Adowrds has just updated their policy so you can now bid and show trademarked keywords in your ad copy again provided that your landing pages meets their policy guidelines.
In the US, our policy permits use of the trademark in the ad text in the following circumstances:
Ads which use the term in a descriptive or generic way, and not in reference to the trademark owner or the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term.Ads which use the trademark in a nominative manner to refer to the trademark or its owner, specifically:
Resale of the trademarked goods or services: The advertiser’s site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the goods or services corresponding to a trademark term. The landing page of the ad must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the goods or services corresponding to a trademark from the advertiser.
Sale of components, replacement parts or compatible products corresponding to a trademark: The advertiser’s site must sell (or clearly facilitate the sale of) the components, replacement parts or compatible products relating to the goods or services of the trademark. The advertiser’s landing page must clearly demonstrate that a user is able to purchase the components, parts or compatible products corresponding to the trademark term from the advertiser.
Informational sites: The primary purpose of the advertiser’s site must be to provide non-competitive and informative details about the goods or services corresponding to the trademark term. Additionally, the advertiser may not sell or facilitate the sale of the goods or services of a competitor of the trademark owner.
This is definately a good news for affiliates/marketers as you get the chance to have your previously banned trademark keywords appearing on your ad copy.
Getting trademark keywords appearing in ad text = Improved relevancy = more interested readers due to brand awareness = more clicks = more conversions = more money for affiliates = reinvest in adwords = google making money. It’s definately a way for Google to encourage more people to advertise with them and spend more on advertising as this trademark bidding policy is lifted. It’s a smart move nevertheless, but merchants and trademark/brand owners might have a different opinion about this.
What do you think?
Update 090520: Just made a few new ads containing trademarked keywords and they are still pending approval. Google did mention that:
While we will start accepting new ads that contain trademark terms as of 11am PDT on May 15th, those ads will not begin showing until June 15th.
So although you won’t get that annoying error trademark violation message anymore, your ads still won’t rum until June 15 2009.
Update 090521: The ads mentioned above (pending approval) are now approved (limited), running and getting impressions.
Google defines this Approval (Limited) Status as:
Ads are reviewed according to our advertising policies and landing page requirements. In some cases your ad may be categorized as “Approved (limited)” depending on the content of the ad text and the website. In these cases your ad may be limited to showing in certain countries on the Google Search and Content Networks for certain conditions.
[via Inside Adwords]
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