Protecting Your Trademark in Paid Search Advertising

Keith Vera
Account Manager

Search engines appear to be moving towards a universal policy regarding competitive advertising. Currently, Yahoo and MSN state clearly that advertisers are not allowed advertise or bid on trademarked terms. Google still allows advertisers to bid on trademarked search terms, however will not allow that trademarked term to be used within a competing advertisers copy.

While it is important for advertisers to know the policies regarding competitive advertising, it is perhaps more important to make sure you are taking the appropriate steps to protect your trademark from these violations. To help protect your trademark, it is a good idea to conduct search audits on your trademarked terms every few weeks. Be sure that you are checking both the organic and paid listings, and report any violations immediately to the appropriate search engine using screen shots to document your findings.
Below are links to the Google, Yahoo and MSN editorial guidelines that contain all Trademark policy information:


Google AdWords Editorial Guidelines
Yahoo Search Marketing Trademark Guidelines

MSN adCenter Editorial Guidelines