How to Run Google Ads When Your Supplier Is Bidding on the Same Terms
Concede the brand head term and take everything around it. The brand's own site will almost always win on their name because of quality score and landing page relevance, but they are far weaker on model numbers, spare parts, bundles, discontinued lines and searches with buying intent attached, and that is where a stockist can buy traffic at a sensible cost.
Before changing anything, read your dealer agreement. Most restrict how the brand name is used in ad copy rather than banning paid search outright, and some brands will part fund your spend if you follow their rules.
Which brand searches should we actually bid on?
Bid on the searches where the buyer has already chosen the product and is choosing a seller. Skip the ones where they are still choosing a brand.
- Take: brand plus model number, brand plus spec, brand plus size or colour.
- Take: brand plus "buy", "UK", "in stock", "next day", "spare parts".
- Concede: the bare brand name and brand plus "official" or "website".
- Concede: brand plus "reviews" and other research stage searches.
A search for a bare brand name is a mix of existing customers, warranty queries and people who are not close to buying. A search for a specific model with a size attached is someone with a basket in mind.
How do we stop Performance Max eating the brand terms anyway?
Add brand exclusions at campaign level and keep the brand and generic budgets in separate campaigns. Performance Max will always take the cheapest conversions it can find, and on a reseller account that means brand searches you would often have won organically.
Use the brand exclusion list for supplier brands you are not allowed to bid on, and add your own retailer name as an exclusion in every prospecting campaign so it cannot claim credit for people who already know you. Then check the search terms report weekly for the first month, because exclusions do not catch everything.
What coverage do suppliers usually miss?
Long tail product searches. Brand sites are built around current season hero products and their paid search follows the same logic.
Worked example. A stockist carrying 40 brands exported twelve months of Search Console and Merchant Centre data and found roughly 2,300 distinct model number searches across the catalogue. The brands themselves were bidding on around 300 of them, almost all current season. The remaining searches were low volume individually but sat at a much lower cost per click and a higher conversion rate, because anyone typing a full model number has already decided what they want.
Group those into campaigns by brand and by margin band, not into one giant ad group, so budget can follow the brands that pay you best.
How do we position the ad when the price is the same?
Lead with what the brand site cannot say. Delivery speed, stock held in the UK, installation, extended warranty, phone support, bundle pricing, finance, price match.
Keep the brand name in the headline only if your agreement allows it, and put the reason to choose you in headline two. A reseller ad that only repeats the brand and the product is competing purely on bid, which is the one fight you cannot win.
[CLIENT RESULT: insert real figure]
What if the supplier asks us to stop?
Ask for the request in writing and ask which specific terms are covered. Most disputes turn out to be about the head term or about ad copy wording, not about model number searches or Shopping.
If they insist on a full stop, negative the brand across the account including Performance Max, shift that budget into category and model searches, and ask whether co-op funding is available in exchange. Being the stockist who follows the rules is worth more than a few thousand clicks.
Part of our guide to Google Ads for branded resellers.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to bid on a brand name we resell?
Bidding on a trademarked keyword is generally allowed by Google. Using the trademark in ad text is restricted unless you are an authorised reseller or an informational site. Your dealer agreement, not Google policy, is usually the real constraint, so read it before you launch.
Will bidding on the brand name annoy our supplier?
Sometimes. The common flashpoint is a reseller outranking the brand on its own head term and pushing up the brand's costs. Bidding on brand plus product and brand plus model rarely causes friction because it captures demand the brand site often does not serve well.
What if the supplier bans paid search on their name entirely?
Add the brand name as a negative in every campaign including Performance Max, then build coverage on model numbers, category terms, part numbers and comparison searches. Check the ban actually covers Shopping, because many agreements only restrict text ads.
Should we bid on competitor stockists?
Usually not worth it. Conversion rates on competitor terms are low, costs climb quickly once they retaliate, and the same budget spent on model number searches nearly always returns more.
Can we get the supplier to fund some of the spend?
Often yes. Many brands run co-op or market development funds that will cover part of a stockist's paid search when campaigns follow their brand rules. Ask for the guidelines and the claim process, and structure a separate campaign so the reporting is clean.
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