Google policy changes 'attractive' to comparison sites
Google's new changes to its trademark keywords policy will make pay-per-click advertising more attractive for comparison sites, according to SEO company Bigmouthmedia.
Today's announcement from Google means that from September 14 the UK will now follow Google's existing US AdWords policy, which allows any advertiser to use trademarked keywords within their advert text in some cases.
Using trademarked terms in advertising copy will remain outlawed in mainland Europe, but following the rule change keywords will no longer be protected from others bidding on them.
"Aggregators will now have the ability to use brand names in their adverts. This is likely to improve their click-through rates and quality score, and will therefore make it more attractive for such operations to bid on brand terms," said Lyndsay Menzies, chief operations Officer at Bigmouthmedia.
She continued: "In the UK the news may have a large impact on brand bids in industries such as finance, travel and electronics. While advertisers in mainland Europe will be unable to put trademarked terms in the advertising copy of their campaigns, the changes are still likely to have a big impact on brand budgets."
Bigmouthmedia says Google's decision to allow anyone to bid for trademarked keywords across Europe is expected to lead to price rises in the markets affected.
When this happened in the UK - where the policy change was first rolled out in 2008 - bidding on some brand terms increased by as much as 500% in the short term. The hike was relatively short lived mainly due to British brands' unwillingness to get involved in bidding wars, although this may not be the case in other European countries and brand bidding may break out in earnest.