A trademark bidding policy is the section of an affiliate programme's terms that sets out whether, and how, affiliates may bid on the operator's brand name, trademarks and close variants in paid search — and what related activity is prohibited (using the brand in ad copy or display URLs, bidding on misspellings, dynamic keyword insertion that surfaces the brand, directing brand traffic through the affiliate before the operator's site).
Definition
A trademark bidding policy is the section of an affiliate programme's terms that sets out whether, and how, affiliates may bid on the operator's brand name, trademarks and close variants in paid search — and what related activity is prohibited (using the brand in ad copy or display URLs, bidding on misspellings, dynamic keyword insertion that surfaces the brand, directing brand traffic through the affiliate before the operator's site). Policies range from a total ban on brand terms, to allowing them only for designated partners, to allowing them subject to strict rules (negative-keyword requirements, no brand in the display URL).
Unauthorised brand-term bidding is one of the most common causes of affiliate disputes and terminations, because it lets an affiliate collect commission on demand the operator generated, and drives up the operator's own brand-search costs.
In context
For affiliates, the trademark bidding policy is one of the first things to read and confirm in writing before running any paid search for an operator, because getting it wrong is a fast route to voided commissions and termination. The policy defines the boundary between compliant category-term bidding and prohibited brand-term interception, and it varies by programme, so an affiliate cannot assume a rule from one operator applies to another.
Where brand bidding is permitted, the affiliate must follow the exact conditions — the required negative keywords, restrictions on the display URL and ad copy, and any per-partner limits. Where it is banned, the affiliate must add the operator's brand and variants as negative keywords across its campaigns to avoid accidental brand triggering through broad match or dynamic insertion.
This connects to ad hijacking and typosquatting as the family of brand-interception issues. For an operator, a clear published trademark bidding policy plus monitoring to enforce it is standard programme management.
For affiliate-facing content, the framing is that a trademark bidding policy sets whether and how affiliates may bid on an operator's brand terms in paid search and what related use is prohibited, that unauthorised brand bidding is a leading cause of clawbacks and terminations, that policies vary by programme so the rule must be confirmed in writing, and that where brand bidding is banned the affiliate must add brand terms as negatives to avoid accidental triggering.
Worked example
An affiliate about to run paid search for an operator confirms the trademark bidding policy in writing: brand terms are banned for non-designated partners. It adds the operator's brand name, common misspellings and variants as negative keywords across its campaigns to prevent accidental brand triggering, and bids only on approved category terms.
A competitor that ignored the policy has its commissions voided.
Related terms
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