Our client’s brand name was in a competitor’s Google ad. I saw it in the search results before I saw it in the reports.
The client sells software for the oil and gas industry. The advertiser was a direct competitor with the same pricing, using the name of a business that had been around since 1986.
The client was reluctant to buy clicks on its own name. People searching for that brand already had a company in mind. Paying to reach them felt like spending again on demand the business had already earned.
We had a $10,000 account budget and a $10 CPC ceiling. Any spending on brand protection had to fit within those limits.
We helped the client file a trademark complaint and launched a brand Search campaign that same week.
Why the client questioned branded spend
The client’s budget
The concern was the branded click itself. Someone had already typed the company’s name into Google, and we were asking the client to pay to reach that person.
With a fixed account budget, branded clicks also leave less money for other searches. A protection campaign needed a reason to take that share of spend.
The competitor’s ad
The competitor’s ad supplied that reason. Its message carried our client’s name while promoting a competing product to the same market.
The pricing was the same, too. A buyer searching for the client could see another offer carrying that familiar name. Leaving the paid space to the competitor meant accepting its presence on searches closely tied to our client.
I wanted the client’s own message in those results, with a clear spending limit.
Filing the complaint while the campaign went live
The complaint concerned the trademark appearing in the ad text. We helped the client submit it to Google and worked on the protection campaign in the same week.
The 2 actions addressed the trademark use and the paid search placement separately. The complaint could challenge the rival’s wording; the campaign could put our client’s ad back in front of branded searches.
Trademark complaint
What the complaint can change
Google’s trademark policy allows complaints about a direct competitor using a trademark in an ad. The complaint concerns specific advertisers and the countries and industries where the owner can demonstrate trademark rights.
Google does not restrict trademarks simply being used as keywords. An advertiser can therefore continue bidding on a branded search even when its ad cannot use that trademark. A complaint does not reserve the auction for the brand owner.
Brand Search campaign
How the campaign addressed visibility
The Search campaign gave our client a way to appear with its own message while the trademark issue followed its separate process.
Keeping the $10 CPC cap
The $10,000 covered the account as a whole. The brand campaign had to fit within that budget, and $10 was the ceiling on cost per click.
I would assess the cost of a branded click against the resulting conversion action and the budget available for the campaign.
We kept the protection campaign tightly controlled within the account’s spending constraints.
Search terms
For a campaign like this, I would check which searches receive spend and whether they relate closely enough to the brand. Those checks help keep the campaign focused on the demand it is supposed to protect.
Separate brand reporting
I would also report brand performance separately. People searching for the brand may already be close to buying. Blending their conversions into non-brand totals makes it harder to judge how well the account is reaching new buyers.
The review should keep the CPC cap, spend and recorded conversion actions visible together.
What the campaign produced
Campaign performance
The client regained space in the paid search results. The campaign also delivered some of the most efficient primary conversions in the account, which gave us a commercial reason to keep it.
Competitor click costs
The rival had more competition for those searches. Any increase in its CPC remains an inference. Our campaign’s spending and recorded conversions were the results we could use to judge the decision.
Those conversions gave us something concrete to evaluate when deciding whether branded spend deserved part of the budget.
What primary conversions measure
A primary conversion is an action used in campaign conversion reporting and bidding when the relevant standard goal is selected. Its commercial value depends on what that action represents. A form submission and a completed sale need different judgments.
Some of those buyers might have reached the client through an organic result. Efficient branded conversions are useful evidence, but they do not establish that every recorded conversion was additional.
The checks I would keep running
After this engagement, we began treating competitor use of a client’s name as a reason to respond with brand protection. We expected to address it whenever it appeared.
I would keep reviewing the campaign while it ran. The competitor’s presence and the cost of defending those searches can change.
0/3 reviewed
I’d look at the search results again. Is the rival still appearing, and does the client’s trademark remain in its ad text? An ad appearing on a branded search without using the name needs a different trademark assessment.
In the account, I’d review spend and the actions counted as conversions. A low conversion cost is useful when the action being counted has value for the client. That definition deserves as much attention as the CPC.
I’d also compare the brand campaign’s share of budget with the other work the account needs to fund. Its continued spend needs a commercial reason, even while the competitor remains active.
When the competitor changes its advertising, revisit the campaign’s scope and spending.
Where brand protection fits in our account work
The client’s objection put a useful constraint on the response: we had to justify paying for branded traffic from a fixed budget.
The competitor was already paying to appear for the brand. Refusing to buy branded clicks would leave that ad competing for the attention of people looking for our client.
Running the protection campaign let us respond in the search results while pursuing the complaint separately. We could then assess branded spend through the campaign’s own performance.
When a direct competitor uses a client’s name in its ad, I check the trademark issue and put a controlled brand campaign into the response. I keep its spending and conversions visible in the account review.
For this client, we regained paid visibility and recorded some of the account’s most efficient primary conversions with the $10 CPC ceiling still in place.
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