Comment by a4isms | Hacker News Reader

Comment by a4isms | Hacker News Reader

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The author made an excellent point in TFA:

If you do your SEO right and use advertising to build up some brand recognition, you reach the point where your web site appears on the first page of search results alongside your paid ad for your web site.

However, Google has designed their search results to encourage clicking on the ads, so many users who actually find you with search will click the ad you are paying for instead of the search result for your site.

The author presents empirical evidence that not paying for ads doesn't reduce traffic, because users will click the site in the search results, instead of clicking the ad.

That is very much a point, and one that can save people a lot of money if they test it and find their site adn advertising have the same dynamics.

Until your competitors start buying ads under your name. And you have to buy ads back to counter-attack. And Google laughs all the way to the bank.

Is there a smart counter attack to this?

Try to drum up public outrage to get them to stop? Maybe if they use your trademark there's cause to sue? Otherwise good luck.

Branded search terms cost way more for competitors for reasons I can't be bothered getting into, most likely they are losing money by doing it. You can counter it by bidding yourself - which on branded search terms is usually dirt cheap. But ultimately, the only real counter is delivering a better service.

Place ads for their brand that links to a negative review about them?

Do you mean your competitors buying ads for their product, but using your product's name as keywords?

Or do you literally mean your competitors buying ads that deceive the public into thinking they're clicking on your ad which will lead to your site, but it actually goes to their site?

Those are two very different scenarios.

Both can be done.

First one is more common. Second one depends on your industry and who your competitor is (sleaziness)

The fighting is most fierce near communization, those edge cases where a brand name is becoming a common name for the item (think Kleenex).

I suspect it's not actually as bad as people may think (if someone searches "Dominos" are they looking for any pizza place, or that particular one), but it does happen.

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