AdViking

As posted early last month Google finally opened it’s barriers and let advertisers ‘back in’ to bid against brand names. Whether it really was to do with the ‘Mr Spicy‘ ruling in the States or, as we suggested at the time, more to do with the bottom line, advertisers have flooded back to take advantage of the levelled playing field… Or have they… ?

One thing that Google have made clear is that, unlike Yahoo! and MSN, they will not allow brand names to be used in the written ads. So this causes one obvious and one not-so-obvious problem.

The obvious first: you can’t use the brand name! So, for example, if Peugeot have protected Peugeot then you can’t advertise ‘Peugeot’ in the advert unless authorised. Therefore you have to use tautology… “Brand New Pug” or “NewPeugeots” or “The Entire Range of the car you want”.

The not-so-obvious is more interesting… As you probably know - Google measures adverts by a Quality Score, this score has affects both the Minimum Bid as well as the Ad Position, meaning a poor performing ad must bid higher to achieve the same position.

Whilst this makes sense, one of the key variables to decide the quality score is … ad relevance… And the main defining factor is using keywords in ads.

Therefore, say you’re bidding on ‘Peugeot’, or phrases including ‘Peugeot’, and cannot use the word ‘Peugeot’ then relevance will drop, thereby increasing minimum bid and lowering position.

So the real test of where Google sits will be how (or whether) it adjusts Quality Score in light of it’s own policies.

Check AdViking for the latest on episode two of the trademark wars… ‘The Brands Strikes Back”!