Brand Breakdown Part 3: KiwiCo (Google Suite)
Brand Breakdown

Brand Breakdown Part 3: KiwiCo (Google Suite)

June 25, 2022

Pilothouse Team

We know KiwiCo are science experts, but did you also know they’re Google experts too?

A quick Google search for the brand leaves you swimming in a sea of KiwiCo – that’s right, ONLY KiwiCo. 🏆

Now we know what you’re thinking. What about the paid ad space? Not a competitor in sight. The ad space is populated with KiwiCo’s own ads that maximize your screen real estate. They’ve got your full attention.

Let’s take a look at what’s seen when we type “KiwiCo” into our browser…

  • Top result for ads?
  • Top result for organic search?
  • No competitors for shopping?

Yes, yes, and yes. ✅

KiwiCo has hustled to win their top spots, and it shows. They’re also in a fortunate position where their competitors don’t bid (or aren’t bidding high enough) on their branded terms.

They’ve got search maximization on lock. 🔒

🌎 Location and extension discrepancy

KiwiCo primarily serves American traffic (66% according to the Pilothouse Google Team’s analysis) but that doesn’t mean they have to neglect the others.

It’s no secret that extensions on Google Ads are an invaluable tool. They’re free, take up more real estate (putting more eyeballs on your content 👀), and allow you to strut your stuff to potential customers.

Here’s what potential American customers will see when searching for the brand:

Here’s what us Canadian folk are seeing up in the north:

Spot the difference? 🕵️‍♀️

  • The American ad takes up more space, has double the amount of sidelink extensions, and utilizes callout extensions!

Callout extensions allow the insertion of up to four quick snippets of text (maximum 25 characters) about your brand’s unique selling points (USPs) and other goodies you’ve got to offer. We’re looking at you, discount codes!

Of course, KiwiCo focuses mostly on American browsers because American shoppers account for the majority of their traffic.

Pilothouse pro tips:

  • KiwiCo should start focusing on building up extensions in other countries. Why not show new customers everything you have to offer, upfront!
  • Utilize the extensions (which are free) to bulk up non-American ads. The more information you insert, the more screen real estate you own!

This should help KiwiCo get more traction and engagement on branded ads and build their account’s learnings for prospecting in other markets.

💻 Traffic/website

There’s nothing better than watching your brand CRUSH SEO, and KiwiCo’s got to enjoy that feeling since Q1 2017.


Their steady organic growth has them climbing the ranks to 385k monthly viewers.

But, organic is not their only source of growth. Check out their scale on paid traffic: 👇

Their top organic keyword rankings are majority branded, but they rank high on a few terms for services they provide, such as “science subscription box”.

KiwiCo’s website is very well-constructed, with additional social proof that fits with the overall aesthetic of their site.

When ordering and customizing your subscription box, you’re greeted with some super cute (and super simple to implement) personalization.

We really love this. And not just ‘cause it’s got our name on it. 🤷‍♀️

🔑 Prospecting ads and keyword insertion

If you’re searching for KiwiCo’s brand name directly, you can’t miss ‘em.

However, if you weren’t familiar with the brand and searched for “science kits” or “science kits for kids”, you’d be scrolling for a while before you found them. These specific searches don’t show until the second page of results.

To combat this, KiwiCo makes up for not having an overarching presence in prospecting organic searches by having a strong ad presence.

KiwiCo:

  • Consistently bids alongside their competitors.
  • Makes sure the content shown is engaging enough to spark curiosity in shoppers.  
  • Utilizes the full suite of Google extensions to scoop up that sweet (suite?) online real estate.

Due to their lower organic rankings, KiwiCo should continue to utilize the entire suite of extensions and perhaps consider bulking them up in other countries outside of America.

We’ve seen how KiwiCo conquers some lower rankings for high traffic searches, now onto terms that have them rising to the top of the lists! 👇

KiwiCo ranks 5th in organic position for “baby toy subscription”, high enough to keep you on the first page of Google. This term has 1.6k monthly searches, so they’ve got 1.6k attempts each month at getting their ads in front of a prospective searcher.

Ranking for baby products is also a great way to get parents as KiwiCo customers for years to come!

However, when we search for this term, there’s some clear competition here–no longer do they appear on our Shopping list (no pun intended)!

They’re not the first ranked ad (or shown in Shopping), but KiwiCo has a clear advantage…their price points start well below the competitor's featured products. What baby needs a $120 toy kit?!  

KiwiCo’s cheaper prices for the same product category should get savvy customers clicking on their ad, leading to lower overall cost-per-clicks.

🎨 Creative Suite

Try as we might, the Pilothouse Google Team couldn’t get targeted or retargeted on YouTube videos for KiwiCo. With such hands-on kinetic products, video would be the perfect medium for KiwiCo to flex their artistic side. They’ve got a great opportunity here to expand their advertising funnels with some targeted videos.


We may not have found KiwiCo YouTube ads, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t find them on the platform. Catch ‘ya next week for Part 4 of our KiwiCo Brand Breakdown - YouTube! 👋

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