Help! Competitors have bought my brand keyword – what should I do?
Brand keywords are clearly key to generating quality leads, and cost-effective at that. However, what do you do if you find that a competitor has bought up your branded keywords? (Google and Bing don’t actually ban this practice in PPC advertising, as long as no one uses your trademarked brand name in their copy.) The main point to bear in mind is that you shouldn’t simply ignore the situation in the hope that it will go away. It won’t and you need to take action. To avoid losing business because the potential client has spotted the other brand’s ad first, there are things you can do to turn this around.
Talk to the competitor
Give the other business the chance to put things right in the first instance. They may not realise what they have done, so simply talking to the business may have the desired effect. If you were prepared to take things further, you could even consider taking legal action. Sometimes, just the threat of this can work.
Bid on their own branded keywords
This is another potential option to consider. While bidding on another brand means cost-per-click (CPC) is higher, the associated benefits could make it worthwhile. First of all, research how much traffic your competitors manage based on their branded terms, using a tool such as SEMrush. Also, remember, your ad copy can’t include the trademarked name of any of your competitors.
File a trademark complaint
This one is a possibility if you have trademarked your own brand name. In the UK, you would do this via the Intellectual Property Office.
Own your brand name
It’s true that it may not always seem a great idea to bid on your own branded keywords. However, this is actually one excellent way of safeguarding the name of your brand and clawing back some of the clicks you may have lost due to a competitor’s adds showing up below your brand keywords. In fact, this puts you in charge of the messaging and enables you to devise varied ads whose effectiveness you can test.
Talk to us at Front Page Advantage
Give us a call if you want to discuss this in more detail, or if you have found a competitor has bought your branded keywords. We have the expertise and experience to help you find a way forward – get in touch with us today.