By Max St John
Until recently, if another company used your trademarked term to trigger an AdWords ad, those keywords would be disabled and the advertiser might be on subject to a complaints procedure.
Google's recent announcement that from 5 May keyword bidding on trademarks will no longer be restricted in the UK and Ireland spells the end of this and has drawn mixed reactions.
Creating a hole in your defences?
Some brands and agencies are up in arms, claiming it will mean higher costs fighting back against other companies advertising products and services on the back of their own keywords and losing a proportion of their paid-search traffic.
Backing this up, Search Analysts at Hitwise point to the stats showing that while in the UK 91% of brand searches ended up on the brand owners' websites, in the US, where trademark bidding has been allowed since 2004, this figure was only 84%.
Offering a golden opportunity?
Trademark bidding is a game anyone can play, so should brands really be worried or should they see this as a golden opportunity?
For the shrewd marketers out there, this is the chance to put together some cleverly targeted campaigns and win over potential customers who could have been heading for the competition.
Any company knows the brands and products they’re up against, so careful keyword research to spot what people are actually searching for and creating persuasive ads that attract their attention could be an opportunity not to be missed.
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