ebuzz - Alternate Advertising

Don't Complain To Me!

Google's most significant revenue stream, AdWords, has changed its complaint policy recently, and it remains to be seen how the new procedure — or lack thereof — will affect companies' PPC campaigns.

As reported by Matthew Rippon in NEBusiness,

Google still processes complaints relating to the use of trademarks in third party AdWord text, but since April, it no longer accepts complaints about keywords. And keywords that were previously the subject of a successful complaint will be unblocked. This has caused fury amongst some big retailers.

Teletext has threatened other travel agents with litigation if it finds its name used as a keyword. And a consortium of brandowners including Arcadia are thought to have discussed whether any action may be taken against Google.

Many companies use their competitors' names as keywords, with the assumption that a prospect searching for that product or service may be swayed to accept a different brand if it's readily accessible. And it used to be that complaining to Google could remove that particular PPC ad. But not anymore.

The problem is that there hasn't been much litigation on this subject. Of course, the mere existence of Google's previous policy didn't prevent the brandowners from litigating this issue before. They just chose not to, preferring the quicker and cheaper results generated by going direct to Google. So they have been hoisted by their own petard.

On the other hand, PPC advertisers are simply doing what brick-and-mortar stores have done for years: put themselves in close proximity to others offering the same goods or services. In the United States, Home Depot stores are often located quite close to the brand's biggest competitor, Lowe's. Comparison shopping can only ultimately benefit the consumer, especially in a recession. So perhaps Google is only leveling the playing field — only time (and a number of lawsuits!) will tell.

And that's our take on the news today!

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