I just wrote a blog about how competition is healthy, and I still stand by that. Competition makes us stronger. In the Bible, Proverbs 27:17 sums it up perfectly: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

There is a saying that all is fair in love and war. People insert business into that statement because competition in business can get fierce, and most – if not all business – is fair within the confines of the law.

Even your name.

Targeting ads in Google is nothing new. You think like your customers, set up campaigns, and choose common phrases or products people search for as canned keywords for dynamic ads to show up in people’s searches. These dynamic ads form cohesive search advertisements by combining the keywords from the pool of copy you’ve provided into a search result.

Sometimes competitors use your brand name as a keyword to target their ads on and in the ad copy itself. This can cause your full company name to be plastered on a link to a competitor’s website.

“Well, is there something I can do to stop them?” you may ask.

Not really.

Unless your competitor is pretending to be your website to redirect traffic away from you (a violation of trademark laws), there is not a lot that can be done, and there is a chance they are unaware that Google is doing it.

If you want to learn more about Google’s dynamic ads, start here.