April 15 2008
Editorial – Let’s play Google Keyword roulette
Google has changed policies on trademarked keywords, but does this mean it’s now open season on keywords?
Using other peoples’ trademarks in your pay per click (PPC) campaigns and as keywords has always been regarded as blatant cheating and frowned upon, and while – in my opinion - there should be nothing illegal about doing it, it has always occupied a grey area.
For most retailers it’s difficult to see why you can’t use trademarks and brands on the web, when you can use them offline. For example a classified advert for a business in a newspaper can contain trademarks and brand names, so why can’t a PPC campaign? As long as you sell those brands, then surely you should be able to use the trademarks and brands in your advertising?
So it’s interesting to see that Google have decided to change their AdWords Trademark Policy https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=92877&hl=en_GB
From the 4th of April Google has made a policy revision that applies to complaints it receives regarding trademarks in the UK and Ireland. From the 4th Google will “no longer review a term corresponding to the trademarked term as a keyword trigger. However, we will continue to perform a limited courtesy investigation of complaints regarding ad text purported to be in violation of a trademark.”
And from the 5th May 2008, keywords that were disabled as a result of a trademark investigation will no longer be restricted in the UK and Ireland.
Google’s reason for the change is “We want advertisers to use keywords that are most relevant to their business and our user's interests. Google's goal is to provide our users with the most relevant information, whether it is from our search results or advertisements. A key to achieving this goal with our ads is providing relevant choices and giving users the opportunity to determine which ads they find most relevant.”
While Google aren’t saying you can now use trademark terms as keywords it won’t stop you if you do, or as Google’s legal team put it “Google is not in a position to make recommendations regarding the use of terms corresponding to trademarks. If you have further questions, we encourage you to contact your legal counsel and consult the AdWords Terms and Conditions.”
The cynical amongst you may look at it and think “well this is just another way for Google to make even more money” while others will think “well so what if you sell Nike why the hell can’t you us Nike in your PPCs” It will be interesting to see who is first of the block in the game of keyword roulette.
Well, do you feel lucky punk?
