brand abuse online david naffziger ceo – brandverity
TRANSCRIPT
Brand Abuse Online
David Naffziger
CEO – BrandVerity
Common Forms of Brand Abuse
Abuse is most frequently found in channels where abusers can make money.
• Domain Names
• Spam & Adware
• Search Ads
Domain Typos of Virgin Mobile
20,000 visitors a month
3,200
1,600
30,000
9,000 200
The Brand Owner’s Approach
1. Generate a list of domains
2. Check the list to see who owns the domains
3. Find out which domains have traffic
4. Get those domains back
Find Typos
http://www.domaintools.com/domain-typo/ orhttp://www.citizenhawk.com
Find Brand Extensions
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordTool orhttp://www.keyworddiscovery.com
Find International Registrations
Who has Traffic?Good indicators of Traffic:• AdWords Keyword Tool
– Input both the full domain and just the stem: (virginatlatic & virginatlatic.com) and check scores
• KeywordTracker– Same exercise as with AdWords Keyword Tool
• Registration Date– Older registrations are more likely to have traffic
• Buy AdWords for every typo in question
Get the Domain Back
• Uniform Domain Resolution Process (UDRP)– Quick, Inexpensive Mediated process to recover
domains from abusers– Can take 30 days & cost several $K
• Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA)– US-based law that allows for up to $100K in damages
for cybersquatting/typosquatting– Verizon recently won an award of $30 MM against a
typosquatter
Spam & Adware
• Utilized to:– Sell your products
• Usually by your affiliates or partners
– Sell your competitor’s products– Sell knockoffs
• May contain legal liability for the brand-owner:– False advertising claims– CAN SPAM compliance– Adware consent
Catching Spam & Adware Abuse
• Requires specialized tools
• Spam:– Lashback– EmailDataSource
• Adware:– Ben Edelman offers a fantastic detection and
monitoring service
Search Ad Brand Abuse
• Abuse is frequently conducted by organizations that:– Compete with you– Are your partners (affiliates)– Strongly dislike you
Methods of Abuse
• How they hide from you:– Reverse geo-targeting– Day-parting– Copy your ad text
Methods of Abuse
• How they dodge Google's filters:– TM in Display URL– Variations on TM (typos,
spaces, etc.)
Monitoring• Manual
– Use Google Translate or other translation tools• Or proxies• Or AOL client• Or anything that gets you an IP from a different location
– Do the testing off-hours– Look at the page source
• Automated– Shameless plug: BrandVerity PoachMark
• Free, no-credit-card trial
