I frequently conduct searches for trademarked terms to be sure that affiliates are compliant with the terms for affiliate programs I manage.
One way that cagey affiliates have tried to beat affiliate managers in the past has been to exclude certain geographic areas when they bid on brand names and other trademarks.
Their strategy is to bid for these terms everywhere except the city where the company is based. Pretty sneaky, sis.
Affiliate managers have been on to that technique for a while, and they’ve come up with workarounds to beat the geo-targeters.
The latest trick from a handful of paid search affiliates is to engage in daypart targeting with Google AdWords.
If you were not aware, Google AdWords has a feature known as Ad Scheduling where affiliates can specify the days and times they want their ads to run.
In other words, even if you are keeping an eye on trademark bidding during business hours, it’s pretty easy for affiliates to automate their campaigns with your trademarks to only run during evenings and weekends.
Welcome to the seven day work week.