How to Prevent PPC Cannibalization in Supplements

The Hidden Problem: PPC Cannibalization

You're running profitable PPC campaigns. Your organic ranking is strong. Everything seems fine, until you realize something troubling:

A significant portion of your PPC sales would have happened organically anyway.

This is PPC cannibalization, and in the supplements category, it's more common than most brands realize.

What Is Cannibalization?

Cannibalization occurs when your sponsored ads capture sales that your organic listing would have received anyway. You're essentially paying for sales you would have gotten for free.

The signs:

• High ACOS on branded keywords
• Strong organic ranking but still paying for top-of-search ads
• No incremental sales growth when scaling PPC

Why It's Worse in Supplements

The supplements category has unique characteristics that make cannibalization more prevalent:

1. High brand loyalty: Repeat customers often search for your brand directly
2. Strong organic rankings: If you rank #1-3 organically, sponsored ads may be redundant
3. High CPCs: Every cannibalized click is expensive

How to Identify Cannibalization

Test 1: The Pause Test

For keywords where you rank organically in positions 1-3:

1. Pause your sponsored ads for those keywords
2. Monitor organic sales for 2 weeks
3. If organic sales increase or remain stable, you were cannibalizing

Test 2: Search Term Analysis

Review your search term reports:

• Look for branded search terms with high spend
• Check if those terms also drive organic sales
• Calculate the true incrementality

Test 3: Placement Analysis

Analyze performance by placement:

• If top-of-search has similar CVR to organic but higher ACOS, cannibalization is likely
• If rest-of-search performs better, your organic position may be covering top-of-search

The Anti-Cannibalization Architecture

Layer 1: Ranking Keywords

For keywords where you're actively building rank:

• Aggressive bidding to win placements
• Accept higher ACOS in exchange for ranking momentum
• Full campaign investment

Layer 2: Defensive Keywords

For keywords where you already rank well:

• Lower bids to reduce cannibalization
• Focus on placements where organic doesn't appear (product pages, rest of search)
• Consider exact match negatives for redundant terms

Layer 3: Branded Keywords

For your own brand terms:

• Minimal bidding, just enough to prevent competitor conquesting
• Ultra-low ACOS targets
• Consider pausing entirely if no competitors are bidding

Layer 4: Conquest Keywords

For competitor brand terms:

• Aggressive bidding (if profitable)
• These are 100% incremental by definition
• Prioritize if ACOS is acceptable

Implementation Steps

1. Audit your current structure: Identify which keywords fall into each layer
2. Segment your campaigns: Create separate campaigns for each layer
3. Set layer-specific targets: Different ACOS goals for each layer
4. Monitor incrementality: Regularly test to ensure you're not over-investing

The Result

Brands that implement anti-cannibalization architecture typically see:

• 15-25% reduction in wasted spend
• Improved true ROAS (accounting for organic impact)
• Healthier overall profitability

Key Takeaway

Not all PPC spend is created equal. Some sales are truly incremental; others would have happened regardless. The key to profitable growth is understanding the difference and structuring your campaigns accordingly.