effectiveness.
Conclusion
A shared keyword strategy is not just about reducing waste or restricting business units or brands, but maximizing opportunity. Organizations can present a unified, effective, and efficient presence in search by coordinating across teams, aligning with intent, and structuring campaigns around business value rather than internal boundaries. It’s time to stop competing with ourselves and start optimizing as one organization.
