Trademarks and SEO

Trademarks and search engine optimization (SEO) have been hot topics since search became monetized many moons ago. Websites are now essential for any business, and search engines are what attract potential customers to you. Using relevant information and certain keywords is what brings this traffic in. Both trademarks and search engine optimization are broad and complex topics, so let’s first let’s define them. Once we briefly define them, we’ll discuss how they relate to one another.

Trademarks and SEO

Trademarks defined

A trademark can be a word, symbol, design, or combination of them all. Trademarks essentially help customers understand and easily identify what a business’s products or services are. According to upsto.gov, a trademark will help identify the source of your service, it will provide legal protection, and it will protect you from counterfeit and fraud. Having a trademark doesn’t mean you have full ownership of the word or phrase, however. This is actually a common misunderstanding. Instead, it means you have control over how it’s used in relation to your own products and/or services. Additionally, it’s also important to have unique trademarks as they are easier to protect. A business doesn’t necessarily need to register its trademark; however, a registered trademark will give the owner expanded rights and protections. Furthermore, the “™” or “sm” symbols may be used whether or not you have a registered trademark or not.

Search Engine Optimization defined

Search engine optimization (or SEO), on the other hand, is an excellent way to bring in traffic and visibility to your business. Google and Bing search enginges use bots to crawl pages on the web, going from site to site, collecting information about those pages, and putting them in an index. In modern times, SEO has become a fundamental aspect of digital marketing. Almost every business now has a website and knowing how to use SEO properly and effectively will benefit you and your business greatly. Search has now become the leading source of digital traffic.

Trademarks and search engines

A trademark can be seen as a type of intellectual property. As mentioned earlier, it can be anything from a word, phrase, logo, or symbol. Ownership is location-based, much like copyright law. All of the major search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN Live Search, and Ask – provide their own trademark usage policies on their sites. These policies clearly distinguish between an algorithmic link (organic result), and an ad link (paid result). Trademarks can either be used as a keyword to trigger an ad or in the actual ad copy. Major search engines like Google allow advertisers to bid on keywords that are trademarked. However, some countries and other search engines are much more strict. Microsoft, for example, doesn’t allow for any bidding. Search engines will hold advertisers responsible for ads; however, they are capable of removing the ad.

Tips on using a competitor’s trademarks

Remember these tips when considering using a competitor’s trademarks.

• Use the trademark only when it’s required and necessary.
• Avoid using it to draw people away from the competitor.
• Avoid suggesting sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.
• Ask permission from the trademark holder.

Tips on using trademarks

Remember these tips when using trademarks as a whole.

• Don’t use any copyrighted material without permission.
• Research your keywords.
• Don’t stuff trademarks into page titles, meta descriptions, or page text.
• Pay attention to pay-per-click campaigns.
• Figure out how to build and protect your brand effectively.

The importance of SEO and trademarks

The importance of trademarks and SEO continues to grow as we enter into a more digital world. Taking full advantage of the benefits of both will take you and your business far. Both SEO and trademarks will increase both the quality and quantity of your website traffic. And what more could a business ask for?

Additional Reading: About Trademark Infringement

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