A competitor campaign is a Google Ads campaign that targets searches for other companies’ brand names, so your ad can appear when someone looks for a rival. It is usually kept separate from your other campaigns because it behaves differently and needs its own budget and expectations.
How a competitor campaign works
You add competitors’ names as keywords, often in exact or phrase match, and write ads that give the searcher a reason to consider you instead: a clearer price, a faster service, a feature the rival lacks. Your ad enters the same ad auction as everyone else’s, but with a handicap. Google judges how relevant your ad and landing page are to the search, and an ad for one company is rarely very relevant to a search for another. That usually means a low Quality Score, so you pay more per click than the brand owner does for the same search.
People searching a brand name mostly want that brand. Some are still comparing, though, and those are the searches a competitor campaign is really after.
UK trade mark rules
In the UK, Google allows you to bid on a competitor’s trade mark as a keyword. Using the trade mark in the ad text itself is different: the owner can file a complaint with Google, which may then stop it appearing in ads. The legal position also matters. The leading UK case, Interflora v Marks & Spencer, turned on whether a reasonably well-informed internet user could tell from the ad that M&S was not part of Interflora’s network. An ad that blurs that line risks a trade mark claim even if Google lets it run.
If you compare yourself with a named rival, the CAP Code applies too: the comparison must be fair, accurate and capable of being checked, and it must not denigrate the competitor. This is general information rather than legal advice; if a competitor objects, take advice from a trade mark solicitor.
Why it matters
A competitor campaign can put you in front of people who are actively shopping in your category, at the moment they are choosing. For a challenger brand or a business with a genuinely better offer, it is one of the few ways to reach a rival’s audience directly.
It also costs more per enquiry than most campaigns and can provoke a response. Competitors who notice often start bidding on your name in return, which pushes up the cost of your own brand campaign.
Common mistakes
- Putting competitor keywords in the same campaign as your main keywords, which hides their weaker figures and drains shared budget.
- Using the rival’s name in headlines in a way that suggests you are them.
- Sending traffic to a generic homepage instead of a page that explains why someone should choose you.
- Judging it on click-through rate. Low CTR is normal here; cost per enquiry is the real test.
How to act on it
Start with competitor analysis: which rivals your customers actually compare you with, and where you genuinely win. Use Auction insights to see who is already bidding against you. Build a separate campaign with a modest budget, one ad group per competitor, and ads that make a clear and honest point of difference without implying any connection.
Run it for long enough to judge cost per enquiry, then keep only the competitors that pay their way. Setting up and testing campaigns like this sits within my Google search ads management.