Google Ads Trademark Policy Explained: What Competitors Can and Can't Do With Your Brand

You search for your own brand name on Google, and there it is — a competitor's ad sitting above your organic listing. Maybe they've even used your brand name in their headline. Your first instinct is probably that this must be against the rules.

The reality is more nuanced than most marketers realise, and a significant policy change in February 2025 has shifted the burden of protection squarely onto brand owners.

Here's what you actually need to know.

The distinction most people get wrong

There are two completely different things happening when a competitor targets your brand on Google Ads, and the rules are different for each:

Bidding on trademarked keywords — this is when a competitor adds your brand name as a keyword in their campaign. They want their ad to show when someone searches for you. This is always allowed. Google has never restricted keyword bidding on trademarked terms, and they've made it clear they don't intend to. It's treated as fair competition.

Using trademarks in ad copy — this is when a competitor actually writes your brand name into their headline, description, or display URL. This is restricted, and this is where Google's trademark policy applies.

Most of the confusion comes from people conflating these two things. When a brand owner says "a competitor is bidding on my brand name and that's a trademark violation," they're usually wrong. The bidding itself isn't the issue. The question is what the ad says.

So if a competitor bids on your brand name but their ad copy makes no mention of your trademark — just promotes their own product — that's entirely within the rules. Frustrating, perhaps. But legitimate.

What changed in February 2025

Until early 2025, brand owners had a relatively straightforward way to protect their trademarks in Google Ads. You could submit a proactive trademark protection form to Google, and once verified, Google would block all advertisers from using your trademark in their ad text across specified regions. It was a blanket protection.

Google removed that form in February 2025.

The new system requires you to file complaints against specific ads and specific advertisers. You can no longer set up a standing protection that catches everything automatically. Each violation needs to be identified and reported individually.

This is a fundamental shift. Previously, the onus was on Google to enforce your protection once you'd registered it. Now, the onus is entirely on you to find violations and report them one by one.

The practical implication is obvious: if you're not actively monitoring what ads appear on your brand terms, violations will go unnoticed and unchallenged. Google won't catch them for you anymore.

When competitors CAN use your brand name in ads

Even under the trademark policy, there are legitimate situations where a competitor can reference your brand in their ad copy:

As a keyword target (always). Worth repeating — bidding on your brand name as a keyword is unrestricted and is not considered a trademark use by Google.

Authorised resellers. If someone is an authorised reseller or distributor of your products, they can use your trademark in their ads. The landing page needs to clearly sell or facilitate the sale of the trademarked goods or services.

Informational and comparison sites. Ads that lead to pages providing information, reviews, or comparisons of trademarked products are generally permitted to reference the trademark. Think comparison sites, review platforms, or editorial content.

If you haven't filed a complaint. This is the big one after the February 2025 change. If nobody has reported a specific ad to Google, there's no enforcement. A competitor could be using your brand name in their headlines right now, and unless you've filed a complaint about that particular ad, Google won't intervene.

When they CAN'T

The restrictions are focused on preventing consumer confusion:

Implying affiliation or endorsement. If an ad suggests that the advertiser is the brand owner, an official partner, or is endorsed by the brand, that's a violation. Ad copy like "Official [Your Brand] Service" from a company that has no such relationship would breach the policy.

Misleading ads. Any ad that could genuinely confuse a user about who is advertising — making them think they're clicking through to the brand owner when they're not — crosses the line.

Display URL manipulation. Using a display URL that mimics your brand's domain is not permitted. If your brand is "Acme" and a competitor shows "www.AcmeDeals.example.com" as their display URL to create the impression of an official connection, that's a violation.

Counterfeit goods. Ads promoting counterfeit or imitation products that use your trademark are categorically prohibited.

How to file a trademark complaint with Google

When you spot a violation, here's how to act on it:

Step 1: Gather your evidence. Before you file, you'll need your trademark registration number, the specific ad copy that uses your trademark, the advertiser's URL, and screenshots showing the ad in context. Timestamps matter — capture when and where you saw the ad.

Step 2: Go to Google's trademark complaint form. This is accessible through Google's Advertising Policies help centre. You'll need to submit a separate complaint for each advertiser, though you can include multiple ads from the same advertiser in one submission. We've put together a Google Ads trademark complaint template that walks you through every field and helps you draft a strong submission.

Step 3: Provide the details. Google will ask for the trademark owner's information, the registration details, the specific ads in question, and the regions where you hold trademark rights. Be thorough — incomplete submissions get delayed or rejected.

Step 4: Wait for review. Google typically reviews trademark complaints within 5 to 10 business days. During this time, the ads continue to run.

Step 5: Understand the outcome. If Google upholds your complaint, the specific ads you reported will be disapproved. The advertiser will need to remove your trademark from their ad copy before those ads can run again. Importantly, this does not prevent the advertiser from continuing to bid on your brand name as a keyword — only the ad copy use is affected.

It's worth noting that you may need to file new complaints if the same advertiser creates new ads that also use your trademark. This is not a one-and-done process.

Beyond Google: legal options

Google's trademark complaint process addresses ad copy, but it doesn't stop keyword bidding and it doesn't address every scenario. Sometimes you need to go further.

Cease and desist letters. If a competitor is persistently using your trademark in misleading ways, a solicitor's letter can be effective — our cease and desist template for brand bidding provides a ready-to-use starting point. The key is having solid evidence — dates, screenshots, ad copy records, and proof of the misleading nature. Tools like SerpAlert capture this evidence automatically with timestamps and location data, which makes building a case significantly easier.

When legal action is worth considering. Use our brand bidding calculator to estimate the financial impact of competitor activity on your brand terms — this helps you assess whether the cost of legal proceedings is justified. If the competitor's ads are genuinely causing consumer confusion, diverting significant traffic, or damaging your reputation, it may be worth pursuing further. This is particularly relevant if the same advertiser keeps creating new violating ads after Google disapprovals. Consult a solicitor who specialises in intellectual property or advertising law before taking this step — the costs and outcomes vary widely.

Documenting everything. Whether or not you pursue legal action, maintaining a record of violations is valuable. Timestamps, screenshots, the exact ad copy used, the search queries that triggered the ads, and the geographic locations where they appeared all strengthen your position. This applies both to repeat Google complaints and to any potential legal proceedings.

The practical approach to brand protection

Given the current landscape, here's what actually works:

Accept that keyword bidding can't be prevented. This is a strategic reality. Competitors will bid on your brand name, and your energy is better spent elsewhere than trying to stop it. Focus on what you can control.

Monitor your brand SERPs continuously. This cannot be done effectively by hand. Ads rotate based on time of day, user location, device type, auction dynamics, and dozens of other signals. The ad you see when you search isn't the same one your customers in another city see at a different time. Manual spot-checking gives you a false sense of security. Automated monitoring — like what SerpAlert provides — captures what's actually appearing across different conditions and alerts you when something changes.

Act quickly on ad copy violations. When monitoring reveals that a competitor is using your trademark in their ad text, file a complaint with Google promptly. The faster you report it, the sooner those ads get reviewed and potentially disapproved. Delays mean more impressions, more clicks, and more potential confusion.

Keep records for escalation. Every violation you detect and document strengthens your position if you need to escalate — whether that means repeat complaints to Google, cease and desist letters, or legal proceedings. SerpAlert's evidence packages include timestamped screenshots, ad copy records, and historical data that serve exactly this purpose.

Strengthen your own brand presence. The best defence against competitor brand bidding is a strong offence. Run your own brand campaigns (they're typically very cheap given your Quality Score advantage), ensure your organic listings are optimised with sitelinks and structured data, and make it obvious to searchers that your listing is the real thing.

The bottom line

Google's trademark policy protects your brand name from being used in competitor ad copy, but it won't stop them from bidding on your keywords. Since February 2025, enforcing even the ad copy protections requires you to actively find and report violations — Google no longer does it proactively.

The brands that protect themselves effectively are the ones that monitor consistently, act quickly, and document thoroughly. If you're not sure what's currently running on your brand terms, run a free brand audit to see the current state of your brand SERPs.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For matters involving trademark infringement or intellectual property disputes, consult a qualified solicitor.