Another company's brand can be your keyword, though the platform may restrict it in your ad text. The harder test is whether those clicks become closed revenue at a cost you can accept.
Google's Trademarks policy makes a clear split between keywords and ad text. Google says it will not restrict the use of trademarks as keywords. It also will not restrict a trademark in the second-level domain of the display URL.
Ad text is different. When a trademark owner complains, Google reviews the ad. Google says it will restrict a trademark in an ad from a direct competitor, and in ads that use the trademark in a confusing, deceptive or misleading way. Google says the trademark must be used in the ad, not only on the landing page.
Three more points from the same policy page matter for planning:
Google also says it follows local trademark law. This page describes Google's ad policy, not the law in your market. If a rival's trademark is central to your plan, ask a lawyer before you launch.
Free Google Ads Audit
On a discovery call we look at how your conversions reach Google Ads and whether your campaigns bid on revenue or on form fills. Then we tell you what we would fix first.
For advertisers spending $100K+/month. No cost, no obligation. A person reads every submission.
Request a Discovery Call →A person who types a brand name is looking for that brand. Your ad is the second choice before the search even runs. Google's own diagnostic shows this.
Quality Score is built from three components: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google rates each one against other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days. On a rival's brand search, the rival's own ad is almost always the most relevant result. Expect your expected CTR and ad relevance to rate below average on those terms.
Google says Quality Score is a diagnostic tool and not an input in the ad auction. Use it to read the situation, not as a target. The statuses tell you the searcher did not come for you. Your ad and landing page must give that person a real reason to switch.
What we see in two accounts we manage. We compared competitor-name campaigns with main non-brand search campaigns in two accounts we manage. Each keeps the two in separate campaigns and has enough sales to compare. Over 90 days, attributed by Hyros, competitor-name clicks cost about 0.8x the non-brand CPC in one account and about 1.2x in the other. A rival's name did not always cost more per click.
Most competitor campaigns are judged on cost per lead. That is the wrong number. A person who wanted a rival and clicked your ad may fill in a form to compare prices, then buy from the rival. The lead looks cheap and the revenue never arrives.
We build every account the same way. First the tracking architecture, then conversion data, then bidding on events that cannot be faked: a signed contract, a funded deal, cash collected. When competitor-name clicks are measured against closed revenue, the account can see whether they pay. Smart Bidding can then value them correctly against your other traffic.
This needs the sale to reach Google Ads. For lead generation that usually means offline conversion tracking with the click ID kept from the first visit to the closed deal. With that in place, value-based bidding can tell a high-value customer from a small one, whichever keyword brought them in.
What closed revenue showed. In the same two accounts, competitor-name leads closed at about 0.9x and 1.0x the non-brand close rate. Cost per sale landed within 12% of non-brand in both. Return on ad spend was a little lower on the competitor campaign in each account. Judged on CPC alone, these campaigns look risky. Judged on closed revenue, they ran close to non-brand economics. Two accounts is a small sample.
Competitor terms behave differently from your brand and non-brand terms. A separate campaign keeps the budget and the results apart, so one rival's high CPC does not hide inside a blended average.
The keyword is allowed. The ad text is where complaints land. Write ads about your offer and why a buyer should compare, not about the rival's name.
A rival who sees you on their name may start to bid on yours. Watch your brand campaign's impression share and CPC after launch.
Pick the revenue number that makes the campaign worth it before you spend. Then judge it on closed deals, not on clicks or form fills.
Google's auction insights report compares your results with other advertisers in the same auctions. For Search campaigns it shows impression share, overlap rate, outranking share, position above rate, top of page rate and absolute top of the page rate.
Run it on your brand campaign to see which rivals appear on your name, and how often. Run it on a competitor campaign to see how often you show next to the brand owner. Google says the report does not show insights when impression share is less than 10%, and keywords and ad groups need a minimum level of activity.
Auction insights tells you who is present. It does not tell you what their clicks are worth to them, or what yours are worth to you. That answer comes from your own revenue data.
Yes, under Google's ad policy. Google's Trademarks policy says Google will not restrict the use of trademarks as keywords. Google also says it follows local trademark law, so this is Google's policy, not legal advice for your market.
It is risky. If the trademark owner complains, Google says it will restrict the trademark in an ad from a direct competitor, and in ads that use it in a confusing, deceptive or misleading way.
Quality Score compares your expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience with other advertisers on the exact same search over the last 90 days. On a rival's brand search, the rival's own ad is usually the most relevant, so your components often rate below average. Google says Quality Score is a diagnostic, not an auction input.
Run the auction insights report on your brand campaign or brand keywords. It lists the other advertisers in the same auctions with their impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. Google says it shows no insights when impression share is less than 10%.
Only if those clicks turn into revenue at a cost you accept. Judge the campaign on closed deals or cash collected, not on cost per lead, because people who searched for a rival often compare and then buy from the rival.
Google Advertising Policies Help: Trademarks. Google Ads Help: About Quality Score for Search campaigns, Use auction insights to compare performance. Checked on September 29, 2026.
A competitor campaign is only as good as the conversion data behind it. These guides cover that data.
Offline conversion tracking · Value-based bidding · Smart Bidding · Google Ads audit checklist
Free Google Ads Audit
Whether competitor terms pay depends on your margins, your close rate and how your sales data reaches Google Ads. We set the targets and stop rules for each account from that data, and we do not publish them as a formula. Ask us to build yours: we check whether your account can measure competitor clicks on closed revenue, and what we would change first.
For advertisers spending $100K+/month. No cost, no obligation. A person reads every submission.
Request a Discovery Call →