Is bidding on competitors’ branded keywords common?
Yes.
Is bidding on competitors' branded keywords legit?
Yes.
Is bidding from competitors on your branded keywords bad for your business?
It really depends on the specific situation. This type of aggressive bidding certainly increases the exposure of your clients and prospective clients towards the products and services of your competitors. The main question however is whether this exposure will lead them to change the vendor and hence, the answer really depends on the quality of the offering.
What is the best response to competitors’ bidding on your branded keywords?
The best thing you can do under these circumstances is to try to understand the situation. Explore the competitor’s offering and use a very critical approach to compare it to the offering of your company. Maybe there is actually something you can take leverage from the competitor’s take in order to perfect your own product / service.
In case you are operating in a setting dominated by impulsive buying behaviours, starting to run ads or increasing budgets for ads on your own branded keywords might be recommended as it will ensure these users land on your website first. In case a more thorough decision making process is followed in your particular market segment, the key question relates to the extent to which your competitor’s offering is more attractive than yours.
Finally, you can definitely limit the scope for brand infringement through trademark registering and brand monitoring. A registered trademark for your brand prevents anyone from using the brand name in the text of the advertisement, weakening the strength of the ad itself.
Summary
Overall, there’s no need to go into a full panic mode just because a competitor started bidding on your branded keywords. The silver lining is that it is a clear signal that your competitor believes that you have achieved a strong product-market fit and that your brand is extremely popular within the target segment. The best case is that a cheap trick like this will not confuse your current nor prospective customers as they would see the superior quality you offer, and hence, the only outcome will be your competitor wasting their advertising budget. Timely trademark registration is however a key precondition to prevent any infringing content from appearing in competitors’ advertisements.
Should you wish to explore your legal options, you can use the Report Brand Infringement feature provided by Trama, allowing you to gain free assessment and expert recommendations.
