Have you ever searched your brand name on Google and seen an ad at the top for a domain that impersonates your brand rather than your own? This is known as "brand impersonation advertising" — a fraud method that carries serious risk, especially for finance and e-commerce brands.
How do you recognize a trademark violation on Google Ads?
Key warning signs: the ad's destination domain resembles your official domain but isn't quite identical (a single letter difference, an added hyphen, a different extension); the ad copy contains phrasing you've never used in your own campaigns (e.g. "50% fee-free," "guaranteed return"); or the advertiser isn't your official business account.
Google Ads reporting process
- Use Google's Ads Transparency Center to view the ad and the advertiser's identity
- Fill out Google's Trademark Complaint Form
- Attach your trademark registration certificate and evidence of the violation (screenshot, ad ID)
- Google's review typically takes a few business days
Why is continuous monitoring necessary?
Fake ads on Google Ads are often very short-lived — scammers launch campaigns with just a few hours of budget, trying to gather as many clicks as possible before detection, then shut the campaign down before the system flags it. This makes manual tracking nearly impossible.
Achernar's Google ADS Monitoring service automatically scans for fake ads created with domain names and ad copy identical to your brand, checked at 5-minute intervals — so detection and reporting can begin before the campaign even ends.
If you're facing a similar threat in social media ads, see our guide to reporting fake Instagram and Facebook ads.