Protecting Your Brand in PPC

Many businesses are unaware of just how much branded traffic they lose every day due to unauthorised bidding, affiliate misuse, and deceptive ads. These issues often go unnoticed until costs rise or competitors begin appearing above you when someone searches for your brand name. With digital ad fraud estimated to have reached around $84 billion globally in 2023, protecting your presence in paid search has become more important than ever.

Brand protection in PPC refers to the steps taken to prevent others from using your branded keywords without permission, as well as stopping misleading or fraudulent ads that resemble your own. The main aim is to ensure that people searching for your business, product, or service reach your official pages rather than a competitor or dishonest affiliate.

When you have a strong protection strategy in place, it helps you retain valuable traffic and keeps your brand image consistent. Without one, however, the impact can be significant. Brands often face higher costs per click, rising affiliate charges, reduced conversions, and overall weaker performance from their paid search campaigns.

A proper PPC brand protection plan usually includes several key activities. These range from carefully monitoring who is bidding on your branded terms to identifying unexpected changes in CPCs or impression share. It also involves spotting unauthorised use of your name or trademarks in ad copy and uncovering hidden ads targeted at specific regions or times to avoid detection.

The main threats to your branded traffic come from three groups: direct competitors, affiliates, and fraudsters. Competitors may target your branded terms simply because they offer high-intent traffic. Affiliates might bend the rules in order to earn more commission, leaving you paying for customers you would have gained organically. Fraudsters go one step further by using deceptive tactics that can damage both finances and customer trust.

If you don’t address these risks early, the effects can build quickly. Brand bidding pushes your CPCs up by forcing you to compete for your own name. Ad hijacking can mislead users into believing they’re clicking on your genuine advert, while malicious redirects can expose them to unsafe pages. Even small issues like outdated messaging from affiliates can gradually erode trust in your brand.

These challenges make it essential to approach PPC brand protection in a structured and proactive way. In today’s landscape, paid search is competitive, fast-moving, and heavily targeted by fraud. Without clear rules and continuous monitoring, brands can lose customers at the final decision point without realising the cause.

Industry figures highlight just how serious these issues have become. Global ad fraud costs are forecast to reach $172 billion by 2028. Many marketers also report dealing with fake or invalid leads from their paid campaigns. At the same time, anti-fraud initiatives in the U.S. alone helped save more than $10 billion in 2023, showing how effective protection can be.

A strong PPC protection strategy starts with a clean and organised account structure. Separating branded campaigns makes it easier to notice unusual activity. A tight negative keyword list helps filter out unwanted triggers, especially from partners or resellers. Clear rules for affiliates ensure everyone knows what they can and cannot do, reducing the likelihood of violations.

Because manual monitoring is too slow to keep up with constantly changing tactics, automation plays a key role in modern brand protection. Automated systems track competitor activity, identify suspicious bids, and flag affiliate violations as they happen. Real-time alerts allow brands to act quickly before costs escalate or traffic is lost.

Tracking performance is just as important. Useful measurements include the number of violations detected, how many were resolved, how much budget was protected, and how branded CTR improves once unauthorised bidders are removed. Together, these metrics help show whether your strategy is working effectively.

Different industries have already seen strong results from focused PPC brand protection. For example, one automotive company regained control of its branded traffic after an audit revealed competitors aggressively bidding on its name. After restructuring the account and monitoring auctions more closely, the brand restored its impression share to 95%.

In another case, a major iGaming affiliate partner uncovered more than 100 rule breakers through automated monitoring. With clear evidence and reports, they were able to dispute payments and recover over €130,000 while restoring visibility for their main brand. These examples show how common the issue is and how impactful the solution can be.

Platforms like Bluepear are designed to automate these steps, making brand protection easier to manage. After setting up the system, brands gain instant visibility into unauthorised bidding, affiliate violations, and hidden ads. Each detected issue comes with screenshots and proof, making it easier to enforce rules and take action quickly.

Once these issues are removed, brands typically see cleaner attribution, reduced acquisition costs, and stronger performance across all paid channels. Maintaining this protection long-term requires continuous monitoring, strict affiliate policies, automated detection, and fast enforcement when violations occur.

In the end, many of the most damaging behaviours in paid search happen out of sight. Hidden ads, dishonest redirects, and trademark misuse can drain budgets without showing any immediate signs. A strong PPC brand protection system ensures these risks are brought to the surface before they impact your results.