You Google your own company name, expecting to see your website sitting proudly at the top. Instead, a competitor's ad is the first thing you see. They're running paid search ads on your brand name, and they're siphoning clicks from people who were specifically looking for you.
It feels wrong. It feels like it should be illegal. But it's not. And roughly 70% of advertisers are doing it.
Competitor brand bidding is one of the most common tactics in paid search. Google's policy is straightforward: anyone can bid on any keyword, including your company name. The only restriction is that competitors cannot use your trademarked name in their actual ad copy without permission. But they can absolutely trigger their ads when someone searches for you.
Google reinforced this with their February 2025 trademark policy update. The complaint form that previously let you restrict trademarked keyword bidding was quietly removed. You're now only protected if someone uses your trademark in their ad text.
The math behind why competitors do this is simple. Someone searching your brand name has high purchase intent. They already know what they want. If a competitor can intercept even 5% to 10% of those searches, the ROI is excellent. And moving up just one ad position can boost expected click-through rates by as much as 74.5%.
This is non-negotiable. If you're not running ads on your own brand keywords, you're leaving the door wide open. Brand keywords are the cheapest clicks you'll ever buy, often under $1 CPC, because Google gives you the highest quality score for your own name.
If you haven't already, file a trademark complaint with Google Ads. This won't stop competitors from bidding on your name, but it will prevent them from using your trademarked name in their ad headlines and descriptions.
You should be checking what shows up when someone searches your brand name at least monthly. Set up a Google Alert and periodically search in an incognito window.
Create a dedicated brand campaign in Google Ads. Set your brand name and common misspellings as exact match keywords. Budget $5 to $10 per day to start. Your quality score will be high, your CPC will be low, and you'll push competitors down the page.
Go to Google's trademark complaint form and submit your registered trademark. This prevents competitors from putting your name in their ad copy. It won't stop them from bidding on the keyword, but their ads will be generic and less compelling.
Make sure your organic listing is rock solid. Use site links, structured data, and a complete Google Business Profile so your organic result takes up maximum real estate on the search results page. The more space you own, the less room there is for competitors.
Your brand ads should emphasize what makes you the real deal. Use phrases like 'Official Site,' include your phone number, add site link extensions to key pages, and highlight your unique value proposition. Make it obvious which result is actually you.
If a specific competitor is aggressively bidding on your name, you can return the favor. Bid on their brand name with ad copy that highlights your differentiators. The average cost per click in Google Ads is $5.26 in 2025, but brand terms from competitors will vary. Start with a small test budget and measure the results before scaling.
Competitor brand bidding is legal, common, and not going away. The best defense is a good offense: bid on your own name, file your trademark, dominate the organic results, and make it expensive for competitors to steal your traffic. If you're not protecting your brand in paid search, someone else is profiting from it.