Google policy update

By the time you read this article, advertisers on Google will be able to bid on trademarked terms that belong to other companies in the UK and Ireland. This dramatic turnaround by Google now means that companies have the right to use another businesses’ trademark to trigger their own online advert. Whilst a trigger word cannot appear in the advert itself, this bold move by Google has the potential to complete change the way businesses manage their search campaigns.

Bad news for major brands trying to protect their trademarks, good news for smaller businesses who sell other branded goods on their site. This change opens up the bidding on keywords but how does it actually work?

Previously if you searched for a trademarked item on Google.co.uk, you would see only that trademarked name in the sponsored link. Google rules meant that no other business could bid on a trademark. Now, any competing business can feature there. This rule change means that brand owners will have to outbid rival firms if they want their adverts to run along side their natural listings on the search engines.

So why the change? The turnaround in policy does bring Google UK/Ireland in line with Google US/Canada, where this approach has been in effect since 2004. It will also give the web user more relevant search results and more choice in the results page. This move also has its financial benefits. Trademark items are understandably less expensive terms due to the rules, opening up the bidding on them will drive the cost of the terms up significantly.

But what does it mean for the owners of trademarked brands and products? Well, they still have the edge if they use their trademark term in their adverts as it will ensure their ads are the most relevant with the highest quality score. However businesses will need to set and implement a strategy for brand keywords and set up bid rules to maintain maximum exposure.

Looking ahead, trademarked brands and products need to adopt and develop their SEM strategies to ensure that they continue to promote themselves effectively online. This requires a re-think of their PPC and an increasing focus on natural search to maximise their brand name and products coverage in the natural rankings.

The future: who knows how it will span out and how businesses will react. Will we see Tesco & ASDA battle it out for supremacy in the Google rankings? Will smaller businesses thrive as they bid on the market leaders or will they quickly be priced out of the market? The one thing we are clear on is that investment into the natural element of your Search Engine Marketing strategy is now even more important to ensure the visibility of your site over your competitors.

If you would like further information on how the Google Adword Policy change may impact on your SEM strategies talk to a member of our eMarketing team today on 0845 863 0520.