Advertising
What do you do when a competitor is bidding on your brand name in Google Ads?
Copy for AI
If a competitor is bidding on your brand name, Google allows that as a keyword. First check Auction insights to see how often they appear next to you. If your brand name is in their ad text, you can file a complaint with Google as the trademark owner. On top of that, start a separate brand campaign and strengthen your organic results on your own name.
Sales forwards a screenshot: anyone who googles your name first sees a competitor’s ad. That prospect already knew you. This is the playbook for that week, as part of our guide to reducing your dependence on Google Ads. Defending your name cheaply is often the first thing we do as a Google Ads agency.
A competitor is bidding on our brand name in Google Ads. What can we do?
Do not respond with an angry email, but with six steps in this order:
| Step | What you do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Record | Screenshot of the search result, with date, search term and country | Google Search |
| 2. Measure overlap | How often do they appear next to you, and how often above you? | Auction insights in Google Ads |
| 3. Read the text | Is your brand name in their headline or description, or only in their keyword? | The screenshot |
| 4. Consider a complaint | Only if your brand name is in their ad and you hold trademark rights | Google’s trademark form |
| 5. Brand campaign | A separate campaign on your own name, with its own budget | Google Ads |
| 6. Strengthen organic | Expand your own results on your brand name | Your website, reviews, Search Console |
It is not always deliberate: a competitor’s broad match keyword can also show up on your name. If you know each other, ask to add each other’s brand names as negative keywords.
Is brand bidding by a competitor allowed in Google Ads?
For Google itself, yes, as a keyword. The Google Ads trademark policy states literally that Google does not restrict “the use of trademarks as keywords”. What Google does restrict is “the use of trademarks in ads by a direct competitor”. Ads that use a brand in a confusing or misleading way are covered too.
| What the competitor does | Does Google Ads restrict this? |
|---|---|
| Your brand name as a keyword | No |
| Your brand name in their ad text, as a direct competitor | Yes, after a complaint |
| Using your brand in a confusing or misleading way | Yes, after a complaint |
| A reseller or informational site mentioning your brand | No, under conditions |
Google only investigates this after a complaint from the trademark owner, against a specific advertiser based on their URL. That is only possible in countries and industries where you have demonstrated your trademark rights.
Should you advertise on your own brand name?
If a competitor is bidding on your name, usually yes. Otherwise their ad sits above your organic result.
You have an advantage on your own name. Google’s Quality Score looks, among other things, at how well an ad matches the intent of the search. Anyone typing your name is looking for you. A competitor usually scores worse there.
| Situation | Advice |
|---|---|
| Competitor bids, you rank 1 organically | Small brand campaign as defence |
| Competitor bids, you rank lower organically | Brand campaign now, and strengthen your brand SERP |
| Nobody bids, you rank 1 organically | Not needed, budget to non-brand |
Measure first, then decide. How to split the budget is covered in brand vs non-brand keywords. Also add your brand name as a negative keyword in your other campaigns.
What does it cost when competitors bid on your brand?
Three costs, and the first is the biggest:
- Buyers who already knew you. People searching your name often come from a recommendation. If they click through to the competitor, you lose a warm lead.
- A more expensive brand click. When another bidder joins the auction, your own brand click can become more expensive.
- The replacement price. You have to buy that buyer back on a category keyword.
That last one is expensive in software. A median click in Benelux software categories costs about 22 dollars, across 106 search terms from Google Ads data (28 September 2026). For “crm software” it is 39 dollars in the Netherlands and 26 dollars in Belgium. At Kaizo, buyer keywords in the category cost on average about 34 dollars per click.
A CFO wants a number. Calculate it like this:
| Item | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Lost brand clicks per month | Brand searches times the share that clicks on the competitor |
| Lost pipeline | Lost clicks times your conversion to demo, times your win rate, times your deal value |
| Cost of defending | Your brand clicks times your brand CPC |
What a lead is worth, you can work out with the value-per-lead calculator. Prices per industry are in CPC benchmarks by industry.
How do you measure how much brand traffic you lose to competitors?
Combine three sources. None of them gives the exact loss, together they show the trend.
| Source | What you look at | Signal |
|---|---|---|
| Auction insights | Overlap rate and position above rate on your brand campaign | How often the competitor is next to or above you |
| Search Console | Clicks and CTR on queries containing your brand name | CTR drops while your position stays the same |
| CRM | ”How did you find us?” and lost deals | Prospects who searched your name and signed with the competitor |
The Auction insights report compares you with advertisers in the same auctions. It shows nothing if your impression share is below 10%: so you need a running brand campaign.
In Search Console, filter on your brand name, see analyzing Search Console data. If you have little brand volume, look per quarter instead of per week.
How do you protect your brand in Google without paying?
By filling the space under the ads yourself:
- Your brand SERP. Homepage, pricing page, case studies and your Google Business Profile. That is how you win branded search.
- Comparison pages. An honest “[your brand] vs [competitor]” page catches people who are hesitating, even without an ad.
- Reviews. Profiles on G2 or Capterra can rank on your name, and they count towards AI visibility.
- AI answers. When a buyer asks ChatGPT about you, it sometimes names a competitor first. See what to do when ChatGPT names your competitor.
- A complaint. If your brand name is in their ad text, you can file a complaint through Google’s form.
Content on buying questions also works in AI answers. At Hedgehog Company, Google showed an AI Overview 31 times on the target questions of 41 new articles. Hedgehog was cited as a source 23 times.
When we are not the right choice
If nobody bids on your name and you rank at the top organically, you do not need us for this. If it is a legal dispute about your trademark, you need a trademark law specialist, not an agency. And if your brand volume is small, you can usually solve it yourself with the steps above. Our Google Ads management starts from 950 euros per month for one channel, separate from your media budget.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bid on a competitor’s brand name myself?
Google Ads does not restrict brand names as keywords, so the same rules apply to you. Do not put their brand name in your ad text: Google restricts that after a complaint. Expect your ad to score as less relevant on their brand name, and expect them to bid back.
Do you need a registered trademark to complain to Google?
Google only accepts complaints in countries and industries where you have demonstrated your trademark rights. Which registration you need is a legal question. Put it to a trademark law specialist.
How quickly do you see the effect of a brand campaign?
A brand campaign shows up in Auction insights as soon as it gets impressions. Organic work on your brand SERP takes longer. Judge new pages after eight weeks: in our Search Console data from six sites, a dip in weeks 2 to 8 is usually followed by the breakthrough.
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