In today’s competitive environment, many advertisers resort to using competitor trademark names as keywords in paid-search advertising. These trademark names appear in the search engine results pages for Google, Yahoo! and affiliates and partners when you buy Google AdWords or Overture Precision Match sponsored listings. Therefore, it’s possible for your competitors to drive substantial traffic to their web sites by virtue of your trademark name, using your reputation to attract visitors.
A fine example of this is the sticky situation with Google AdWords. In an Internetnews.com article titled “Google Adwords Under Further Trademark Scrutiny,” Google was quoted thusly:

“As stated in our Terms and Conditions, advertisers are responsible for the keywords and ad text that they choose to use. We encourage trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with our advertisers, particularly because the advertisers may have similar advertisements on other sites.”

I can certainly understand Google’s position. Can you imagine what would happen if it were forced to reverse its policy allowing advertisers to buy keywords containing trademark terms belonging to others? This would severely impact Google’s revenue, and no doubt would require exhaustive efforts on their part to prevent such activities from occurring.

It’s interesting to note that originally, Google AdWords did not sell trademarked keywords. However, it currently sells trademarked keywords in the U.S. and Canada (but not internationally) with the proviso that the trademark name can’t be used in the ad copy itself.

The Best Defense is an Offense

Is there any way to protect yourself from competitors raiding your trademark? One way is to hire an SEO vendor to help identify your competitors and then research their search engine advertising activities. Your legal department can subsequently use the SEO research data to protect your trademark and reputation. This step will prove invaluable toward defending your future and ongoing business.

Most often, it will be the smaller, “wannabe” companies riding on your coat tails by using your trademark terms as keywords in their advertising. These companies will generally avoid the threat of legal action upon receipt of a cease and desist letter. Not only are you protecting your name and reputation, you are crushing the competitors that you don’t want representing your firm.

Building Your Marketing Network

Another benefit of mining this competitor data is to assist those whom you do want to benefit from using your trademark name. For instance, you may have affiliates, resellers, and a number of associates with whom you can negotiate on a recurring basis. These are the folks you trust with your trademark and reputation — your friends and family marketing network. There’s something in it for you when they profit from your success.

Knowing who is using your trademark in keyword search advertising or in the body text of their web site has a directly positive effect on managing your brand, your trademark, and your reputation. Make sure your SEO vendor covers this critical marketing aspect for your online success.

A Word of Caution

It goes without saying that you don’t want to use trademark names other than your own in keyword phrases. Profiting from the use of another company’s trademark or brand without relevance or permission is unacceptable and could even result in legal action against you.

Reviewing the above information on trademark term research while interviewing SEO vendors will help you to identify those vendors who provide added value to your search engine marketing and optimization campaign. —-

Paul J. Bruemmer is founder of trademarkSEO. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including ClickZ, MarketingProfs, Marketing Today, WebProNews, SitePoint, SEO Today, SEO Consultants, MarcommWise, Pandia, B2B Interactive and Search Engine Guide. TrademarkSEO is a search engine optimization firm based in Santa Ynez Valley, California and serves clients nationwide. His company provided search submission services to over 10,000 websites, including many of the most prominent names in American business.

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You’re off to a good start with content. “The best thing to do is to step back and think of the top three things a client would want to see on the site,” recommends Tom Grant, executive Web producer at Blue Ray Media in Denver.

Your site highlights the areas of law that your firm practices, but you should build upon that to give visitors more information. “Potential clients will want to know if you have handled situations like theirs. The site should help them answer that question,” says Grant. “Some areas of the site start to answer that question, but each could go further by offering details of each area of practice.”

Your “Bankruptcy” section, for example, explains what it is and how it affects people. But other topic areas, such as “Estate Planning,” provide no such information. Grant thinks you should bring each practice-area page up to the level of your bankruptcy section — then take each a step further by creating a topical “client stories” page. There, you can give prospective clients a sense of what a typical case you handle looks like.

“This will help them see where you were successful, giving them a better chance to call you if the case sounds like theirs,” he says.

Expert tips

Another way to build out the practice-area pages is by providing articles for each. Many in need of legal advice will first try to find answers on their own. If you publish articles, potential clients will appreciate the free information and also have a higher regard for the lawyers who wrote them.

“They think, ‘If she writes about this stuff, she must know what she’s talking about,’” says Grant. “You position yourself as an expert.”
Talk back: Share your advice

Linking to useful resources will also help build your credibility. Your “Bankruptcy” page links to a recommended credit-counseling class and explains the process of obtaining a completion certificate. That’s a great model to follow on other pages. For example, you can link visitors to the site where they can pay local traffic tickets, or to a page with detailed information on North Carolina’s divorce laws.

To keep the content fresh, try to update at least one article each month. That has a bonus advantage: It tells search engines that your information is timely and relevant. You could also repurpose your articles into content for a newsletter sent out regularly to subscribers.

“Your tagline is ‘a law firm for life,’ so you should make sure your services go beyond serving prospective and existing clients,” Grant says. “Some clients may not realize you have these other areas of practice, so this will keep them aware that you’re still there.”

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