Reporting Affiliate Hijackers and Brand Bidders to Google

reporting ads to google marcode can submit trademark and policy violation complaints to google on your behalf while google's response is inconsistent, reporting creates an official record and can sometimes result in ad removal set realistic expectations important to know google is very inconsistent with enforcement many reports result in no action, even when violations are clear why report anyway creates an official complaint record sometimes google does act (especially on severe violations) shows affiliates you're serious about enforcement can strengthen your case with affiliate networks required by some networks before they'll take action better strategy use google reporting alongside direct affiliate enforcement, not instead of it types of reports available marcode submits complaints under four google policies 1\ circumventing systems use for ads impersonating your brand website where the ad shows your domain but redirects through affiliate tracking google's policy ads must not use cloaking or misleading redirects why it works these ads use tracking templates to send users to cloaking servers, making the redirect non transparent example ad displays "yourbrand com" but actually goes through affiliate redirect success rate moderate google enforcement varies 2\ user safety use for phishing or scam websites pretending to be you google's policy ads must not lead to harmful or deceptive sites when to use genuine fraud attempts, not just unauthorised affiliates example fake website impersonating your brand to steal customer data success rate higher for obvious scams, lower for grey area cases 3\ unfair advantage use for affiliate brand bidding when your programme terms prohibit it google's policy ads must not gain unfair advantage by violating advertiser agreements what google needs your terms and conditions must explicitly prohibit brand bidding example voucher site bidding on your brand when your t\&cs forbid it success rate low google rarely acts on these unless the violation is very clear 4\ trademark policy use for unauthorised use of your trademark in ad copy google's policy trademark owners can restrict use of their trademarks in ads only to competitors this is important google won't restrict trademark usage if the website discusses your brand and isn't in direct competition for example, if a discount site is using your trademark, even when not on the programme, google typically won't restrict it trademark reporting also won't work for affiliate hijackers, google does not take action on hijackers for trademark complaints requirements you must have registered your trademark with google only applies to ads using your trademark in the ad text/title legitimate resellers and review sites will be exempt often, non legitimate ones are also given a pass example competitor using "yourbrand" in their ad headline success rate high when reporting a direct competitor, lower for all other cases how to report from marcode from one of the advertiser reports find the ad you want to report click the + button in the actions column select "report to google" choose the appropriate policy type circumventing systems for domain impersonation user safety for scams and phishing unfair advantage for t\&c violations trademark for trademark misuse review the pre filled complaint edit if needed (add specific details) submit what happens report sent to google immediately task created in task manager for tracking with google tracking number you'll see confirmation in marcode from task manager or playbooks you can also report to google as part of manual tasks (same process as above) automated playbooks (reports sent on schedule) link to docid\ txyapmjoj0j4vn6wmwz80 choosing the right policy type decision tree is the ad showing your domain as the destination? → yes circumventing systems → no continue is it a scam/phishing site? → yes user safety → no continue are they using your trademark in the ad copy? → yes trademark policy (if registered) → no continue do your t\&cs prohibit brand bidding? → yes unfair advantage → no report may not be applicable writing effective complaints marcode pre fills your complaint with key details, but you can customize include specific policy violation how it misleads users link to your t\&cs (for unfair advantage reports) trademark registration number (for trademark reports) example for circumventing systems this ad violates google's circumventing systems policy the ad displays "yourbrand com" as the destination, but uses a tracking template to redirect users through cloaking servers (gotrackier com, kelkoogroup net) before reaching our site the redirect chain is not transparent to users advertiser \[name] ad account \[id] keep it factual google responds better to clear policy violations than emotional appeals what happens after you report google's process review (typically 1 5 business days) decision (approve removal or deny) notification (mostly) if banned, google blocks the account from advertising importantly this appears to happen on a campaign level, so in future the same advertiser might be seen again using new campaigns possible outcomes ads removed google agrees with your complaint no action google denies or ignores the report partial action some ads removed, others remain you won't always get confirmation from google, even when ads are removed tracking your reports all google reports create tasks in task manager showing date reported policy type used advertiser reported monitor in marcode to see if the ads stop appearing, which indicates google may have acted when google reporting works best most effective for clear domain impersonation (circumventing systems) obvious phishing/scam sites (user safety) high volume offenders (multiple reports build a case) less effective for grey area affiliate bidding (unfair advantage) legitimate looking voucher sites first time or low volume offenders use as part of a broader strategy don't rely on google alone to solve your fraud problems alternative actions if google won't act ban the affiliate directly via your network take legal action for trademark infringement common questions "how long until google acts?" typically 1 5 days for review, but some reports never get a response "can i report multiple ads from one advertiser?" yes, but one detailed report per advertiser is usually sufficient "what if the ads come back?" report again and note this is a repeat violation in your complaint "does marcode track if google removed the ads?" you'll see if ads stop appearing in marcode, but we don't get direct confirmation from google this will come to your email "should i wait for google before banning the affiliate?" no take direct action against the affiliate while also reporting to google 💡 pro tip don't wait for google to act send your warning to the affiliate at the same time you report to google this two pronged approach is more effective than relying on google alone