Are you one of the many businesses that have a registered trademark on your products, services, or company name? In case you didn’t already know, Google doesn’t actually register trademarks.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t choose to request an investigation of infringement by advertisers outside of the ones you authorize.

Listen, trademarking is an expensive and time-consuming process.

One of our many duties here at Direct Online Marketing is to address any infringement upon our clients’ trademarks in Google Ads by alerting clients to another company’s use of their trademarks in search engine results pages.

Let’s take a few minutes below to discuss the tools at hand to properly file a formal complaint against advertisers with Google when we find unauthorized trademarks in ad text.

Who Can File A Google Ads Trademark Complaint?

• The owner of the trademark
• An attorney of record listed on the trademark registration
• A representative of the trademark owner based at a parent company headquarters (think a brand manager, product marketer, or communications director)
• Someone the trademark owner has notified Google has the authorization to act on their behalf
• Other associated parties (for instance, a Google Premier Partner advertising agency)

Want a Premier Google Partner’s
help filing your trademark complaint?
Call 800.979.3177 today.

How Do You File A Google Ads Trademark Complaint?

Google makes this process pretty straightforward. Below is a four-step process for submitting a trademark complaint in Google Ads if you believe another advertiser is in violation of the Google trademark infringement policy.

1. Review The Google Advertising Policy Guidelines

Review Google’s Advertising Policies. Note that their trademark policy varies by region, so please review them closely if you feel your brand has fallen victim to this, especially in a country represented in the European Union or the European Free Trade Association.

2. Produce Proof Of Another Advertiser Misusing Your Trademark

Locate an example of where someone is misusing your trademark. If it’s a national issue, you can do this just by doing a search on google.com. If it’s a localized issue and outside of your area, you can use Ads’ Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to mimic any location.

To use this tool:

1. Click the Tools tab
2. Under Troubleshooting, click “Ad preview and diagnosis”
3. Enter your trademark term. Select location, language, device, and audience type (if necessary).
4. Press enter to create the search result preview box and scroll down.

Before you go too far through this process, it’s worth noting that a reseller and informational site that uses this information may be protected against any kind of infringement action if:

• The landing page of their ad is meant to sell the products and services that use the trademark
• The landing page is found to simply provide information or specific details related to the trademark

3. Collect Your Trademark Infringement Information In A Google Sheets Document

Create a Google Sheets doc or excel spreadsheet. This is just for your own internal use, but we find it extremely helpful.

Below is an example of kinds of information you will want to have on hand in case you need to send more information.

• Date Sent
• Date Received Reply
• Search Engine – if using different search engines
• Status: Removed or Not?
• AIMS Service Ticket or # – this will be the number to refer to when communicating with Google
• Site Owner / Search Term
• Ad Displayed (text version)
• Display URL
• Destination URL – copy the destination URL by right-clicking onto the ad’s headline
• Location (ex. Washington, DC)
• Screenshot the Ad – this is not always necessary, but helpful when Google responds asking for it (which they often do)

4. Complete The Google Ads Trademark Complaint Form

Fill out the Google Trademark Complaint form.

You will be required to fill out the form and submit for review. The form is self-explanatory, but you will need specific information in order to complete the process. Most importantly, you will need to know the following:

• Ads Account #
• Trademark owner’s name, address, phone, and email
• Countries where the term is trademarked
• Registered status (yes or no)
• Whether the trademark is on a word, design, or both
• Application or Registration #
• Your name
• Title
• Company Name
• Relationship (ex. trademark owner or advertising agency that is authorized to act on your behalf)
• Address
• Phone #
• Email

Please note, the Google complaint form is ordered differently than above. You will be asked a few additional questions, which is where the spreadsheet will then be put to good use. You will also need to describe specific details concerning the “Scope of complaint” and select either only specific advertisers or all advertisers. Once you are finished filling out the form, click submit.

Next Steps Following Your Submission Of A Trademark Infringement Complaint

A Google representative will notify you that the complaint has been received; the issue will then be investigated. You may need to provide Google with additional information such as a screenshot (as you are not able to input an image into the complaint form).

That’s it. Pretty simple and quick.

Running through this process 3 times a week allows you to stay on top of competitor ads that could potentially limit your ads from showing. Most importantly, this small task will help prevent a company from gaining value from your trademarked term.

For other options on how to respond when a competitor targets your brand name with their PPC and SEO strategies, we strongly suggest you check out our post on responding to competitors who target your brand name.

For more on trademarks and other legality related to SEO and advertising in search engines, please check out any of the following:

• Want Approval For Resellers And Partners To Use Your Trademark In Google Ads?
• Google Now In Legitimate Trouble over Trademarks
• You Can Use Competitor’s Brands in PPC, But Do You Want To?
• How SEOs Can Protect Themselves Legally

Key Takeaways on Trademark Infringement in Google Ads

• Google allows advertisers to bid on competitors’ trademarked terms as keywords; however, the use of trademarks in ad copy is restricted without authorization.
• Trademark owners can file a complaint with Google to prevent unauthorized use of their trademark in competitor ads.
• To protect your trademark, you need to have it registered in the relevant territory and provide evidence of infringement when submitting a complaint to Google.
• Monitoring your brand terms regularly is key to protecting your trademark and maintaining control over your brand visibility in search.

If you’re interested in learning how you can drive better results with search engine marketing, schedule a digital marketing consultation.

This article was updated to add additional information on May 5th, 2025.

The post How to Protect Your Brand From Trademark Infringement In Google Ads (Updated 2025) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Can You Use Competitors’ Names In Google Ads? Can They Use Your Brand In Google Ads?

Branded search engine ranking positions (aka SERPs) can make or break your online presence within your market and your customers’ minds. But when you find a competitor using your brand name as part of their Google Ads or SEO campaigns, the stakes can get raised by a considerable margin.

When a user performs a search, visitors click on the first ads or organic results that seem most relevant to them.

The chances of winning that click are higher when you show up in top positions on relevant searches.

For many years brands have tried to undermine competitors’ names to rank higher and poach visitors through covert PPC and SEO tactics. When this happens, competitors getting search visibility on your brand name become a huge detriment to your sales by hijacking your brand’s reputation.

Leveraging competitor brand names via search engines is a common tactic and an issue that must be addressed to maintain both your rankings and your branding.

Savvy competitors — often with agencies behind them — combat these challenges and capitalize on the opportunity.

The Basics of Advertising and Doing SEO on Competitor Brand Names

Just to make sure we’re on the same page here, let’s take a brief second to fully define what we’re talking about.  When we talk about competitor brand names, there are a few different keyword types to pay attention to if you want a full picture of which competitors are trying to take over your brand. The three most common types are:

• Competitor’s actual business names (like Pepsico buying ads or optimizing for Coca-Cola keywords)
• Competitor’s branded products (Pepsi buying ads or optimizing pages on Sierra Mist’s site for Sprite keywords)
• Competitor’s executive names or prominent thought leader names (Walmart running ads on searches of Jeff Bezos promoting CEO Doug McMillon)

The process in search advertising works the same as bidding on any other search term.  You select the competitor term(s) you wish to bid on, set how much you’re willing to pay, and set up ads for that ad group. Voila, you can have your ad appear when someone searches for your competitors.  There’s no cost to you until and unless someone clicks on one of your ads.

In SEO, the process is also very similar. Publish a piece of content on the subject matter, optimize it for the search term, and then build backlinks to the page so that it ranks well.

Legal Questions – Is This Allowed?

It’s important to understand that leveraging a competitor’s brand name is quite common in digital marketing.

You may be thinking to yourself at the moment — is this even allowed?

Yes, yes it is.

For the most part, using such advertising tactics is OK provided you are not deceptive in your practices. This means that if you are intentionally trying to mislead searchers, you may find yourself in hot water.

You need to make sure you’re clean in your ads and other marketing materials by being upfront about who you are. And doing that well means representing specific reasons customers often prefer you over your competition. If your name, your competitor’s name, or other branded term isn’t trademarked, then there’s no issue at all as far as the search engines are concerned.

Where courts have generally upheld advertisers’ rights to advertise — non-deceptively — on competitor brand names, this is America. Anyone can sue anyone for any reason, so legal costs are a real consideration.

By the way, if you’re really into this sort of thing, check out Eric Goldman’s Technology & Law blog.  It’s the single best source on the Web for following these types of lawsuits regarding search engine marketing.

With that disclaimer and plug out of the way, let’s dive into how you can protect the reputation you’ve built against competitors trying to draft off of your brand.

Google Ads Options to Address Competitor Bidding

Campaigns explicitly created to target competitor brand searches are expensive and typically produce low numbers of conversions.

If this is happening to you, take solace in knowing that your competitor is spending some serious cash. But you still want to reclaim what is yours and reduce any adverse impacts on your brand.

When reacting to competitors running ads on your company’s or product’s name in Google Ads — and other search engines — you have some options.

Option 1: Protect Your Name by Running Ads on Your Own Name

Branded campaigns use your company’s brand name as a keyword. This play typically yields high conversions at a low cost per conversion – and the more your brand is known and trusted, the more impressive the results.

As you can see in the above example, Salesforce is running Google ads on its name, taking up the top ad position. Two competitors – Pipedrive and SugarCRM – also run on Salesforce keywords, positioning themselves as an alternative to this well-known CRM.

Searchers click on ads at the very top of a page more often than other positions. This is especially true on mobile because the visual real estate is so much smaller.  By running these ads, Salesforce ensures searchers will see its ads first before seeing alternatives.

When you run ads on your name, you have a much better chance of influencing how searchers interact with your brand in the SERPs. This way you have more control of your campaigns, and you’ll always be first in search results on your brand.

Note: Some companies don’t like to bid on their name as they think that it’s an unnecessary cost, taking away conversions from organic search – clicks they don’t have to pay for. They also feel that bidding on their name is wasting money that could go toward reaching new searchers who aren’t looking for them. But if your competition is running on your name, do you really want people looking for you to see the competition first?

Option 2: Petition Google Ads for Trademark Protection

We highly recommend trademarking your brand if you haven’t done so already. Be aware that it can take up to six months or more to receive a trademark even if you don’t face other companies with similar claims.

The significant benefit of having a valid trademark as that there’s a formal process to petition Google to disallow your competitors from using your name in their ads if you own a trademark.

They can still run on your name even if you have this trademark protection, but at least they won’t be able to use your name in the ad copy, except in very limited circumstances.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our step-by-step guide on how to protect your trademark in Google.

Want a Premier Google Partner’s
help filing your trademark complaint?
Call 800.979.3177 today.

Option 3: Fight Fire with Fire

If you’re interested in going on the offensive, you can try to beat your competition at their own game and run ads on their branded terms. Just keep in mind that this tactic is prone to have the same high costs and challenges as discussed earlier.  Here’s why.

Search advertising platforms allow you, in theory, to run on almost any keyword you want, including your competitors’ names.  But in all cases, they want to make sure your keywords are relevant to your business.  Otherwise, consumers will have a harder time finding information related to their searches and the whole PPC model starts crumbling.

And since you aren’t your competitor, Google will quickly give those keywords in your account a low Quality Score.

Keywords with a low Quality Score (caused by low clickthrough rates and other metrics) will end up costing you more than average on a per click basis. If your keywords are not relevant to your brand (i.e., because they aren’t your brand), then your search advertising platform will make you pay for it. In a best-case scenario, your quality score for competitor’s brand names may peak at a 3/10.

As we mentioned earlier, these kinds of campaigns come at a high cost and a lower chance of successful conversions. However, conversions don’t have to be the goal of this play.

Going on the offensive allows you to fight fire with fire if your competitors are already deploying these tactics. It will also draw some awareness to your brand for potential new customers who only knew about your competitor.

Note: It is possible to find a competitor’s ad come up when you search your own business name even if they don’t have you in their keyword crosshairs. If you see that, it’s probably one of two scenarios:

• Search retargeting (RLSAs): If you have been to the competitor’s website, their ads may be displaying based on your website habits.
• Similar audiences for search: The competitor may have a “similar to” retargeting audience and Google’s machine learning is considering your search habits similar to those of the competitor’s website visitors.

Either way, it’s the algorithm doing what it does best!

Other Pros and Cons of Bidding on Competitor’s Brand Names

Pros

• It can work.  A lot of times people are interested in that competitor for a specific reason that won’t help you at all: trying to get hired, a vendor looking up directions, etc.  But for the consumer doing research – or maybe a current, unsatisfied client looking up a phone number, the payoff could be handsome.
• It will jerk their chain.  Double edged sword here (see Cons), but after seeing your ad on their name, internally they may devote a lot of executive resources figuring out what can be done.  Plus, some people just really, really like ticking off their competitors.
• More competition should drive up their prices to bid on their name. While this means they’ll be spending more money they could be devoting elsewhere, their Quality Scores will likely be so much higher than yours, that the additional cost may not add up to much.  Unless they weren’t advertising on their name at all before and decided to start doing so because of your ads.

Cons

• Your time.  Your competitors may call you up and chew you out about this.  Trust me, I’ve seen this time-suck happen and had advertisers flip their feelings about bidding on competitor names 180 degrees.
• Money.  They may sue you or threaten to do so.  While you could just adhere to their cease-and-desist and potentially be done with it, most companies will at least consult their attorneys about this.  And if they don’t happen to be experts in search – and virtually none are, this can get really expensive.  (BTW, we have consulted with attorneys about this in the past.  If you’re an advertiser or lawyer needing help with this, give us a shout at 800.979.3177.  We can also advise on how to broker a fair peace accord without the courts).
• They may start advertising on your name, which could send up your costs somewhat and also decrease your click throughs.

Be Careful with Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) can be a great tool—until it serves up an ad with a competitor’s name who happens to spot the ad. That’s where it goes from clever automation to potential liability.

(See stats and insights from a test of keyword-insertion code in Google Ads that we conducted.)

DKI functions by automatically inserting the user’s search query into your ad text, provided that the search query matches one of your keywords and fits within character limits. This dynamic functionality can enhance ad relevance for generic terms; it becomes perilous when competitor brand names are among your keywords.

For instance, if your keyword is “Competitor Brand Alternatives” and a user searches for “Competitor Brand Product X,” your headline might read “Competitor Brand Product X,” directly featuring your competitor’s name in your ad.

Google explicitly absolves itself of responsibility for any policy violations arising from the use of DKI. (Even in cases where it was the applying a Google Recommendation that introduced DKI functionality into a campaign.) Their policy clearly states that advertisers are accountable for ensuring that their ads comply with all advertising guidelines after keywords are inserted.

The fix is simple: don’t use DKI with competitor keywords. Build static ads with deliberate messaging that highlights your differentiators.

How to Respond When Competitors Use SEO to Leverage Your Brand

Several SEO tactics can solidify your SERP positions against competitors who want to rank in organic search for your brand name, or for when potential customers seek alternatives to your brand.

Much like the Google Ads tactics listed above, you can either take a defensive route or get aggressive with your SEO keyword targeting.

Choose wisely, as this is the perfect time to heed Uncle Ben’s wisdom — because great responsibility is bestowed upon those who wield these great SEO powers.

Option 1: Ranking for “Brand Alternative” Keywords

To dampen your competitors’ efforts, consider creating a page to rank for brand alternative searches specific to your brand name. This page still aims to promote your brand as the better solution, but the idea is to optimize it with your name and “alternative” keywords to make sure it outranks your sneaky competition.

You can also supplement this tactic with content development and link building strategies targeting ‘brand alternative’ keyword phrases. Guest posts and other authored contributions optimized for brand “alternative” keywords can help take up valuable search positions. These opportunities also are good places to score a link back to the page you already created.

By leveraging these two tactics, you can fortify your brand against alternative searches that your competitor targets with their SEO efforts.

Option 2: Fighting Back with Your Own “Brand Alternative” SEO Strategies

When your competitors step up their efforts against your brand, it’s time to consider going on the offensive from an SEO perspective. Some examples include previously mentioned tactics:

• Your competitor running ads on your brand name
• Optimizing a page on their website to rank for your brand name
• Leveraging backlinks to improve their ranking for your brand name

Just like how competitors may create content on their site to rank for keywords related to your brand, you can do the same.

You can accomplish this one of two ways:

1. Optimize for “competitor” + “alternative(s)” — Here you create pages specifically designed to target search users looking for alternatives to your competitor by optimizing for their brand names and “alternative” (e.g. “picasa alternative,” “photoshop alternative,” etc.). This way, your brand will begin to show up when people go to search for their name.

Below is an example of how Lawn Doctor compares itself to several competitors.

1. Optimize for competitor weaknesses — In some cases, search users may be considering a competitor, but also seeking choices.

For example, say you are a project management software looking to position yourself against Trello, a highly recognized competitor. You could try creating content that aims to rank for keywords such as “trello issues.”

Be warned: snatching a top search engine ranking using this approach is highly unlikely without some investment in aggressive link building tactics. But, this approach will undercut your competitor in the following ways:

• They will lose long tail organic search traffic.
• Awareness of your product will increase within their customer and prospect base.
• You will convert new business opportunities from prospects who were not initially considering your brand as a solution.

Final Thoughts — Consult Your Legal Team

Please note: we recommend you consult your legal team to assess risk before trying the more aggressive tactics listed above. Keep in mind that there are times where using terms and phrases — specifically trademarked words, branded words — could have some legal implications.

What ends up happening in situations like this is that – whether mediated expensively through attorneys or done from President to President – a truce is called.  The downside is that it needs to be brokered with each competitor as it can’t be done through the search engines (other than if there’s a legitimate trademark complaint to be filed).

SERPs can make or break your brand so make sure you are taking the necessary measures toward protecting them. Starting with a great defense (owning real estate and top ads on your name) is the best offense.  Ultimately, though, it’s your brand, and only you can decide how to solidify your place in Google search.

Key Takeaways About Targeting Competitor Brand Names

• Using a competitor’s brand name is a common and permitted practice in digital marketing, barring misleading usages.
  
• Competitors using your brand name in their Google Ads or SEO campaigns can divert potential customers.
  
• Trademarking your brand name allows you to request that Google disallow competitors from using it in their ads.
  
• Optimizing content for brand alternative keywords can help prevent competitors from ranking high for your brand name.
  
• Running ads on your own name is one line of defense for your brand.
  

This article was updated to add additional information on April 7th, 2025.

Get Paid Search Advertising Services

If you’re interested in learning how you can drive better results with search engine marketing and our paid search advertising services then please schedule a digital marketing consultation. Or, to get more information on this topic, contact us today for a free consultation or learn more about our status as a Google Partner Agency before you reach out.

Need SEO or PPC services for your B2B business? Learn more about why we are The Best Digital Marketing Agency For B2B Businesses.

The post Catch A Competitor Bidding And Ranking For Your Brand? Here’s Your Options. (Updated 2025) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

The use of third-party trademarks in Google Ads campaigns is always a risky endeavor. In some cases, like when you have approved retailers or licensed resellers of your products that are encouraged to sell your product online on your behalf, setting them up with trademark approval in Google Ads can be critical to their success.

If their campaigns aren’t set up for success correctly when they launch, getting the best ROI on your approved retailer, licensed reseller, or certified partner campaigns could suffer inconvenient delays. Ensuring that your Google Ads trademarks are properly implemented and approved is critical in making sure the campaign goes off without a hitch. 

Below, we’ll talk about how to navigate approving the use of your Google Ads trademarks to third parties so they can use your legally registered names, words, and symbols in their Google Ads campaigns. If you’ve got a reseller looking to launch a campaign, this guide to trademarks in PPC advertising is a great place to start.

What You Need to Know About Google Ads Trademark Policies

Before we get started, it’s worth taking a look at Google’s Trademarks policies.  According to the policy, Google abides by local trademark laws, but also recognizes that third parties can use trademarks in certain situations, like when a reseller is describing trademarked products. Given how prevalent this type of situation is within Ecommerce, this is great information to have whether it’s your first or thousandth advertising campaign.

There are a few important overarching things to keep in mind when using third-party trademarks in your Google Ads:

1. You can’t use someone else’s trademark in your ad text unless you have their permission.
2. You can’t use someone else’s trademark in a way that would confuse people about who the ad is from.
3. You can’t use someone else’s trademark in a way that would suggest you’re endorsed or sponsored by them if you’re not.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some specific scenarios where you might need to use a third-party trademark in your Google Ads.

Getting Approval To Use Client Trademarks In Google Ads As An Advertiser

Case studies. Success stories. Use cases. Our work.

Whatever service providers call this type of content on their website, showing off their efforts is an important way to build trust and provide social proof in industries that are rampant with snake oil salesmen.

In situations where service providers want to highlight their work with a trademarked brand in their search advertising, they will need to acquire the approval of the trademark owner to use client trademarks. To avoid any sticky situations, the owner of a trademark will have to fill out and submit a 3rd Party Authorization Request on your behalf to Google.

Keep in mind that it will generally take 5-7 business days for the trademark approval in Google Ads to come through, so build that time into your planning phase if possible when launching new campaigns.

Getting Approval To Use Trademarks In Google Ads When You’re A Reseller

If you sell products or services from other companies, you’ll likely need to use their trademarks in your Google Ads. For example, let’s say you’re an online store running paid search ads in Google and Microsoft for a brand of fire protection supplies. In this case, searches for the brand name and product surpass non-branded products, so you have a higher likelihood of selling through your inventory running ads for branded terms (“zurn double check detector”) than you do running ads for non-branded terms (“backflow prevention detector”).

In this case, you’ll need to use the Zurn trademark in your ad text in order to let people know that you carry that particular product. However, you can’t use the Zurn trademark in PPC advertising in a way that would suggest you’re endorsed or sponsored by the brand.

The landing page needs to clearly provide a way to buy the Zurn fire protection supply that you’re talking about, as well as display commercial information about the product. This marks it as a reseller ad, and makes it clear that you’re not advertising for an informational site.

One thing you’re absolutely not allowed to do is use a brand’s trademark in a competitive way to sell, say, an alternative brand. This will get your ad disapproved and have possibly worse repercussions for your account’s status.

What Happens If You Get Caught Using Trademarks In Google Ads Without Approval?

If you’re caught using unauthorized trademarks in your Google Ads, the consequences can be pretty severe. The following consequences are the most common, so you may want to consider what would happen if:

1. Your ad could be disapproved
2. You could even lose your ads account entirely

More than one hefty suspension has been handed down over trademark infringement complaints in Google Ads.

So, it’s important to make sure you’re only using trademarks that you have the rights to use. If you’re not sure whether or not you have the right to use a trademark in your PPC campaign, whether on Google Ads or another platform, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and get permission from the owner before using it.

What to Do When Another Company Is Using Your Trademark Without Permission

Protecting your brand is important. After all, it’s something you’ve spent countless hours building and refining and empowering, so to have a competitor or some other company out there misusing it can be absolutely infuriating.

Of course, Google has, well, a bit of a spotted history when it comes to protecting the trademarks of brands.

What Do We Do If A Company Is Using Our Trademark In Their Google Ads?

If you believe another company is using your trademark without permission in their Google Ads, you can fill out a Trademark Complaint Form.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a guarantee that the ads will be removed, but it’s worth doing if you believe your trademark is being used without permission in someone else’s ad campaign.

There are times when Google will determine that the third party complies with Google’s policy in their use of your trademark. In that case, there’s not much you can do other than to file a trademark infringement lawsuit against the advertiser.

Keep in mind that the Google Ads trademark violation policy only applies to the use of those trademarked terms within the ad copy. Branded keywords aren’t protected, and it’s perfectly okay for competitors to target your branded keywords as much as they like as long as they aren’t using your trademark in their ad creative.

To be honest, though, we don’t necessarily think it’s a great practice.

Key Considerations for Compliance with Google Trademark Policies

Understanding Google Ads’ trademark policy means going deeper than simply knowing what’s allowed on the surface. It’s about protecting brand equity while also recognizing the leeway Google gives advertisers to compete fairly. We’ve seen too many accounts trip over these distinctions—not because of bad intentions, but because they missed key nuances.

• Keywords vs. Ad Text
  Google will let you bid on trademarked keywords in most cases, but using that trademark in your actual ad copy? That’s where the guardrails go up fast—unless you’re authorized or fall into very specific exemptions.
• Resellers and Informational Sites
  These get some breathing room. But they have to be explicit: show you’re selling the trademarked product or providing genuinely helpful content. Transparency matters here, and Google’s not forgiving if you’re trying to sneak around that.
• Using a Competitor’s Name to Get Clicks
  Dangerous territory. Comparative ads are fair game, but you need to be accurate and avoid any implication of endorsement. Otherwise, you’ll get flagged—and possibly penalized.
• Landing Page Relevance
  If it doesn’t match the promise of the ad or misrepresents the brand relationship, that can trigger the same violations as your ad copy. Google isn’t just looking at what you say; they’re looking at what you deliver.

And just when you thought you’d addressed everything, policies evolve. Google’s search algorithm is constantly changing to serve up a better experience, and so, too, do Google policies change in light of novel situations and new product offerings. We keep a close eye on updates to avoid surprises—and so should anyone running serious campaigns.

Need Help Navigating Google Ads Trademark Policy?

At DOM, we have some of the brightest and most experienced Google Ads experts on the planet. After all, we didn’t get to be named one of Google’s top 3% Premier Partners without knowing our stuff.

If you’re struggling with navigating trademark approval in your Google Ads campaigns, or if you just don’t want to have to deal with that sort of thing, our PPC specialists will do it for you. We’re a one-stop digital marketing shop that knows Google Ads and digital advertising best practices like the back of our hand, and we have the numbers to prove it.

Contact us today for a free consultation and learn why Direct Online Marketing is the best digital marketing agency for you.

Frequently Asked Question about Using Trademarks in Google Ads

This article was updated to add additional information on March 31st, 2025.

The post Want Approval For Resellers And Partners To Use Your Trademark In Google Ads? (March 2025) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

The Internet has become so integrated into our daily lives that we rarely reflect upon how drastically the world has changed. Now more than ever, brands and individuals have access to tools to achieve beyond what would have been thought possible compared to the world just two decades ago.

For exporters who take their global export marketing efforts seriously, using search engines to reach customers half-way across the world is an extremely effective strategy for you to use.

Digital Marketing For Exporters Just Works

Many know how integral digital marketing for exporters has become an overall growth strategy. The problem is that with so many different tactics to consider, it’s hard to weigh out which ones are going to provide the biggest returns while minimizing costs.

In 2001, I saw the potential for internet marketing services and used my early career successes to build Direct Online Marketing into the agency it has become today. Fast forward to 2008, Google AdWords (now known as Ads) was starting to mature and we had our first chance to get results for our new international clients.

Maybe this was more of a case of serendipity, but we began export marketing accidentally. Starting with our first foreign client from Australia, we used our experiences to eventually help clients in countries such as Costa Rica, Germany, Hong Kong, Russia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Along the same line, we started helping our U.S.-based clients sell overseas to over 150 countries worldwide. Each marketplace has its own distinct challenges, but we were able to find success for clients in industries from luxury watches to higher education.

DOM Helped The WVDO
Bring Global Business To A Rural State.
Learn What We Did Here.

One example I often think about is what we achieved with Legacy Truck Center, a retailer specializing in heavy-duty truck parts with no prior exporting experience. In just under 5 years, Wheeling Truck Center sold truck parts in 94 different countries and was awarded the Presidential “E” Award for exporters in 2014.

Once we saw the success our clients were having, we started exploring the exporting marketing mix more seriously. We started by attending a U.S. Commercial Service (USCS) trade mission to Costa Rica and Guatemala. Since then we have attended Trade Winds, done Gold Key Services, and coordinated our own personalized country missions through the USCS.

Which brings us to today, where we’ve continued to help our clients tap into limitless markets. We know what works and we have proven time and again how exporters can use online marketing to their advantage.

4 Digital Strategies For Export Marketing To Unlock New Frontiers

With so many opportunities, the biggest challenge can be knowing where to start. Regardless of which path you decide to take, you need to make yourself aware of the multitude of free resources and where to find them. From there, you’ll have some data to get an idea of which foreign markets show promise.

1. Connect with Your Local USCS Office

Your first stop is checking in with the U.S. Commercial Service and finding your local office. Your rep will be a tremendous asset and can inform you of other free and low-cost resources like the Small Business Association, your state development agency, the Export-Import Bank, and your District Export Council.

2. Keyword Research in International Markets

Next, look at how much interest there is in your products or services in various country targets. The great thing about search engines is that you know the searcher’s intent. You can reach them when they’re most interested—when they’re looking for more information about what you sell. And don’t think that this only works for online retailers, because this can be a great tool for service providers, too.

To start, sign up for a free Google Ads account. You’ll need to put in a credit card, but you never need to spend any money with them. This will give you access to their Keyword Planner. Here you can enter keyword phrases or just your website to find out how often people are searching for what you’re selling.

3. For Non-English Markets—Take Advantage of Professional Translation Services

For countries where English might not be the most commonly spoken language, you can use online translation tools to get a basic translation of your keywords.You’ll want to get these translated by professionals if you think a market shows enough potential.

If you are searching for a translation services provider, one of the European-based agencies my team has used recently is Lingo24. They’re based in London with sales support in the US, UK, Switzerland, and Sweden. To date, we have been very pleased with the quality of their translations.

4. Get a Country Assessment and Start a Campaign

If there’s a decent search volume, you can take the next step of sharing these results with your local USCS to get a country assessment or utilize search advertising professionals (like us?) to run a small test campaign to reach new prospects. Not only will this test campaign give you a better idea of what success you might have in a given country, but you can also apply your findings to your SEO strategy and optimize your site for organic search users.

Final Thoughts on Digital Marketing for Exporters

The fact is that most exporters don’t export to more than one country. So even if you are already conducting international business, digital marketing for exporters is a great option. You’ll be able to tap into newer markets for the first time. All it takes is the willingness to explore your options and leaning on expert consultants to properly use these tools.

Don’t Miss These Webinars On Export Marketing

ADVANCED TACTICS TO GENERATE FOREIGN SALES ONLINE

It is quite likely that trade shows, conferences, and foreign travel will continue to be disrupted for at least the next several months. This webinar is perfect for exporters who are already attracting interest from overseas and who want to build a successful digital marketing strategy. Brought to you by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and Direct Online Marketing. Click here to watch the webinar.

HOW TO USE THE WEB TO GENERATE FOREIGN SALES

Whether you’re already selling overseas, or looking for your first export sale, digital marketing can help. Brought to you by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission and Direct Online Marketing, learn how you can leverage Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more to generate more exports. You’ll discover free tools, learn the basics of digital marketing, and find out how to measure your success. Click here to check it out.

Want to learn more about international SEO and general digital marketing for exporting? Check out any one of these helpful resources written by our team below:

• 27 International SEO Tips To Conquer The SERPs and Emerge Victoriously
• How Google Search Console Sets Your SEO Course With International Targeting
• Our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Compliance Checklist
• Australian AO Says SEO Horror Stories by Dodgy Practitioners Need Regulation

Get Digital Marketing Services For Export Businesses

Ready to grow your export business with expert website and digital marketing strategies? Contact Direct Online Marketing today to get a free website and digital marketing audit tailored to your global export needs!

Google IGAP Partnership

DOM is proud to be a Partner in Google’s International Growth Agency Program (IGAP). Google offers this exclusive, invitation-only program to just a fraction of its Premier Google Partners, specifically to those agencies most driven to help clients export.

Google selected DOM for its ability and track record of helping American organizations sell throughout the world via Google Ads, in addition to managing campaigns for international companies looking to sell outside their borders.

As an IGAP Partner, Google provides DOM with forecasts, tools, and support related to specific global markets and use cases such as lead generation and ecommerce.

If you’re looking to expand your business into new markets – or simply get more market share in the ones you already export to, contact DOM today to grow the international sales you deserve.

Note: This article was updated 12/17/2024 to reflect the new URL for the US Trade website, showcasing the US Commercial Service locations.

The post Export Marketing – A Guide To Growing Your Business Internationally appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Below is a quote from the great Jack Welch that we’re almost certain you’ve never heard get applied to B2B digital marketing.

“In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.”

Business-to-business marketing (B2B) and business-to-customer marketing (B2C) are two entirely different beasts requiring different approaches.

The most obvious difference, and the foundation behind the different marketing strategies, is found in the nature of whom you’re selling to.

In B2C, customers are generally looking for entertainment and products to make their lives easier. They’re looking for deals, and their desires are most often driven by impulse and emotion. They want a new blender because they want smoothies. Thus helping these customers imagine and visualize themselves enjoying the benefits of these products should be a priority focus of your marketing efforts.

B2B customers, on the other hand, are looking for something to increase ROI. They want more efficiency and productivity. They want services that bring expertise to their operations. Their purchasing decisions are made using logic and data. They require objective justification whenever possible to make their purchasing decision.

Understanding these different customer motivations is what will drive successful marketing to one audience or the other. Trying to sell your product or service to a business using the same marketing tactics that worked for B2C simply isn’t going to cut it.

Below, we’ll talk about some of the core components of successful B2B marketing, but first let’s take a deeper look into what B2B customers want.

Motivations Behind B2B Digital Marketing vs. B2C

Like we mentioned above, B2B purchases are driven by ROI potential. Businesses want products and services that will help them increase their profits. In other words, everything they buy needs to be justifiable from a business standpoint.

Furthermore, you’re usually not just selling to one decision maker in B2B.

In B2C endeavors, you’re mostly just trying to form a connection with, let’s say, Mary Spindleworth while she’s browsing for a new cute tee shirt for her dog while being slightly buzzed on merlot.

With B2B, you’re selling to the manager of a developer team at a company, and that manager will need to bring your product or service to the person who holds the company purse strings and justify why the purchase is necessary. Your marketing material had better be making that justification as clear as possible.

On that front, businesses are also looking for education about your product or service and what makes it effective. Whereas individual shoppers might check some user reviews or skim over product descriptions, businesses are looking for the whole shebang. They want features, they want benefits, and they want numbers to back it up.

That also means that selling to businesses is going to be a more involved process that involves account representatives forming a relationship with the business’s representatives. It’s not like B2C commerce where the individual is just looking to add items to their cart and check out.

Businesses want somebody to talk to, to provide support if needed and answer questions.

The better your B2B marketing material is able to speak to these needs, the more successful it’s going to be.

Now, let’s look at the B2B marketing strategies that work.

Develop Your B2B Digital Marketing Strategy!

“Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: its starting point.” — Henry Mintzberg, management thinker and “enfant terrible” of strategic planning theory

The most important part of a B2B strategy is, well, having a strategy. Hold on, it’s more complex than it sounds.

Develop Customer Personas

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies: Personas

Before you write a single ad headline or compose even one outreach email, you need to define your customer. A great way to do this is by creating personas of your ideal buyers.

Personas are essentially fictionalized people whose lives and personalities are created by your marketing team to represent the kind of people you want to be selling to. It’s basically playing make-believe on a business level.

For instance, let’s say you’re manufacturing lightsabers. A persona for your ideal customer may look something like this:

Luke Skywalker

• COO of Jedi Temple
  • Key decision-maker
• Demographics
  • Age 35-75
  • $90,000/yr
  • Remote location, probably on top of a mountain
  • Jedi Master
  • Unmarried, probably no kids
• Goals and Challenges
  • Create a learning environment where young padawans can flourish and learn the ways of The Force
  • Protect padawans from straying to the dark side
  • Attract more students to temple
• How we can help
  • Supply lightsabers to be used for training purposes
  • Provide ongoing support to ensure continued satisfaction

Of course the most effective personas will be created using hard data and research. That means combining user feedback and web analytics data to get a complete picture of your customers’ behavior. The more sources of data you can find to assess your ideal buyer’s motivations, attitudes, behaviors, and desired outcomes, the more successfully you can create your personas.

This guide from Hubspot is a great learning resource on personas and how to create them.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies: SWOT

Build a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis is a key component of creating your B2B strategy.

The strength and weakness components are internal things that will take some hard honest analysis to compile. These are things that are found by analyzing your team, your IPs, your location, and basically what you’re able to bring to the table.

Opportunities and threats are things that are happening outside of your company, within the larger market. What are your competitors doing? How much are materials costing right now? What are the current customer shopping trends?

Let’s break it down by category and take a look at specific questions you should be asking.

Strengths:

• What do you do well?
• What are the unique resources that you can leverage?
• What do 3rd parties see as your strengths?

Weaknesses:

• What needs improvement?
• What are competitors doing better?
• What resources are you lacking?

Opportunities:

• What are some currently present market opportunities?
• How can you leverage your strengths to take advantage of opportunities?
• What trends can you make work in your favor?

Threats:

• What is your competition doing right now?
• Do your weaknesses expose your business?
• What are the threats that can hurt your business right now?

To accurately complete a SWOT analysis, it’s best to gather representatives from each of your company’s departments. Ask questions based on the four categories and let everybody give their input. At the end of the session, rank the thoughts and ideas for importance and relevance.

Build Your Plan

After you’ve created your personas and completed your SWOT analysis, you’re ready to start creating your plan for reaching potential customers and selling them on why they should purchase your products and services.

There are frameworks out there that can help you build your plan, and there are diehard supporters of each of them.

Some of the more popular frameworks are RACE (Reach, Act, Convert, Engage), the 5 Ps, the 5Ss, and countless others with names like that. Do your research and find what works best for you.

There are also plenty of marketing agencies and consultants out there who can help with this. It’s not a bad idea to consider leveraging the expertise of others when creating your B2B marketing plan.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies: Website Audit

How’s That Website Looking?

Your website is probably the most important tool you have for selling to B2B clients, and it should be treated as such.

That means your website should be regularly reviewed and refreshed to be as up-to-date as possible. It should have pages and information for every step of the sales funnel, from cultivating interest to driving home the sales.

Your product pages should be straight and to the point. This is what you’re selling, this is what it does, this is our proof that it’s effective.

One of our favorite examples of a great B2B website is Shopify.com. The homepage provides value within the first couple of sentences at the top. “Anyone, anywhere, can start a business,” it says. Then, right there in front of you, is a call to action to start a free trial simply by entering your email address.

Scrolling down reveals concise descriptions of the product’s features. Then there are clear-as-day numbers to provide social proof. 1,700,000+ businesses around the world using Shopify for over $200 billion in sales. Wow.

In short, a good B2B website does all of these things:

• States exactly what the product is. If your potential customers look at your site and aren’t sure what exactly it is you’re offering within the first few seconds, they’re probably going to lose interest.
• Provides immediate value. This can be a call to action for a trial or consultation. Reward potential buyers for clicking on your link.
• Uses visuals the right way. You don’t want your images to distract from your message. You want them to enhance the experience of being on your website.
• Uses concise text. The Shopify site doesn’t have a single sentence that doesn’t add value to the content. Any words that aren’t directly relevant to your product or service are adding to the work the visitor has to put in to navigate your information. If there is any text whatsoever that isn’t helping, it’s a distraction. Remove it.

These principles are important to adhere to across your homepage and any product pages. Testimonials are always good, too.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies: SEM!

We’re often a little taken aback by how many companies there are that don’t use any PPC or SEO.

Let’s just say this off the bat: PPC and SEO are essential for reaching potential customers.

That’s right. Not just one of them. BOTH of them.

Adam Boyd, one of the principals at B2B consulting firm Northwood Group, reinforces the need for this dual approach to your B2B marketing strategy in this roundup of demand generation experts. According to Boyd:

“The real challenges for most B2B companies haven’t changed. Most are too dependent upon one channel to deliver leads, whether email, or cold calling, or PPC.”

PPC is necessary for reaching out to potential customers. We’ve already talked extensively about the powerful reach of Google Ads, so we won’t bore you with that discussion again. Needless to say, you need to run Google Ads campaigns.

While there is always a temptation to get creative with your PPC ad headlines, the reality is that it’s always better to be direct with your message.

“Lightsaber supplies for Jedi Temples” will perform better than “Need a way for your students to feel the force in their hands? Try our lightsabers!” Why? It’s more direct. People want to buy lightsabers, so tell them that you sell lightsabers.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategies: SEO For B2B

SEO will help your product pages rank higher in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and make it much more likely that customers will find your name when searching for solutions.

For B2B, long tail keywords are usually better targets. For instance, if you’re selling lightsabers to Jedi temples, it’s better to optimize your content for keywords like “lightsabers for padawans” or “lightsabers in bulk” than just “lightsabers.”

Not only will the keyword difficulty be much more manageable, but it targets the intent of the search. People who are just searching for “lightsabers” are probably mostly looking for decorations for their nerd caves or LARP (Live Action Roleplaying) props. You’re looking for institutions who need to purchase a bunch of lightsabers for their students.

Revealing the Iceberg That Is B2B Digital Marketing

Those strategies are really just the tip of how involved B2B marketing can get, and it’s okay if you feel like it’s a lot to take in. Remember, there are people out there who devote their entire professional careers to learning the ins and outs of B2B digital marketing strategy.

It just so happens that we have a lot of those people working here at Direct Online Marketing.

If you or your company are looking to learn more about B2B digital marketing services, or you want to talk to somebody about creating a strategy for you from scratch, contact us today for a free consultation. And if you need more info, learn about why Direct Online Marketing is the best Digital Marketing Agency for B2B Businesses.

Marketing and marketing strategy are what we do best, and we’d love to work with you to help you find one that works.

The post B2B Digital Marketing Strategies that Get Results appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

• Introduction
• User Experience Matters
• Backlinks Build Authority
• Keywords Are the Compass of SEO
• Technical SEO is Your Site’s Foundation
• Quality Content is King
• Conclusion

Staying afloat in the organic search ocean is a challenge we’ve had to figure out since search engines began. As long as there has been an algorithm or machine logic behind Google’s SERPs, there have been different ways to get to the top of them. 

It’s natural to feel adrift like a castaway, but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Certain principles remain as steadfast as bedrock. For CMOs and marketing professionals looking at all those SEO strategies and best practices, understanding these fundamental rules is a must. 

This post isn’t about chasing the latest SEO craze (like Google SGE, for example). It’s about grasping those fundamental concepts that have stood the test of time in the SEO universe. We’ve narrowed it down to five, but the last one is the most important. 

If you really need to TL;DR this blog post, then we’ll save you a scroll: your content still matters the most. 

5. User Experience Matters

Focusing on user experience is a cornerstone of SEO that consistently proves its worth. The experience users have on your site influences how they perceive your brand and, importantly, impacts how search engines rank your pages. 

User experience covers various aspects, from how quickly your site loads to how easily users can navigate your content.

Firstly, site speed is a critical factor. Slow-loading pages test users’ patience and often lead to higher bounce rates. Search engines, particularly Google, prioritize sites that load quickly, ensuring users find what they need without unnecessary delay.

Secondly, consider mobile responsiveness. With more people accessing the internet via smartphones, a site that performs well on mobile devices is no longer optional. It’s essential. 

Mobile-friendly sites rank higher in search results, as they cater to a large portion of internet users.

Lastly, clear navigation and ease of use keep users engaged. A well-structured site with intuitive navigation helps users find information effortlessly. This positive interaction signals search engines that your site is valuable, thereby improving your SEO ranking.

4. Backlinks Build Authority

Backlinks are a vital aspect of SEO, often considered a vote of confidence from one site to another. A strong backlink profile can significantly boost your website’s authority and search engine rankings. 

But it’s not just about quantity.; Tthe quality of backlinks matters immensely.

Building a natural, high-quality backlink profile is a strategic endeavor. It involves creating content that other reputable sites want to link to. This could be informative blog posts, original research, or any resource that offers value. 

Reaching out to industry influencers and participating in relevant online communities can also help in acquiring quality backlinks.

It’s important to steer clear of outdated practices like buying links or participating in link farms. Such tactics can lead to penalties from search engines. Instead, focus on earning backlinks through genuine, valuable content and networking.

Monitoring your backlink profile is crucial. Tools like Ahrefs or Moz can help track your backlinks and identify any potentially harmful ones. Regular audits allow you to maintain a clean, effective backlink profile.

Backlinks should be nurtured through creating shareable content and engaging with the online community in your industry. This approach ensures a sustainable, long-term boost to your SEO efforts.

3. Keywords Are the Compass of SEO

Keywords play a fundamental role in SEO. They are the tools that connect what people are searching for with the content you provide. Effective use of keywords means understanding not just what your audience is searching for, but how they are searching for it.

The key is strategic placement, not overuse. Gone are the days when stuffing a webpage with keywords could boost your ranking. Now, it’s about placing them where they matter most – in your titles, headings, and throughout your content in a way that feels natural.

Keyword research is crucial. It involves identifying the terms your target audience uses when searching for products or services like yours. 

Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help you find the right keywords. But it’s not just about volume. It’s about relevance. Choose keywords that align with your content and overall marketing strategy.

Remember, keywords are not just for Google to understand your content -; they help real people find the solutions or information they seek. Your goal is to use keywords to guide users to your site and ensure they find what they are looking for once they arrive.

2. Technical SEO is Your Site’s Foundation

Technical SEO is the backbone of your website’s relationship with search engines. It includes everything from site structure to crawlability, ensuring search engines can easily navigate and index your content. 

This part of SEO might seem daunting, but it’s crucial for your website’s success.

Site structure matters a lot. A well-organized website helps search engines understand your content hierarchy and the relationship between different pages. A logical structure, with clear categories and internal linking, improves user navigation and search engine crawling.

Crawlability is another key aspect. It means making sure search engines can access and index your web pages. Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and fix crawl errors. Regular audits help spot issues like broken links or pages blocked by robots.txt files.

Load times play a significant role too. Fast-loading pages not only enhance user experience but also contribute to better search engine rankings. Optimize images, minimize code, and leverage browser caching to improve your site’s speed.

Remember, technical SEO is an ongoing process. Regularly monitoring and updating your website ensures it remains compatible with search engine algorithms. It’s not the most glamorous part of SEO, but it’s a crucial one. 

Think of it as laying a strong foundation for your house – without it, everything else might crumble.

1. Quality Content Is King

In the domain of SEO, the supremacy of quality content is undisputed. This rule is simple: content that offers value, insight, and relevance not only engages readers but also garners the attention of search engines. 

Picture a library filled with countless books. The ones that offer unique perspectives, compelling narratives, and accurate information are the ones people reach for time and again. 

Similarly, in the vast digital library of the internet, content that stands out is content that delivers quality.

But what exactly makes content ‘quality’? It’s not just about well-written prose. Quality content solves problems, answers questions, and provides useful information. It’s the type of content that readers bookmark, share, and reference. 

This kind of engagement sends positive signals to search engines, indicating that your content is valuable and deserves a higher ranking.

For a practical spin, consider a company blog post explaining a complex industry trend in simple, digestible terms. Such content not only establishes authority and expertise but also encourages backlinks from other reputable sites. 

These backlinks are like nods of approval from the web community, further boosting your site’s SEO standing.

Remember, search engines are getting smarter. They can differentiate between superficial keyword-stuffed articles and genuinely informative content. So, the focus should be on crafting content that resonates with the audience and adds value to their lives or businesses. 

In the realm of SEO, content isn’t just king- it’s the ace in your deck.

Get the DOM Difference For Your Business

Figuring out SEO can feel like a journey through a labyrinth, but these five bedrock principles provide a reliable map. From the enduring power of quality content to the influence of backlinks in building authority, these rules form the foundation of effective SEO strategies. 

They have withstood the test of time and the evolution of search engine algorithms.

Remember, SEO is ever-changing. Staying informed and adaptable is key. Yet, grounding your strategy in these five principles will keep your SEO efforts focused and effective. Embrace these guidelines as you refine your approach to SEO, and watch your website’s performance improve.

For those seeking expert guidance in crafting and executing top-notch SEO strategies, consider Direct Online Marketing. Our team tailors SEO solutions to meet your unique business needs and goals. 

Want to transform your SEO efforts into tangible business results? Contact us to get started.

Key Takeaways

• User Experience is Fundamental: A seamless user experience, characterized by fast site speed, mobile responsiveness, and clear navigation, is essential. These elements not only enhance user satisfaction but also boost SEO rankings.
• Backlinks Build Authority: Quality backlinks are crucial for establishing your website’s authority. Focus on earning these through valuable content and authentic networking, rather than resorting to outdated tactics like link buying.
• Strategic Keyword Use: Keywords are more than just search terms -; they’re the bridge between user intent and your content. Proper research and strategic placement are key, moving away from overuse towards relevance and natural integration.
• Technical SEO as a Foundation: Pay close attention to technical SEO, including site structure, crawlability, and load times. Regular audits and updates ensure your site remains accessible and appealing to search engines.
• Quality Content Reigns Supreme: High-quality, informative, and engaging content is the top priority. Content that genuinely adds value attracts readers, encourages sharing, and earns the favor of search engines.

The post The 5 Bedrock SEO Rules That Will Always (Probably) Be True appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Below you will find a nice even dozen of our favorite holiday marketing ideas for 2022. Consider these our free gifts to you in an effort to make this wonderful time of the year the most successful for your business.

Offer Some Limited Time Holiday Deals (Even If You’re In B2B)

Although Black Friday is looking less and less like the insane rugby scrum of years past, it is still “a thing” after the world of retail essentially canceled it in 2020 at the height of the global pandemic.

If there’s one thing we associate with Black Friday, it’s getting those amazing deals.

You might think this kind of strategy only makes sense with retail, but it can work for B2B marketing, too. Don’t forget that even though your office may be closed for the holidays, there are many companies that are open during the holidays because they are serving those who are traveling or taking time off. Aside from traditional consumer retail, other industries that regularly operate during holiday time periods include:

• Convenience Stores
• Emergency Healthcare
• Entertainment Venues (think movie theaters, sports arenas, etc.)
• Hospitals
• Hospitality
• Pharmacies
• Restaurants
• Travel and Transportation

For a few standout holiday marketing ideas, you could offer a discounted rate for one of the services you offer tailored to these specific industries. Or a coupon code that accomplishes the same thing. Just remember to make these offers redemptive. Instead of simply giving the deal away, offer it in exchange for completing a contact form, or gate it off with a form to capture some basic information.

If you identify these markets as high relevance for your products and services, prospective clients working during holidays will likely interested in your discounted services.

That’s what we call some “solid leads,” what about you?

Need to DOMinate Black Friday?
Watch This Webinar On-Demand.
Achieve Your Goals!

Setup A Google Performance Max Campaign

If you have an e-commerce site, there is no reason not to run Google Shopping ads. As far as holiday marketing ideas go, Google Shopping should be your bread and butter if you rely on digital channels to generate direct response sales.

However, in today’s modern digital advertising landscape, there is only one way to get your ads showing in Google Shopping… setup a Performance Max ad campaign in Google.

One of the things we’ve always liked the most about Google Shopping is that the ads are a combination of text search and visual ads. The user sees a picture of the item and also relevant information pulled from your feed by Google.

When it comes to setting up a Performance Max campaign so that your ads can be seen in Google Shopping, we are taking a more cautious approach. Instead of telling you to go all in on Performance Max, we strongly suggest running it with a “test and see” mindset.

If this is the first time you are hearing about Performance Max, or simply want to learn more about the basics of Performance Max campaigns before deciding to go all-in on them for your 2022 holiday campaigns, learn more by pressing play on the video below.

Like we said above, you should be taking a “test and see” approach to Performance Max campaigns. So, while you can still have some type of manual control over where your products are being shown, we recommend you continue to use it.

Along with that, if your feed is optimized, Google will be able to automatically pull information such as free shipping and place it in your Product Ads.

During the holiday shopping season, it is more important than ever to keep your feed as updated as possible. What do you think happens if someone clicks on an ad for a product, only to find out that you are sold out? They go somewhere else.

Don’t miss out on sales because of Google’s machine learning putting your products in front of the wrong buyers or because you have overlooked your feed management.

If you have doubts that your Performance Max campaign is ready for the holiday season – mind if we take a look with a complimentary PPC consultation?

Submit Your Product Feed For Free Clicks

At the beginning of the pandemic, we shared an important update Google made to it’s Shopping platform – online retailers could sell products for free through the platform.

Fast forward more than two years later… and those free to sell options are still available on the platform.

If you haven’t submitted your product feed to Google so that your products can be listed in free “Popular Products” search results like the one shown above – what are you waiting for?

Sure, we know these search results look awfully similar to the Google Shopping ads shown above, so how can you tell the difference?

Simple… shopping listings that are supported with advertising will always be labeled with “Sponsored” or “Ad” in the heading before the actual listing.

If you already use Google Merchant Center or Performance Max, you do not have to change a thing to receive these unpaid clicks. While the amount of impressions your products will receive for unpaid clicks will not be as high as if you were paying per click in Performance Max, this can still be a revenue generating strategy for the holiday shopping season.

Want to review your Merchant Center to see your unpaid clicks?
Learn How Here.

Change Up Your Ad Text

Customers are so used to seeing “50% Off. Order Now!” or “Great Deals!” Instead, show them what they want to see… specifically what it is you can offer them this holiday season.

So, be creative with your marketing campaigns!

If you sell gloves, use some copy that reads, “Baby, it’s Cold Outside! Warm Up with a New Pair of Gloves.”

If you sell products that are irrelevant to the cold season, no worries. You can still find ways to use the season to your advantage and inject a little “holiday spirit” in your campaigns.

Dynamic Search + Shopping = Re$ult$.
Learn How This Online Retailer
Improved Sales 115% During Busy Season.

Embrace Retargeting

When done right, retargeting can take your accounts to the next level when it comes to low-cost conversions.

This is the nice thing about retargeting: based on how your audiences are built, you can segment customers by intent.

If you have an audience for an informational page such as About Us, you know that there is some interest, but the customer is probably not ready to buy yet. You can tailor ads specifically for that audience with messaging to entice them to come back and learn more.

Along with that, if you have an audience for cart abandoners, you know there was intent to buy there – but something changed that. If you create ads that give the customer a reason to come back, you can create conversions from missed opportunities.

Learn more about our retargeting services if this isn’t already a part of your digital advertising plans for the holidays.

Lean On Email, Social, And Automation

Your messaging doesn’t need to slow down too much while you’re sipping eggnog, spinning the dreidel, lighting the candles, prepping for a fast, or ordering Chinese food with your dog.

And you don’t have to be on the stick (or at the keyboard, if you’re not a pilot) prepared to make a correction.

Most people aren’t going to be sitting in front of their computers or visiting their favorite websites for new content during the holidays. Rather, this is a perfect time to engage them where they are: on their phones, scrolling social media, and reading email.

The great news about those avenues is that you can write your social media and email marketing messages early, and then schedule them to roll out at predetermined times.

Just make sure nothing newsworthy happens that might make your subject lines or messaging seem tone-deaf.

Learn more about our social media advertising services if you may need a performance boost in these areas for the holidays.

List Holiday Sales Prominently

No one can participate in your sale if they don’t know it exists. To help boost your 2022 holiday sales, make sure your biggest promotions are front and center.

One of the best ways to do this is by incorporating your sale into your branded color design, using a holiday themed banner or other top-of-page display. This immediately makes the connection between your holiday promotions and the holiday shopping rush. Add a call to action and a link to your perfect gift products, or gift cards, and you’ll be ready to go.

Discounts should also be displayed prominently, especially around top selling products. In addition to displaying discounts on product cards and pages, special Black Friday deals, holiday specials, and gift guide call outs can be displayed both on your product pages and other holiday campaign landing pages.

Make It Easy To Convert

This is a year-round tip, but it’s especially important during the peak of the holiday shopping season.

Make sure each product on your landing page is designed with a clear purchasing path, which can be used on both desktop and mobile devices.

In the simplest instances, you can create a button that adds the product directly to the shopper’s cart. You can also display a sidebar with the current cart contents, allowing customers to see what they’ve chosen, and seamlessly check out when they’re ready.

For all your sales processes, the key is to minimize the steps it takes to purchase. The easier the conversion path, the fewer abandoned carts you’ll see all year.

Optimize Your Pages For Mobile Devices

According to Forbes, holiday spending on mobile reached $88 billion dollars last year. While the pandemic brought a lot of us in front of our bigger screens, mobile sales still increased as the calendar flipped closer to the big holidays.

Suffice it to say if your holiday landing pages aren’t optimized for mobile, you’re losing out on a huge consumer opportunity.

To optimize your seasonal landing pages for mobile:

• Make sure that the buttons are large enough to be seen and interacted with on smaller screens.
• Format holiday banners for mobile devices, keeping text size in mind.
• Don’t overload your mobile landing pages with too much text.
• Ensure that getting from products to checkout is simple, minimizing the number of “touches” between your product and cart pages.

Don’t Forget About Microsoft

Think Google is your only option when it comes to search engine advertising for your holiday marketing campaign? Think again. Microsoft can be one of those great holiday marketing ideas because it is an easy to deploy, high volume secondary platform to use to reach your target audience. Why would you want to pass up 20% of the search market?

Microsoft does not have the reach Google has, but it has an audience that has spending power. Microsoft’s search advertising solutions on Bing and across their entire network are great for reaching those that are not as tech-savvy (*cough* parents and grandparents *cough*) because they are less likely to use a browser, or a search engine, other than what Windows devices provide as the default.

Learn more about our Microsoft Ads account management services if this isn’t already a part of your digital advertising plans for the holidays.

Create A Sense Of Urgency

This is true for all product pages, all the time, but the holiday season is a fantastic time for retail sites because the urgency is already built-in!

What you can do is emphasize the timeliness of your sales on your site, reminding your customers that they need to act now if they want to surprise their special someone on time.

One of the best ways to do this is with the popular holiday countdown timer. You’ll see Amazon do this with their Cyber Monday deals, counting down the hours until each product special is gone forever—and it works.

Display your timer above the fold or along a sidebar, where your customers can easily see how much time they have left, and prepare to watch this be one of those holiday marketing ideas that will automatically push your holiday sails up!

Finally, Don’t Forget To Be Sincere

Your employees love each other, even if they fight like siblings sometimes. Your clients think you’re doing a great job, and you’re thankful for the ability to provide them with goods or services this time of year.

The holidays are also about love, acceptance, and gratitude. Don’t be afraid to show that side of yourself to the people who matter to you. We could all use a little more joy these days.

Don’t shy away from incorporating some of these timeless feelings and emotions that well up in the people who will consume the content you create for your holiday marketing strategy.

You might be surprised how far a little “I appreciate you” or “We understand what you’re going through” messaging can go in spreading more of that holiday cheer.

As the calendar year draws to a close, do you find yourself behind pace with your lead generation or sales goals? Even though the holidays are drawing close, there’s still time to meet, achieve, or exceed your goals. Contact us for a free consultation to learn how our digital marketing services can help you accomplish your best  year yet! 

The post 12 Profitable Holiday Marketing Ideas To Make This Your Best Year Yet appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

That’s right – you’ve got about three weeks (as of this posting) to get your search ads together.

Google claims that this change will be better for advertisers because, according to Google studies, Responsive Search Ads are a high performing alternative to Expanded Text Ads. It also means advertisers will have less control over their ads.

Let’s examine the pros and cons of this change below.

What Exactly Is Changing?

Google has announced that you will no longer be able to create or edit Expanded Text Ads within standard search campaigns after June 30, 2022.

So while you will no longer be able to create them:

1. Any Expanded Text Ads that you currently have running (or create before the deadline) will continue to serve.
2. You will also maintain the ability to pause and resume Expanded Text Ads.

This change to the platform doesn’t mean your existing ads will stop running. It simply means that Responsive Search Ads will, become the primary ad type available to advertisers in paid search campaigns.

Responsive Search Ads have been available for a few years now. Before this change, it was a best practice at DOM to create ad groups composed of:

• 1 Responsive Search Ad
• 3 Expanded Text Ads

According to internal Google data, “advertisers that switch from expanded text ads to responsive search ads, using the same assets, see an average of 7% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion.”

Emphasis above was added by us for effect.

According to the Google Ads management specialists here at DOM, Responsive Search Ads generally serve more frequently than Expanded Text Ads. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that Responsive Search Ads always perform better, but it does mean that Google prefers to show Responsive Search Ads more.

Therefore, it is best to go with the flow and use the ad type that Google puts in front of people more frequently.

What Is an Expanded Text Ad (ETA) compared to a Responsive Search Ad (RSA)?

To users, these two search ad types look the same when encountered online:

It’s under the hood, on the advertiser’s end, that ETAs and RSAs differ.

Here’s the space you’ve got to work with for each ad type:

Expanded Text Ads

• 3 headlines
  • 30 characters max/headline
• 2 descriptions
  • 90 characters max/description

Responsive Search Ads

• 15 headlines
  • 30 characters max/headline
• 4 descriptions
  • 90 characters max/description

ETAs let you define 3 headlines and 2 descriptions, arranged in the order you choose.

RSAs let you define up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, which Google then takes and mixes & matches to create the specific combination of headlines and descriptions that appear in any given instance of your ad showing to a user.

Another differentiator with RSAs is the presence of the Ad Strength progress tracker.

This tracker helps you understand what other additions and features you need to include in your RSAs to maximize the likelihood of its visibility. For instance, if you were not using any ads extensions, this tool would tell you and provide you with some ideas on extensions to use.

Over time, Google’s machine learning algorithm will determine which ad combinations produce the best results for your campaign, and tailor your copy to achieve your desired results.

Pinning

Within RSAs, you can pin headlines and descriptions to a certain position. That is, you can instruct Google to show a line of text in only the position within the ad that you choose.

So if you have a headline that you always want out front & center in your ads, you can pin that headline to show only in position 1 for instance.

Same goes for your descriptions.

Pros and Cons of the End of Expanded Text Ads and the Rise of Responsive Search Ads

Con: Loss of Control

It will be harder to control what precise message users see in your ads.

The responsive nature of RSAs means that the Google algorithm will cycle through multiple headlines and descriptions to show in a given instance of your ad appearing on a SERP. You won’t know for certain what combination of text a user will be served.

Just for the sake of confirmation, it’s worth noting that this “loss of control” is specifically tailored to your ad variations and NOT the search queries you are targeting your ads to be shown for.

With ETAs, you control the singular message that your ad will always display. You write the 3 headlines and 2 descriptions, and you put them in the order you want; that’s how ETAs work.

It will be harder to A/B test the effectiveness of one message against another.

Because RTAs present a rotating combination of your headlines and descriptions, it won’t be possible to run a strict test of one ad message against another. ETAs, on the other hand, do allow for this kind of precise testing.

At DOM, we continually A/B test ad messages for our clients with ETAs. It’s a best practice of ours to disseminate well-performing messages across ads and campaigns; conversely, we swap out poor-performers and put in new messages to continue our testing.

Pro: Easier Account Management

Creating ad groups composed of a single RSA rather than multiple ETAs does make things easier in some ways.

You can spend less time creating ad groups.

Right off the bat, you only have to create one ad rather than a bunch to communicate many messages.

And you can consider adding suggestions straight from Google for more headlines and descriptions.

You can let Google do the A/B testing.

(If you’re feeling ambitious, even after June 2022 you can still A/B test one RSA against another. You’d need to provide each of the 2 RSAs a different set of headlines and descriptions, one set for the test group and one set for the control group. [And perhaps perform some prodigious pinning to make select elements static.])

If you don’t have the time to set up A/B tests of one ad against another, you can just let Google rotate through a bunch of messages and optimize your ad. The algorithm will optimize your RSA by trying to present the most enticing of your headlines and descriptions to each user, based on that user’s search history and what they’ve typed into the Google search bar.

What Does This Change To Responsive Search Ads Mean for You?

Simplified Account Management

If you don’t have the time, inclination, or people to run your own A/B tests of ad messaging, then RSAs are a boon. You can give Google some headlines and descriptions, and then sit back and relax while the algorithm tries to sort out what’s the best-performing ad copy.

Less Control

If you like to craft a precise message and deliver it to potential customers verbatim, RSAs are a bane. You’re going to have to put in more effort to present a consistent message; you’re going to have to dig into technical settings like pinning to make your ad more static.

Going with the Flow

Whether we like it or not, Google will continue to change the details of paid search advertising. Its nature is staying the same, however. At the end of the day, you still need to craft a message that compels your audience to take action. This upcoming (June 2022) adjustment by Google doesn’t change that fact.

So take the leap and embrace Responsive Search Ads. This is an ad type that Google is already favoring over Expanded Text Ads (as our experience at DOM shows us).

To get more information on this topic, check out Google’s documentation.

Here are a few more articles from the DOM blog about digital advertising that might interest you, too:

• Will AI Copywriting Replace Content Writers?
• Zero-click Searches and the Future of SEM
• How Online Marketing Helps Global Exporters Grow
• What Is a Call to Action? (Click Here to Find Out)

Unsure whether or not your campaigns are prepared for the expiration of expanded text ads? Contact us today for a free PPC consultation.

The post Google Responsive Search Ads (And Why They’re About To Be All You’ve Got) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Simply put: it’s not easy to be in charge of kickstarting growth for treatment facilities and rehabilitation centers.

Scammers and third-party lead generators have increased the difficulty for organizations to rank their websites to be found by the 23-million-plus Americans in need of treatment. 

But the biggest Google change challenging SEO efforts for treatment facilities and rehabs isn’t the scammers…

Instead, it’s the government. 

Learn how the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has been impacting your ability to rank at the top of the search results. Then, get a glimpse into 12 of our top ideas to rise above SAMHSA in the search engines so you can get your growth plans off the ground.  

SAMHSA’s Impact on Digital Marketing for Addiction and Mental Health

Back in February 2018, Google rolled out a significant change to how it presents search results in the United States when users look for services and information related to substance abuse and mental health.

That change? The placement of the National Helpline page provided by SAMHSA as one of the top three search results for high volume keywords like:

• “anxiety symptoms” — 77,500 monthly searches*
• “drug addiction” — 22,200 monthly searches*
• “signs of alcoholism” — 18,100 monthly searches*

The rise in the ranking presence of this page was exponential. According to data from SEMrush, its presence in the top 10 of Google results increased by over 1,100% in just the first month.

But that was just the beginning. Today, many of those same searches continue to show the SAMHSA National Helpline, and the number continues to grow.

For instance, as of August 2020, you can now find it listed on the first page of Google for over 89,000 terms. As a result, traffic estimates to the site have also grown by enormous leaps and bounds.

If you are responsible for confidently growing admission applications at a substance abuse or mental health facility, this change has forced you to rethink a few of your tactics. The good news is that rehab facilities like yours can respond and succeed despite this.

Get started with the extensive list we’ve created for you below.

Below, you will find 12 alternative marketing tactics – three using PPC strategies, and 9 using SEO strategies – that you can leverage quickly to compensate for SAMHSA’s ownership over the most clicked-through keyword positions in the search engines.

Our 12 Top Addiction Treatment Marketing Tactics

PPC And Digital Advertising Tactics

1. Go ‘Legit’ to Run Search Ads
2. Advertise On The ‘No. 2 Search Engine’
3. Strategically Stay Top Of Mind On The ‘GDN’

SEO And Content Marketing Tactics

1. Get Listed in SAMHSA’s Locator
2. Create Content For Every SERP Feature
3. Market The Map With Local SEO
4. Explore New Markets With Hyperlocal Pages
5. Review Your Past (Optimize It For The Future)
6. Capitalize On Question-Based Searches
7. Expand Upon Your Program Features
8. Blog For Your Decision-Making Audience
9. Barnacle To Top Content Publishers

1. Go ‘Legit’ and Get Approved to Run Ads In Search Engines

For a long time, Google and Bing accepted search engine advertising from rehab and mental health facilities in the same way they accepted ads from other medical service and healthcare providers. But, as the opioid crisis in the United States continued to escalate, the rules for addiction treatment centers started to change. 

Why? Because scammers started taking advantage of those in need.

To help separate the scammers from the legitimate treatment facilities, Google partnered with LegitScript to setup an independent, third-party verification system. Since then, any in-person treatment facility, crisis hotline, or support group has been required to be LegitScript certified to advertise in Google. You can learn more about the LegitScript certification process from our friends at FHE Health, a healthcare institution that delivers quality, medically integrated personalized treatment for those suffering from behavioral health disorders located in Deerfield Beach, FL.

Why LegitScript Certification For Search Ads Became A Need

In case you missed it, here’s a timeline of how the bans and reinstatements of rehab facility advertising in search engines progressed:

• September 2017: Google began restricting ads from showing for searches related to addiction treatment after it noticed that some facilities running ads did not provide a high enough quality of care to help patients recover.
• January 2018: Google followed suit in the UK as well and eventually Google extended the ban globally.
• April 2018: Google announced its partnership with LegitScript. By July, LegitScript planned to verify about 30 facilities and Google would once again reopen advertising to in-person facilities, crisis hotlines, and support groups.
• February 2019: Bing announced it would also require LegitScript certification for all addiction treatment advertisers and would no longer accept third-party lead generators. 

To be fair, there’s no doubt that running PPC campaigns in substance abuse and mental health niches is a costly marketing strategy. In addition to your monthly PPC marketing budget and associated agency fees, LegitScript requires an application fee per facility and an annual fee for verification.

With that said, search engine advertising is likely to be an ROI-positive endeavor if managed correctly. It’s also the only 100% viable option for getting a top page position for a keyword currently occupied by SAMHSA.

Plus, LegitScript certification keeps a lot of the less ethical facilities and scammers from competing for clicks and driving the costs per click higher.

Similar to becoming a listed facility in the Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator from SAMHSA (more on that below), getting your facility listed will take some time, but the process is pretty simple.

If you are a representative of a facility interested in starting a LegitScript application, you can click here to submit one.

2. Advertise On YouTube, The Internet’s ‘No. 2 Search Engine’ 

If you clicked here, you were expecting this to be all about advertising on Bing, weren’t you? Or maybe one of the search engines that’s popular in international markets, like Baidu or Yandex?

Well, it’s not. Instead, you need to take a moment and think about leveraging the search opportunities provided by advertising on YouTube. A site that generates more searches on its platform than Bing, Yahoo!, AOL, and Ask.com… COMBINED.

Added bonus: it’s also widely considered to be the no. 2 social network, making it a great place to boost your social media marketing.

While it’s not a traditional “search engine” in the way you might normally think about them, there are nearly 3 BILLION searches per month done on the site, according to data compiled by Mushroom Networks. 

That breaks down to over 1,100 searches per second. 

Although it was acquired by Google back in 2006, LegitScript certification is not required at this time to advertise on YouTube. Therefore, it can be a more attractive advertising solution for smaller facilities with cost barriers to traditional search marketing on Google and Bing.

4 YouTube Advertising Tips To Maximize The Performance Of Your Videos

While LegitScript certification isn’t required, you’re still going to need to have a commercial or video ad ready to go for a YouTube promotion. Once you have your creative completed, here are a few ideas on how to get the best performance from a YouTube campaign.

• Use the appropriate format. Here’s a quick list of which type of YouTube ad is best for your campaign, based on your goals.
  • Brand recognition: 6-second bumpers.
  • Clicks: 15-20 second pre-roll ads (bonus: they can’t be skipped).
  • Conversions: 15-20 second pre-roll ads
  • Re-purposing a TV commercial: 30-second In-Stream ads.
• Utilize closed captioning. Provide the best user experience for your viewers with accurate, verbatim transcriptions.
• Target smartly. Find your audience using the options for gender, parental status, interests, or target specific channels they are likely to watch.
• Deploy an end card. You’ve made some great content, now reinforce your brand and inspire the viewer to take their next action by directing your viewers to their next destination – a landing page, your website, or your YouTube channel page.

There are definitely some benefits YouTube can bring to your marketing efforts with a dedicated advertising budget.

In addition, leveraging YouTube can also bring benefits to your traffic and visibility through SEO and referral traffic. Interested in learning how it can help you in these areas? Check out one of these helpful links.

• How We Grew YouTube Traffic 6,800% For This Retailer
• Video Hosting: YouTube or Vimeo?
• 6 YouTube Tips To Improve Your Results

3. Strategically Stay Top Of Mind On Google’s Display Network

According to Google, its far-reaching Display Network reaches 90% of Internet users around the world. 

Websites. Blogs. News sites. Even Google-owned properties like Gmail and YouTube.

All of them have an advertising opportunity available to your facility through the Google Display Network.

Depending on the business goals you have for your campaign, Google can also manage the campaign for you on autopilot. Just set your budget, upload your ads, and off you go!

But just because it sounds easy, however, doesn’t mean it’s that simple. Sure, automated bidding is handy, but it’s only as useful as the strategy you put behind it. Similar to YouTube advertising and LegitScript approved PPC advertising, you’re going to want to pay a lot of attention to your targeting if you want a display campaign that will lead to conversions. 

Oh, and you’re going to want to keep your ads fresh. You ever get tired of seeing the same ads from leading brands over and over? If you answered yes, then you can assume your audiences will too. Don’t bore them to death with your creative.

With the Google Display Network, you can proceed with confidence. Just be aware that patience and persistence are going to be key in this channel if you want it to pay off. 

THIS TREATMENT CENTER
IMPROVED THEIR ADMITS BY 300%
USING DIGITAL ADS. LEARN HOW.

4. Getting Listed in SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator

One of my favorite online marketing strategies comes from the adage, “…if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” From some of our research into how Google presents this SERP listing for SAMHSA, the link for the National Helpline will often include a site link to SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator right underneath its meta description.

The fact is that Google favors displaying links from SAMHSA over other possible search results prominently, so getting your original content or sales-driven pages to rank above SAMHSA will be extremely difficult — almost near impossible.

However, SAMHSA has an online treatment finder, and rehab facilities can request to be added to that list of treatment providers.

How To Get Listed In The SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator

Getting listed in the SAMHSA services locator is a great SEO tactic for your campaign. For starters, you’re gaining a backlink from a .gov domain — one of the highest-value links you can obtain.

Need a reason beyond that? The site generates an estimated 60,000+ visits per month in the United States from Google searches alone. The high volume and highly specific type of people visiting the site and then being referred to your facility create a great source of well-qualified traffic for your site.

If you represent a newer facility, or your facility is not currently listed in SAMHSA’s locator, getting listed will take some time. Overall, though, the process is pretty simple. Here’s how it works according to the FAQ on the locator’s website:

1. You request the addition of your facility by completing the I-BHS Facility Application Form.
2. The BHSIS Project Office verifies that your facility is eligible by contacting your local representatives or SAMHSA/CBHSQ. As an alternative, you can also contact your state mental health or substance abuse agency to help with verification.
3. You receive a survey in the mail from I-BHS, complete it, and return.
4. About a month passes, and pending final approval, your facility should be good to go. Just know that they typically add new facilities on a monthly basis.

To maintain your listing, you are required to respond annually to either:

• the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS), or
• the National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS)

These surveys go out every March, and your facility will be required to provide updated information each year after your facility was added to the list.

5. Create Content For Every SERP Feature

If you have spent time doing searches on Google and Bing for answers to almost any question, or for information on any general topic, then you have probably been served with a featured snippet result in the past.

What’s a featured snippet? According to Google, it’s that special box at the top of the search result before the standard listings. Featured snippets include:

• a quoted block of text from a webpage in paragraph, list, or table format
• a link to the webpage the text was originally quoted from

The content is also frequently read aloud by the Google Assistant if you do a voice search. 

While that is the general description of a featured snippet straight from Google, they are just one of many top-position-snatching Google features. Google search engine results page features (SERP features) can take many different forms and shapes. In fact, according to SEMrush, there are over 20 different SERP features to keep in mind if you are using SEO as a growth strategy for your facility. 

While some of the features SEMrush monitors will not have a direct impact on an addiction treatment or mental health campaign, many of them will.

12 Actionable Ideas You Can Use To Put SERP Features To Work

6 Ideas That Are Completely Within Your Control

• Local Pack: verify your GoogleMyBusiness listing and get citations on as many of the major local directories as possible (more on this in tip no. 6) 
• Site Links: add links to your top resources and services pages in the footer of your website.
• Top Stories: Have your blog added to Google News. 
• Knowledge Panel: if your facility has a Wikipedia page, or if one of your executives is a published author, one of these may be available for you to claim. 
• Reviews: deploy schema markup in your site header files with star ratings and review counts from sources like the National Rehabs Directory, the fix, ChooseHelp, or Rehab.com.
• Twitter: publish your most valuable blog content and resources in your Twitter feed using keyword-rich hashtags at the end of each tweet. 

6 Ideas You Can Influence (But Google Controls)

• Featured Snippets: if you have a page that ranks in the top 5 of a search term with a featured snippet at the top, create a subheading that includes the keyword, then publish content that matches the featured snippet type, using the keyword phrase 2-3 times in your text. 
• People Also Ask and FAQ: answer the questions Google showcases in the People Also Ask box in an FAQ section on a top traffic page. 
• Image Pack and Image: optimize the file size and dimensions of your image files and utilize up to 100 characters of your alt tag for keyword-rich descriptions. 
• Featured Videos, Video Carousel, and Video: embed your YouTube videos on pages of your site that also rank well for terms with video carousels. 
• Instant Answer: provide calculations and short, simple to answer questions on your top-performing webpages. 
• Jobs: deploy schema markup in your site header files for the pages featuring any of your open job listings. Note that this only applies if you are hosting your job openings on your site. Platforms like Glassdoor and Indeed already do this for you.

6. Leverage Local SEO To Rank Where SAMHSA Can’t Be Featured

While SAMHSA will continue to dominate organic search results, they technically only have one physical location in Rockville, Maryland. As far as Google is concerned, SAMHSA can’t be featured in local SEO search results because they are not considered to be a provider of local treatment services. SAMHSA will always be your biggest competitor for traffic in the search engines, but one area Google is leaving open for you to own continues to be local SEO.

On desktop searches, a map listing with three facilities is included with nearly every top searched keyword phrase related to substance abuse and mental health services.

On mobile devices, the map takes over all of the SERP real estate above the fold. At a bare minimum, if you have not taken over ownership of your Google My Business listing, or verified your business with the following top local directories, opportunity is leaving you behind:

• Apple Maps
• Bing Local
• SAMHSA
• Yelp

If you already have your business confirmed on all five of the platforms listed above, you are off to a great start with maximizing your online presence in your local area. But you’ll want to take it further with local SEO as there are still as many as 22 other local directories we deem to have a “high” or “very high” citation value.

Because of the presence of the SAMHSA listing at the top of the search results, the fact that you want to reach your target audience on a local or national level will not matter – you’re going to want to leverage every ounce of opportunity local SEO has to offer. Don’t get left behind — local SEO needs to be a critical part of your drug rehab SEO strategy.

7. Go Hyperlocal

There are a lot of well-established websites in the substance abuse and mental health niche that have leveraged hyperlocal keyword searches very effectively over the years for their own addiction treatment marketing.

In fact, many of the most highly trafficked sites in this niche leverage creating a directory of treatment facilities and drug rehab centers as one of their main marketing tools to drive referrals to advertisers. Sites like SoberNation and Rehabs.com have done this for years and become so successful with this as a marketing strategy that they can now get you to pay them for traffic.

Because of how well sites like this perform in the SERPs, these types of directories can be a good source of both relevant referral traffic as well as qualified admissions leads. It can be tough to justify paying to be listed in a directory, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore these opportunities entirely.

Think of it this way — if you can justify paying to be part of your local chamber of commerce, you could probably justify paying to be listed in a directory that can help grow your admissions. Outside of becoming listed in rehab focused directories, you can also apply a hyperlocal approach to your website. If you know zip codes, names of popular suburban areas, or names of specific cities and towns within a dedicated drive radius of your facility, then you can leverage localized content to rank for some highly targeted long-tail keyword searches.

Want to go into more depth on hyperlocal digital marketing? Here’s a few blog posts worth your click. 

• What is Hyperlocal SEO and Why Should I Be Doing it Right Now?
• How You Can Use Hyperlocal Ad Campaigns

8. Revise Your Past (Then Optimize It For Your Future) In Addiction Treatment Marketing

Historical optimization is the practice of updating old content on your site and improving its SEO value for the present and future. Over the past few years, this tactic has become an incredibly valuable SEO play for facilities with a large archive of content.

To briefly summarize this tactic, find a blog post or article on your site that was published at least six months ago. Prioritize pages on your site that either:

1. Generate a lot of traffic, or
2. Convert into admission inquiries

Then refresh the content, improve the on-page SEO, add an author bio, and re-publish it with a more recent “updated” date.

Search engines reward webpages they can rely on being “there” when the crawl the internet. This tactic presents your facility with the opportunity to avoid writing about the same topics over and over again. Instead, it helps your website establish cornerstone pieces of content that will reliably provide your site with traffic from search engines. 

As an added bonus, historical optimization can help you establish your administrators and clinicians as thought leaders in the addiction and behavioral health industry.

Historical optimization in your addiction treatment marketing is a great way to get long term value out of content you published long ago.

9. Take Advantage of Question-Based Queries In Your Addiction Treatment Marketing

According to research compiled by Jumpshot and analyzed by Moz in March 2017, roughly 8% of Google searches are phrased as questions. With voice search only continuing to rise in popularity, the percentage of question-based searches are sure to grow accordingly.

Do you have an FAQ page on your facility’s website?

When you publish blog content, are you writing titles and subheadings in your posts in the form of a question? Take the time to answer both common and uncommon questions. Try to compile questions you may often get from admission prospects and their families about your treatment approaches, facilities, or warning signs that a loved one needs to know. There are two major benefits to taking this approach with your addiction treatment marketing strategy:

1. You will be building trust and helping inform people who need help but are not ready to call.
2. Your site will benefit from a larger number of entry points from keyword searches, lessening the impact that SAMHSA’s top positioning will take away from search traffic to your facility.

What questions are your admissions team, or your clinical staffers, uniquely qualified to answer? Give them a laptop and have them start writing!

10. Don’t Forget About Your Program Features In Your Addiction Treatment Marketing

Of the over 89,000+ keyword phrases where Google displays the SAMHSA National Helpline link in the top three results, above you will see just a small sample of the monetary worth of some of the terms, sorted by top monthly search volume estimates.* That’s a very small sampling of the data SEMrush has on rankings for the National Helpline page, but with a pretty quick glance, you will notice some trends across the keywords that Google is using to trigger this result.

• Different forms of addiction
• Someone researching reactions to substance abuse (withdrawal, side effects, etc.)
• Someone is looking to find/get help (AA, NA, rehab, etc.)

Now, in contrast to that, you may have noticed that keywords related to general program features were not in the above example. These days, no substance abuse or mental health facility is the same. Dig in to communicate what makes the approach of your recovery centers unique from other facilities.

3 Questions You Should Think About Answering In Your Content Marketing Plan For Your Rehabilitation Center

• Does your program take a mindfulness approach to relapse prevention?
• Do you leverage the outdoors as a therapy method?
• Does your staff have multiple advanced certifications or education credentials?

Whatever makes your facility stand out from the rest of the facilities out there, now is the time to capitalize on it. Make sure your site has dedicated pages related to those treatment programs and features and support those dedicated pages with press releases or blog post content. Optimize the dedicated pages for maximum search visibility by applying on-page SEO best practices and leverage link building strategies from the supporting content to heighten the importance of the dedicated pages to search engines.

With this addiction treatment marketing tactic, every page on your website can be an entry point to put you in touch with those in need of help.

11. Addiction Treatment Marketing Should Cater Content to Your Audience

In response to these developments in Google search results, a lot of digital marketing agencies are going to suggest you try to leverage content marketing strategies only with the intention of generating interest from top-tier publishers. The idea here is that getting coverage in front of a national audience should generate backlinks and a lot of impressions. The concept can also be referred to as viral marketing — because “going viral” is super easy, right?

To us, this feels like an expensive fool’s errand; unless, of course, the idea of a campaign with a large expense and little to no attributable ROI sounds like something your facility wants to try out.

Addiction treatment marketing shouldn’t be about more awareness of your facility. Instead, it should be about connecting with people who love and care for those who need your help.

5 Content Ideas To Help Establish A Better Connection With Those Who Need Your Help

Going with a “10X content” approach that will have an impact on the attention your brand receives and little else, the more sensible approach is to cater your content directly to your audience. Here are several alternatives to making “viral” content that could be better suited to get your facility highly-relevant traffic:

• Answering questions for the family members of potential admits
• Recapping research conducted in the industry that validates your approach to healing
• Sharing video testimonials from alumni who have dramatically improved their lives after release
• Providing helpful guides on niche topics related to attending a treatment facility, such as a legal term glossary
• Reviewing national and international news topics and explaining how they are directly impacting addiction and mental health treatment

For all types of people, it’s tough dealing with substance abuse and mental health. If you seek to be a resource for people by providing useful information at the right time, they will reach out when they need you the most. Don’t rely on occasional brand mentions in big publications with the hopes that people will remember you when the time is right.

12. Barnacle Your Brand To Top Ranking Content Publishers

Barnacle SEO is not a new strategy, but it can be a highly successful approach when situations like this occur. The term was coined by Will Scott of Search Influence about a decade ago and there was a must-watch Whiteboard Friday about it several years ago, too.

The idea behind Barnacle SEO for rehab centers as an addiction treatment marketing tactic is pretty straightforward – leverage the top rankings of other sites for your gain. Ever since April 2018, ranking for the top keywords in the substance abuse and mental health space became exponentially harder due to the update of SAMHSA’s National Helpline. Now, in addition to competing with other facilities and online publishers for top keyword rankings, getting them is almost impossible because of the injection of SAMHSA.

What can you do? Create content specifically on other sites that rank for your targeted keywords. Five of our favorite target domains to leverage for this strategy include:

• Medium
• Pinterest
• Quora
• Wikipedia
• YouTube

The value of links from these domains to help boost your search rankings is debatable. However, the referral traffic opportunity from all of them is great, and the frequency with which content on these sites ranks on the first page of Google results is high. While getting a Wikipedia page about your facility may be difficult, creating a profile and submitting content to all of these platforms should become a high priority online marketing strategy this year.

Closing Thoughts On Addiction Treatment Marketing Strategies

Many people are turning to Google to find answers to their troubles. With locations in Wheeling, WV, and Pittsburgh, PA, the team at DOM is well aware of the US’s opioid crisis. We are also sensitive to the fact that there is no “one size fits all” fix.

We think it’s a good thing that Google is trying to get people help when they need it from a neutral source. This is also not unfamiliar territory for Google. Back in November 2016, they made a similar change to the top of results for searches related to suicide.

But this change over the last two years does force substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities to shift. They can still use search engine marketing strategies to create opportunities for themselves. 

They just need to get more creative in order to provide care to the nearly 23 million Americans in need.

The top 12 ways we suggest facilities shift their addiction treatment marketing strategies are:

1. Become a LegitScript certified advertiser so your facility can run Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising
2. Extend the reach of your commercials and video content with YouTube advertising
3. Strategically tap into the near-limitless advertising opportunities in the Google Display Network 
4. Get listed in the SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator
5. Find keywords you already rank well for and structure your content for Featured Snippets
6. Maximize visibility in local SEO by completing and verifying any available citations
7. Create content on your site dedicated to hyperlocal communities that are in need of your services
8. Keep top-performing pages up to date by adding more text and updating visual content every three to six months 
9. Invest time in creating a comprehensive FAQ or writing blog posts to answer common questions
10. Optimize pages on your site for rankings around the unique features of your programs
11. Create content tailored to the families and individuals struggling with these issues
12. “Barnacle” content published by your facility to top publishing platforms for better exposure

Want to check out more of our actionable ideas from our Pittsburgh marketing firm to grow confidently online in the medical and health industry? Check out some of these blog posts below.

• Google Medic: How to SEO Proof Your Site in the Trust Authority Era
• How Do People Find Answers To Health Related Questions?
• How To Optimize Your Hospital for Local Search
• Healthcare Marketing Research & Survey Results

To get more information on this topic, contact us today for a free consultation or learn more about our status as a Google Premier Partner before you reach out.

The post 12 Marketing Plans For Your Rehab Center To Kickstart Its Growth (Updated March 2022) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

If you’re interested in getting a better understanding of the digital marketing landscape in Pittsburgh, you’ve come to the right place. Learn everything you need to know about the Pittsburgh DMA, plus a thing or two about what we’ve learned about growing your digital presence in the biggest city in the Ohio Valley (or the Paris of Appalachia).

What is the Pittsburgh Media Market?

Media markets – or Designated Market Areas (DMAs) – as we know them are largely defined by Nielsen, the company you might also know as the ratings folks. They are a marketing measurement firm that keeps track of consumer behaviors for the benefit of advertisers, media creators, broadcasters, radio stations, etc. Their defined media markets are the industry standard whenever we talk about, say, the Pittsburgh Media Market.

Mini FAQ: The Pittsburgh DMA

Data sources: Nielsen Insights, US Census Bureau QuickFacts

How Many People Are in the Pittsburgh DMA?

According to numbers provided in the 2020 Census for the counties included in the Pittsburgh DMA, the estimated population is 2.85 million people.

When Nielsen measures the population of the Pittsburgh DMA, they do not measure the population by people. Instead, they measure the number of homes. Based on data from Nielsen, Pittsburgh has about 1,166,130 homes, ranking it 26th out of their 210 defined media markets.

Which Counties Are in the Pittsburgh DMA?

There are 16 counties in total in the Pittsburgh DMA – 13 in Pennsylvania, 2 in West Virginia, and 1 in Maryland. That three state surface area covers 10,083 square miles (or, for those of you outside of the USA – 26,110 km). Other definitions of the “Pittsburgh region” extend into Ohio border counties with some sources including several Ohio counties and as far south & west as the Kentucky border and north into the extreme southwest of New York State.

Want A Map of the Pittsburgh DMA?
Grab A PDF For Your Cork Board Here.

The counties included, in alphabetical order, by state, are listed below.

• Pennsylvania
  • Allegheny
  • Armstrong
  • Beaver
  • Butler
  • Clarion
  • Fayette
  • Forest
  • Greene
  • Indiana
  • Lawrence
  • Venango
  • Washington
  • Westmoreland
• West Virginia
  • Monongalia
  • Preston
• Maryland
  • Garrett

Sure, there are other definitions of the “Pittsburgh region” that extend it into Ohio and Kentucky, or even parts of New York State. But just because these parts of the country call carbonated beverages “pop” doesn’t mean they qualify as being part of the Pittsburgh DMA. When most business professionals reference this DMA, they’re talking about the 16 county, 10,000+ square mile area we documented above.

SEO and Digital Advertising Tactics to Grow Confidently in Pittsburgh

Google Business Listing with a Defined Service Area (and Local SEO)

Formerly called Google My Business (GMB), a Google Business Listing lets you access a heaping helping

of tools that firmly establish and enhance your business’s representation on Google’s many properties. Claiming your Business Listing is just the first step–then you get to optimize it for maximum utility.

As part of the GMB claiming process, you will want to set your defined service area. As you move forward with Google Business Profile optimization, this is going to be done by naming your locations, not by setting a service area by drive distance radius.

Check out our Guide to Local SEO in 2022 for more details.

Location Web Page with Location Schema

Do you have a page on your website about Pittsburgh? If not, you should (if you want to do more business in Pittsburgh). Once you do have one, you need to optimize it.

How do you optimize it? Glad you asked. There are three steps you should follow:

Step 1: Use Structured Data

As SEO professionals, we’re bully for schema codes and structured data on websites. Google likes it, too, which is nice. And no wonder Google likes structured data: it’s a clear, concise way to tell web browsers and search engines exactly what kind of page it is.

By using the Location Schema code somewhere on your page, you can tell Google that your page is in Pittsburgh, and is relevant to people looking for businesses like yours in the region. Fun fact: it doesn’t matter where on the page that Location Schema goes, although you will typically find it inserted in the header of a page or between your <body> tags. This can also be done without being a developer if you have a plugin in a CMS like WordPress.

Check out our guide on event SEO if you want to learn more about successfully using structured data.

Step 2: Give it a Pittsburgh URL

Another thing Google likes is a clear URL structure. One of the best things you can do to hammer home that your page is in Pittsburgh is by adding “pittsburgh-pa” in the URL (or slug, as WordPress calls it).

Step 3: Mention Pittsburgh on the Page and in the Meta Descriptions

While we’re on the subject of clear and concise, let’s go over one of the best ways to communicate where your business is: by saying “we’re in Pittsburgh” with the copy you write for your Pittsburgh page.

You don’t have to write about french fries on salads or pierogies, but you should mention the city in a few key areas:

• the meta description
• the alt tags of your images
• the first paragraph
• the subheadings
• and a few times in the page copy itself

As with any keyword, don’t overdo it.

Find Out the Top Search Queries in Pittsburgh Over the Last 12 Months

See the Top Search Queries in Pittsburgh Here

Geotargeting Your Search Ads (NOT Geofencing)

Geotargeting your ads is one way to get the most digital advertising benefit from the physical location of your business without wasting money by spending on impressions or clicks that you won’t be able to serve.

If you want to target people with your ads in a designated area (say, the Pittsburgh DMA) then geotargeting is the most effective method for reaching the right people. If your service area is limited geographically, then your ads should be limited geographically, too. Facebook calls this “Location Targeting,” and other platforms may call it something else, but in today’s digital landscape every major ad platform supports some form of geotargeting.

Geofencing your ads is different than geotargeting your ads. How so? Because unlike geotargeting which allows your advertising to cover an entire service area, geofencing is meant to be used only when you want your ads to be placed around a specific business or location.

Geotargeting vs Geofencing: Why You Should (Almost) Always Choose Geotargeting

Here’s a quick example to illustrate when a regional bank may want to decide to use geotargeting or geofencing to promote its products and services:

• Geotargeting: when targeting residents of the Pittsburgh DMA regardless of where they bank
• Geofencing: when targeting residents of the Pittsburgh DMA to show compare their rates to PNC

The thing that makes geofencing so attractive as a mobile marketing strategy is the fact that you can target a customized message to a potential customer at a specific place at a very specific time. Alternatively, there are a lot of factors that can cause geofencing to be a bad use of your ad spend, including:

• Location accuracy
• Reliance on beacon technology
• Dependence on your target customers having bluetooth and GPS enabled
• Inability to have your audience see your ads in their moment of need

Despite its popularity as a marketing buzzword, geofencing often doesn’t make sense for a better targeted digital ad campaign. Instead, you will find it more effective to use behavior data from search engines or social networks with a layer of geotargeting for best results.

A Bank Rebranded.
See How We Helped Them Double Conversions.

There you have it, a whole guide to how you can make your location work for you, and how you can firmly establish yourself as a Pittsburgh-based business (and we only said “yinz” once!). You can read more about how to get local with digital marketing by reading some of these other blogs on DOM’s Pittsburgh Marketing Agency website:

• What is Hyperlocal SEO and Why Should I Be Doing it Right Now?
• How You Can Use Hyperlocal Ad Campaigns
• How Local Service Ads Can Help You Connect
• 5 Local SEO Tips for Your “Happily Ever After”

The post How to Grow (Digitally) In the Pittsburgh DMA appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.