Competitor is outbidding me on my own brand name, what do I do?

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craftgenius

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So someone is bidding on my brand name on Google Ads. Checked it myself, searched my store name and their ad is showing above mine.
Worst part is my own brand keyword CPC has gone from $0.40 to $1.80 in last 2 weeks. Pretty sure its them pushing it up.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can actually do or just have to keep outbidding them forever?
 
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Bidding on a brand name is a pretty shady tactic, it's not uncommon though. What I've seen is that it can indeed drive up CPC costs, especially if the competitor is willing to overspend. One approach is to try and negotiate with the competitor, but that rarely works out. A more effective strategy is to focus on optimizing your own Google Ads campaigns, improve your quality score, and make sure your landing page is highly relevant to the search query, this can help you get better ad positions at a lower cost. It's also worth considering trademarking your brand name and reporting the issue to Google, they may be able to take action against the competitor.
 
I'd definitely bid on my own brand names too. Even if it feels unnecessary, competitors taking those clicks can hurt both conversions and trust.
 
This happens more often than people think. Competitors can legally bid on your brand keywords in Google Ads, though they can’t use your trademarked name in their ad copy. The CPC spike you’re seeing is likely due to them entering the auction. You don’t have to endlessly outbid, you can tighten match types, improve quality score with highly relevant ad copy and landing pages, and file a trademark complaint if they’re misusing your brand name in the text.

In practice, most businesses keep bidding on their own brand terms because it protects visibility, but the key is optimising your ads so you pay less per click than they do.
 
To combat them without overpaying, your best leverage is still Quality Score. Because your website is the actual brand, your relevance score will be a 10/10, meaning your actual CPC to hold the top spot will always be significantly cheaper than what they are being forced to pay to steal your traffic. Finally, don't get into a blind bidding war. Try setting up an Auction Insights report to see who it is, and consider a target impression share bidding strategy to protect your top spot dynamically.
 
Run your own brand campaign with exact match only and very high ad relevance
Usually you can still beat them with better Quality Score, not just higher bids


And if they use your trademark in ad copy, report it to Google
Google wont stop keyword bidding, but they can restrict trademark usage in ads
 
Happens all the time sadly. First thing, make sure your own brand campaign has high QS with exact match + strong ad copy, usually you can still outrank them cheaper. Also check if they’re using your trademark in the ad text itself, if yes you can file a Google trademark complaint.
 
You're definitely getting targeted, and unfortunately, you're pretty much stuck in a bidding war unless you can get google to intervene, or just accept the higher cpc and try to outmaneuver them with killer ad copy and landing pages
 
craftgenius said:
So someone is bidding on my brand name on Google Ads. Checked it myself, searched my store name and their ad is showing above mine.
Worst part is my own brand keyword CPC has gone from $0.40 to $1.80 in last 2 weeks. Pretty sure its them pushing it up.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can actually do or just have to keep outbidding them forever?
Click to expand...
Sadly this happens a lot once a brand start getting searches. I'd still keep bidding on your own brand terms because losing those clicks usually costs more than the higher CPC in the long run.
 
Honestly, competitors bidding on your name is allowed in Google Ads in most cases. The only real issue is if they pretend to be your business or misuse your trademark. I’d focus on protecting conversions instead of trying to win every click.
 
Yeah happens all the time once a brand starts getting searches.
First thing I’d do is improve your own brand campaign quality score and make sure your ad relevance/CTR is strong, usually you can still outrank them cheaper.
Also check if they’re using your trademark in ad copy, Google may remove that part if reported.
But honestly some competitors will keep bidding no matter what, so it becomes a long game.
 
super annoying and not much you can do, happened to me as well and the worst thing is dumb customers who then turn to me if there is any problem lol :D
 
Yeah, happens all the time. First, make sure you’re running a solid exact match + branded campaigns so your ads stay relevant. You can’t stop them bidding, but you can lower CPC impact with high Quality Score and ad extensions. Legal angle exists if it’s literally your trademark, but most just outbid and focus on conversion efficiency instead.
 
craftgenius said:
So someone is bidding on my brand name on Google Ads. Checked it myself, searched my store name and their ad is showing above mine.
Worst part is my own brand keyword CPC has gone from $0.40 to $1.80 in last 2 weeks. Pretty sure its them pushing it up.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can actually do or just have to keep outbidding them forever?
Click to expand...
You should optimize your landing page to reduce bidding costs and continue competing with them if the branded keyword delivers a high conversion rate. You should also verify your copyrighted content and confirm your legitimate brand ownership.
 
craftgenius said:
So someone is bidding on my brand name on Google Ads. Checked it myself, searched my store name and their ad is showing above mine.
Worst part is my own brand keyword CPC has gone from $0.40 to $1.80 in last 2 weeks. Pretty sure its them pushing it up.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can actually do or just have to keep outbidding them forever?
Click to expand...
You need to keep outbidding
 
Yeah this happens all the time. You can’t really stop them, just gotta keep your brand bids strong and maybe add exact match + long tail variations.
Also make sure your landing and ad quality is top notch so Google favors you a bit more.
 
Trademark your brand with you national authority......send the papers to Google and ask them to disable your competitor ad for trademark infringement....if G refuses sue the competitor for trademark infringement.
 
Unfortunately, this happens a lot with branded keywords, especially in competitive niches. You usually can't stop someone from bidding on your brand name unless they're using your trademark inside the ad copy itself, in which case you can file a Google trademark complaint. The best move is normally to improve your own Quality Score, run a dedicated branded campaign and strengthen organic rankings so you're not forced into a bidding war forever.
 
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