David Naffziger CEO – BrandVerity Brand Abuse Online David Naffziger CEO – BrandVerity

Common Forms of Brand Abuse Abuse is most frequently found in channels where abusers can make money. Domain Names Spam & Adware Search Ads

Domain Typos of Virgin Mobile 3,200 30,000 9,000 200 20,000 visitors a month 1,600

The Brand Owner’s Approach Generate a list of domains Check the list to see who owns the domains Find out which domains have traffic Get those domains back

Find Typos http://www.domaintools.com/domain-typo/ or http://www.citizenhawk.com

Find Brand Extensions https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordTool or http://www.keyworddiscovery.com

Find International Registrations

Who has Traffic? Good indicators of Traffic: AdWords Keyword Tool Input both the full domain and just the stem: (virginatlatic & virginatlatic.com) and check scores KeywordTracker Same exercise as with AdWords Keyword Tool Registration Date Older registrations are more likely to have traffic Buy AdWords for every typo in question

Get the Domain Back Uniform Domain Resolution Process (UDRP) Quick, Inexpensive Mediated process to recover domains from abusers Can take 30 days & cost several $K Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA) US-based law that allows for up to $100K in damages for cybersquatting/typosquatting Verizon recently won an award of $30 MM against a typosquatter

Spam & Adware Utilized to: Sell your products Usually by your affiliates or partners Sell your competitor’s products Sell knockoffs May contain legal liability for the brand-owner: False advertising claims CAN SPAM compliance Adware consent

Catching Spam & Adware Abuse Requires specialized tools Spam: Lashback EmailDataSource Adware: Ben Edelman offers a fantastic detection and monitoring service

Search Ad Brand Abuse Abuse is frequently conducted by organizations that: Compete with you Are your partners (affiliates) Strongly dislike you

Methods of Abuse How they hide from you: Reverse geo-targeting Day-parting Copy your ad text

Methods of Abuse How they dodge Google's filters: TM in Display URL Variations on TM (typos, spaces, etc.)

Monitoring Manual Automated Use Google Translate or other translation tools Or proxies Or AOL client Or anything that gets you an IP from a different location Do the testing off-hours Look at the page source Automated Shameless plug: BrandVerity PoachMark Free, no-credit-card trial

Thanks! David Naffziger CEO, BrandVerity Search Ad Monitoring davenaff@brandverity.com www.naffziger.net/blog www.brandverity.com