• PPC Discussions , Friday, September 26, 2008 3:15 PM

Jeremy Mayes outlines the many ways that competitors can use an AdWords campaign to hijack your brand, and create a negative experience for potential consumers in the process. While bidding on competitor's terms is allowed, deliberately trying to confuse consumers isn't. Still, the onus on calling attention to these kinds of ads and proving that a competitor is being malicious falls squarely on the affected business owner.

Competitors can set up ads touting the wrong price info for a particular product -- ultimately leaving them confused or angry when they get to the real landing page and see the correct price. Another tactic is to include the wrong phone numbers, typos or other grammatical errors in the ad copy, essentially tarnishing a brand's image. Brand-jackers can also craft ads that send clickers to review sites that feature negative info about the company, or even false negative reviews.

"At the present time there's not a whole lot you can do to combat this type of advertising," Mayes says. "At minimum you should contact the paid search platform (AdWords, YSM, adCenter, etc.) and file report. In some cases you may be able to get the ad(s) pulled, especially if they violate a current rule or regulation put in place by the search engines."

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