Bidding on a Competitor’s Name: Legal in Canada, Useful for You?

Archive note. This article describes the situation as it stood when it was published. The rules, tools and features it mentions may have changed since. Check the current information with the official source before acting.

Bidding on a competitor's name: clients here in Mascouche ask me about it almost every week, and the short answer is that Google Ads lets you do it. Whether it earns its place in your account is a different question. Before you set that campaign live, it helps to understand how Google treats trademark complaints, what your ad text can actually say, and where the click has to land. None of what follows is legal advice, so check anything specific to your business with a lawyer.

Bidding on a competitor's name in Google Ads: what the policy actually allows

Google's Ads trademark policy lets you choose a competitor's brand name as a keyword, even one you do not own; what it restricts is using that name inside your ad text. Because so many owners assume the whole tactic is off limits, that is the first thing I clear up.

I run Google Ads campaigns for small businesses across Greater Montréal, and I read the trademark policy before setting up any competitor campaign. Google lets you select a trademarked term as a keyword trigger, so your ad can appear when someone searches that name. What you cannot do is put the trademark in the visible headline or description without permission, unless a narrow exception applies, such as reseller status or genuinely informational content.

Trademark complaints and how Google Ads handles them in Canada

A trademark owner who spots their brand in your ad text can file a complaint with Google, and that is where most competitor bidding runs into trouble. Google does not police the keywords you target, but it does police the words in the ad itself.

Once a complaint lands, Google reviews the flagged ad and usually asks you to remove the trademarked term from the headline or description. Ignore that request and the ad can be pulled with little warning. My advice is plain: keep the competitor's name out of your visible copy, use it only as a targeting keyword, and you avoid most of these headaches.

One more thing worth saying out loud. Google's policy does not override Canadian law, so an ad that misleads people or misuses a mark could still draw a claim for trademark infringement or passing off, whatever the platform permits. And the street runs both ways: a competitor can bid on your name too, and you cannot stop them, which is a good reason to hold your own brand terms.

Ad copy for a competitor-name search without their name in the text

Ad copy for a competitor-name search works when it speaks to what the searcher actually wants, a comparison or an alternative, without naming anyone. Since the competitor's name is off the table, that is the whole craft of it.

I focus the copy on the intent behind the search: a better fit, a fair price, another option worth a look. Headlines like "Looking for other options?" or "Compare before you choose" stay relevant without crossing the line. Then I make the landing page carry the same promise. When the ad and the page both match what the searcher had in mind, that relevance feeds your quality score, and people stay because the page is about the thing they were chasing.

Landing pages that hold up when someone clicks a competitor-name ad

A landing page holds up when it answers the intent behind the click; send a competitor-name searcher to a generic homepage and they bounce, and Google notices. A weak landing page experience drags down the quality score on those competitor keywords, which raises what you pay per click on those specific terms.

Here is what I build instead of a homepage dump:

1. A page that names the search intent directly, like comparing the options in that category.
2. Clear proof of what you offer, without running the competitor down by name.
3. One obvious next step, whether that is a quote form or a phone number.

A focused page keeps visitors reading and protects the quality score on those keywords, which is what makes the campaign worth running at all.

Cost and click-through rate on competitor-name keywords

Cost tends to run higher and click-through rate lower on competitor-name keywords, because the person searching a specific brand usually wants that brand, not your alternative. Fewer of them click, and that is fine as long as the ones who do are a real fit.

Your ad rank still depends on your bid and your quality score together, so a well-written, relevant ad can show above a competitor paying more per click. The catch is that a competitor's name is, by definition, less relevant to your page, so expect a lower quality score on those terms specifically, which nudges up your cost per click there. I read those numbers weekly before deciding whether a campaign stays on.

Decision rule: is bidding on a competitor's name worth it?

Bidding on a competitor's name is worth it when your margins can absorb a higher cost per click, the clicks actually convert, and your own brand terms are already covered. I walk clients in Montréal or Mascouche through three checks before I recommend it.

1. Check your margins. Room to absorb a higher cost per click makes the tactic viable; thin margins make it risky.
2. Look at your click-through rate. If almost nobody clicks your ad on a competitor search, the budget is leaking.
3. Track conversions, not just clicks. A cheap click that never turns into a customer is not a win.

Run it as a test for a few weeks on a small budget, then judge it on those three signals. If they line up, keep going. If they do not, move that money to your own branded keywords, where your ad is the most relevant result and the least contested, and let the competitor campaign go.