Michael Epps Utley 
Control over branded search is one of the most powerful business assets.
Your brand name, terms, key messages, and unique selling points should be yours alone to use to promote your business online. In paid search, they should be your safe haven.
However, in today’s competitive Google Ads environment, protecting your brand is becoming necessary.
This guide explains how to guard your brand in search engine marketing.
What Is Brand Protection?
Brand protection keeps you in control of your brand assets when competitors, resellers, and affiliates try to exploit them for gain in paid search. Some examples of this include:
Keyword bidding: Bad actors bid up your brand terms, which will make your ads more expensive or cause them to drop in search results.
Trademark misuse: Competitors and others use your brand name or trademarks in their ads, which can mislead consumers and divert traffic to their sites.
Brand protection guards against these issues. It helps you maintain control over your organization’s digital presence and reputation by:
Keeping your brand prominent on search engines
Protecting brand equity
Ensuring consumers find you when they want to
Why Protecting Your Digital Brand Matters
Brand protection is rapidly becoming a central component of paid search. It safeguards your brand from competitors, affiliates, and resellers trying to capitalize on your brand equity, which could damage its reputation and increase your marketing costs. Some potential impacts include:
Trademark infringement. This can divert a significant percentage of clickshare to competitors. Put simply, they’re stealing clicks that should be yours.
Sales funnel harm. This can cause a single point of failure that could negatively impact your marketing investment if rivals steal demand.
Lost customers. Even a single lost customer can result in thousands of dollars in lost sales over the customer’s lifetime.
Impacts of Affiliate Ad Hijacking
Affiliate ad hijacking happens when affiliates develop fake ads that look similar to yours. They use your brand name when targeting relevant search queries. Traffic is then sent to your website using UTM parameters. This gives them credit for the sale, even though the customer lands on your site. Essentially, they steal commissions from you.
Paid search ad hijacking can be a significant issue for businesses, resulting in several risks and consequences, such as:
Wasted ad spend and poorer performance. Ad hijackers can outbid you on brand keywords, forcing you to pay more to appear prominently in search results for your brand name. Or you could end up falling lower in the results. This wastes advertising budget and lowers the effectiveness of campaigns.
Brand harm. Hijackers often use misleading ad copy when impersonating brands. This typically confuses buyers and could damage your brand reputation.
Channel conflict. If unauthorized affiliates hijack your brand terms, it can create conflict with other marketing channels. Consumers may receive mixed messages and have a poor, disconnected experience, harming your coordinated marketing efforts.
Lower click-through rates (CTRs). Hijackers often use tactics to make their ads seem more appealing than authentic branded ones, resulting in lower CTRs for legitimate ads.
Reduced brand trust. Ongoing exposure to hijacked ads can make consumers nervous about clicking on legitimate ads in the future, negatively impacting brand trust.
How to Protect Your Brand From Ad Hijacking
Here are our top tactics to prevent harm from ad hijacking.
Claim your space. Agree to codes of conduct that specify the terms partners can bid on and how you want your brand to be represented in search ads. Define terms your brand doesn’t want to be associated with. Come up with a list of alternative terms, so you’re not competing with ad hijackers for the same clicks.
Don’t overpay. Double-check that you’re only paying for traffic you wouldn’t earn otherwise. In other words, ensure search engines aren’t jacking up rates because of bogus competition.
Protect Your Brand From Paid Search Trademark Infringement
Trademark infringement in paid search occurs when another advertiser uses your legally protected trademarks in ways that could confuse consumers about the entity providing the product or service.
In paid search, infringement can happen when a bad actor uses your trademark in the following ways:
Bidding on your brand terms. In this case, they use your brand name and associated keywords in their search ad campaigns. Even though some search platforms allow bidding on competitor names for legitimate comparative brand campaigns, it shouldn’t be done to mislead customers.
Trademark references in ad copy. Other companies might include your trademark in their ad copy, attempting to create the (wrong) impression that their product or service is related to yours.
Laws related to trademark infringement vary depending on location. However, most search engines have policies to prevent advertisers from misleading users by misusing trademarks.
Impacts of Paid Search Trademark Infringement
Infringement can be risky for the brand being infringed and the infringer.
Legal problems. Trademark infringement is a serious offense. If another advertiser misuses your trademark, you can take legal action, which could result in significant financial penalties. They will also be forced to stop misusing your trademark.
Brand harm. Confusion from trademark infringement can negatively impact your brand's perception. Consumers who click on misleading ads could end up feeling deceived, potentially harming your brand's trust.
Negative customer perception. Even if you are the victim of brand infringement, it could harm your brand. Simply being associated with something like brand infringement can sully your company’s image to prospective customers.
How to Protect Your Brand From Trademark Infringement
Search for your branded terms regularly. Look out for potential trademark infringement issues. If you find any, report them to Google immediately so it can be stopped. Also, speak with your legal counsel to find out whether it makes sense to sue the company for taking advantage of your brand. If conditions are right, you could end up collecting a significant payout.
Protecting Your Brand: The Final Word
Protecting your brand in paid search may seem time-consuming and tedious. However, can you afford not to put in the time and effort to do so? Any episode of brand hijacking or online trademark infringement could negatively impact your brand reputation, website traffic, sales, and revenue. A small investment in brand protection could help prevent significant business harm.
