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One of the biggest threats to online brand protection is trademark bidding. This is where competitors use your branded keywords in their ads to ultimately drive traffic to their websites. This post will show you how to find the right brand monitoring tool to stop trademark bidding.
What Does Brand Search Monitoring Protect You From?
Brand search monitoring is the practice of monitoring your brand mentions and appearances across search engine results. It’s to ensure your brand's presence is represented correctly, helping you maintain a strong brand reputation, by eliminating any unauthorized users of your brand name.
Benefits of Brand Search Monitoring
Monitoring your brand keeps your reputation intact, protects against trademark infringement and ensures your marketing efforts aren’t undermined by competitors. It also gives you market trends, a gauge on your brand sentiment, as well as deeper consumer insights you may not otherwise see.
What is Trademark Bidding?
Trademark bidding is when a competitor bids on a keyword with your brand name in it (a "branded keyword") in search engine ad platforms, like Google Ads or Bing Ads. When competitors bid on keywords with another brand's name in it, they can intercept potential customers and lead them to their own sites rather than the brand's website.
Impact on Brands and Businesses
Trademark bidding can lead to higher ad costs, lower website traffic, and dilute a brand's web presence.
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By intercepting potential customers before they reach the brand's website, competitors can erode market share and revenue from the brand whose keywords they bid on.
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Trademark bidding can confuse consumers and harm brand credibility, as users may question the legitimacy of the business or encounter inconsistent messaging.
Why You Need a Brand Search Monitoring Tool
Brands of all sizes can benefit from having a brand monitoring tool to help them protect their trademarked search terms.
By monitoring online activity for search ads that infringe on your trademark, you can gain valuable insight into how your brand is being perceived and used in ads.
Risks of Not Monitoring
Not monitoring your brand can lead to lost revenue, damaged reputation and legal issues. It can also give competitors an unfair advantage in taking your market share right from the top of search result pages.
Without a tool to track your brand terms 24/7 you’ll miss opportunities, lose customers, and put your brand reputation at risk.
What to Look for in a Brand Search Monitoring Tool
Real-Time Alerts on Social Media Platforms
A good tool should give you real-time alerts to track brand mentions whenever your brand is discussed or trademark bidding is detected. So you can act fast to mitigate the damage.
Reporting
Detailed reports will help you understand the extent and impact of trademark bidding and other brand infringement. Look for tools that have customizable and easy to read reports.
Customization
Every brand is unique. A good monitoring tool should allow you to customize settings to focus on specific keywords, regions and types of infringement.
How to Find the Right Brand Search Monitoring Tool
Evaluate Your Needs
Start by knowing your specific needs. Consider your brand size, target markets and the threats you face based on the number of trademark bidding complaints you've had to enter so far.
Compare Tools
Begin by comparing tools based on their full list of features, ease of use and customer reviews.
A pro tip is to look for tools with free trials or demos and get your hands dirty by diving into to use them for their free trial period.
Read Reviews and Case Studies
Reading customer reviews and looking through case studies will give you important insights into the tool and additional features you might not have known about. Additionally, customer reviews will highlight some potential issues and benefits you might not have thought of.
Cost vs Value in Brand Search Monitoring Tools
Consider the Pricing Models
Brand search monitoring tools tend to vary greatly in their pricing models. It's important to know which fits into your budget before starting with a tool only to learn you need to switch to another one a few months down the road.
Consider the ROI In the Long Run
Consider the cost of the tool and its impact on your bottom line. A premium tool might seem like more than you need, but it might be able to offer better protection and insight as your brand grows and is perceived by a wider audience.
In summary, finding the right brand search monitoring tool is crucial to protect your brand from trademark bidding and other threats. Know your needs, compare tools and follow best practices and you’ll safeguard your brand’s reputation and success.
