Brand Bidding

Brand Bidding: everything you need to know about digital competition

branddi · Published on August 28, 2024 · Updated on April 10, 2026

Brand Bidding is already well known among advertisers on online advertising platforms. The strategy consists of buying terms related to the name of a brand, its products, slogans, etc., in order to attract potential buyers from other companies.

But, although it has been used since the first advertising campaigns appeared on the internet, Brand Bidding can be considered unfair competition. In this way, it can bring not only legal implications, but also damage to the brand's image. And you don't want your business to run that risk, do you?

Therefore, in this article we will explain what Brand Bidding is and everything you need to know from a strategic and legal point of view. Follow now!

Brand Bidding is the use of a brand name by third parties as a keyword when creating campaigns on online advertising platforms. Generally, it usually occurs in sponsored link auctions in paid search engines, such as Google Ads and Bing Ads, but it can extend to other channels.

Competitors and partners of your company may adopt Brand Bidding — out of ignorance, but often in bad faith — with the intention of capturing users who are looking for your brand or products in these search engines. This way, you could end up losing potential customers to other businesses.

This practice has become common, and many companies have adopted Brand Bidding as an important part of their digital marketing strategy for a long time. For others, this strategy did not prove to be effective and began to be ignored.

However, today there is an understanding, including legal, that Brand Bidding generates customer diversion and, therefore, unfair competition between companies. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful not to adopt this practice and to ensure that other companies do not affect your business by purchasing terms related to your brand.

What happens when a brand practices Brand Bidding?

When a user searches for a brand on Google or Bing, they probably want to find that company's website and its products.

These consumers must already be at an advanced stage of their purchasing journey: they already know your brand and are specifically searching for it, ready to buy your products. Therefore, they can be your best customers, capable of increasing your conversion rate and improving the ROI of your campaigns on Google Ads and Bing Ads.

However, Brand Bidding tends to lead to a shift towards the competitor, who displays your offer in ads in the search results. These sponsored links appear in the top positions of the search engine, above the organic results. Depending on the ad auctions, they may appear in the first position and thus receive more visibility and clicks from users.

In addition, in paid search sponsored link auctions, Brand Bidding also tends to generate an inflated CPC, as more companies enter the competition for that term, generally with high bids.

The use of a brand by third parties can also cause brand dilution, that is, the loss of its distinctive strength in the market. market. After all, the brand is being used inappropriately by third parties, for purposes not intended by its owner.

What is Google's position on Brand Bidding?

Google understands that trademarks can be used in texts and titles of sponsored links in certain cases: when they are resellers, informational sites or advertisers with authorization for use, for example.

However, Google is protect from investigating or restricting the use of trademarks as keywords in advertisements. Therefore, Brand Bidding is not prohibited by the platform's policies. On this page, you can learn about all of Google's policies regarding trademarks.

It is possible to understand Google's stance from the perspective of free competition, but also because Brand Bidding inflates advertisers' costs. Therefore, it is an advantage for the search engine.

What is the legal view on Brand Bidding?

In Brazilian Justice, there is already jurisprudence on the practice of Brand Bidding as unfair competition.

An important case involved two companies in the travel sector: one of them was buying terms with the name of a competing brand to promote its website in sponsored ads on the search engine.

Although it claimed that the intention was not to divert customers, just to stand out in the market, the company did not have its justification accepted. The Fourth Panel of the Superior Federal Court understood that the practice violated the Intellectual Property Law and imposed a fine.

What to do if your company suffers unfair competition on Google Ads or Bing Ads?

If your company suffers unfair competition on paid search engines with Brand Bidding, it is necessary to adopt brand protection measures. After all, you don't want to lose customers to your competition nor do you want your brand to be used inappropriately by third parties.

Although companies that commit Brand Bidding can be taken to court, you can seek a friendly solution before involving the courts in the case. This is what Branddi prioritizes in its strategies.

Firstly, we carry out monitoring, using exclusive technology, to identify your brand's aggressors on the advertising platform. When monitoring the practice of Brand Bidding, you can identify three types of agents. Through inattention or bad faith, they can all harm your brand:

• Competitors practicing unfair competition;
• Affiliates committing arbitration, with advertisements that highlight the brand of the product they are selling;
• Partners buying their institutional terms.

Afterwards, our team mediates with these companies, in a cordial manner, in order to avoid litigation and show that Brand Bidding is negative for all companies involved. Therefore, they are advised to deny, in their campaigns, keywords that could lead to unfair competition.

In this way, it is possible to maximize marketing investments by reducing the CPC value for keywords related to your brand and, of course, driving more traffic to your website. Each user who stops going to your competitor and visits your website improves the performance of your ad account, increasing conversion rates.

To receive a free diagnosis and understand the impacts of Brand Bidding on your strategy, contact Branddi now.

‍

Back to blog