• StraightUpSearch, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:30 PM

AdWords allows companies to bid on their competitor's branded keywords, and a number of companies (most notably the American Blinds & Wallpaper Co. and American Airlines) have either sued Google or their competitors for doing so.

But OneUpWeb's Vern argues that marketers shouldn't just shy away from bidding on others' trademarked terms for fear of legal liability. "It's a waste of money!" Vern says. "When someone searches 'American Airlines' in Google are they likely to click on an ad for Southwest Airlines? I argue - NO! Southwest Airlines is not what the searcher is looking for, so why on earth would they click on a Southwest ad?"

Vern says that OneUpWeb tested the tactic, and found that CTRs tended to be low and conversions nonexistent--so clients were essentially paying for worthless traffic.

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