Should a beauty brand bid on its product names too?

Usually yes, for bestsellers. Reorders and comparisons often start with a product name rather than your brand. Retailers and marketplaces that stock you can bid on those names, because Google does not restrict trademarks used as keywords. Exact match keeps you on the product, not the whole category.

What if a retailer that stocks my products bids on my brand?

That is allowed. Google's trademark policy does not restrict ads whose landing pages sell your products. Decide whether you would rather pay for the click or let the retailer take the sale at your wholesale price. Then set your bids to match.

Should I raise brand bids when a creator video goes viral?

Often, for a short spell. A viral video sends people to search your name, and retailers or rivals may bid on that wave. Raise the cap for the spike, then judge it by Shopify sales, since the campaign's own conversions collect demand the video created.

Should a health and beauty brand bid on its own name?

If you sell health and beauty, bidding on your own name usually pays when retailers, marketplaces or rival brands show up on your product names. It pays less on plain reorder searches you already win.

By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 2026-10-015 min read

If you sell health and beauty

If you sell skincare, make-up, hair care or supplements, your name may live on other people's shelves. Retailers, pharmacies and marketplaces can stock your products and bid on your name and product names. Google's trademark policy allows that. It does not restrict trademarks used as keywords, and it lets resellers use your name for pages that sell your products.

Your customers also come back on a schedule. A cleanser runs out, a serum gets reordered, a vitamin tub empties. Many reorders start with a product name typed into Google, and whoever sits first gets the sale.

Before the first order, shoppers compare. They check ingredients, reviews and cheaper lookalikes. A rival can bid on your product name to show its alternative right above your listing.

If you sell supplements, there is one more wrinkle. Google's healthcare policy bans promoting unapproved products marketed as safe or effective for preventing, curing or treating a disease. Write brand ads that sell the product, not the cure.

What one store's export shows

One store's anonymised GA4 export, 1 January 2024 to 21 August 2026. It holds shares of revenue only: no ad spend, no order counts. It does not say what that store sells, so it shows how GA4 credits buyers, not how beauty shoppers behave.

What the export shows	Share of revenue	Source cell
Direct, in last click, first click and touched views	57.7%	Channels sheet, Direct row
Journeys with 2 to 3 touches (296 distinct paths, 12.5 days to buy)	12.2%	Journeys sheet, 2-3 touches row

On the Channels sheet, Direct holds 57.7% of revenue in all three views. By GA4's definition, those buyers arrived through a saved link or a typed address. No auction stood between them and the store, so no brand ad could protect that revenue or take credit for it.

On the Journeys sheet, journeys with 2 to 3 touches hold 12.2% of revenue and take 12.5 days to buy. That is the comparing shopper: ingredient list, review, second look. If the second look starts with a search for your product name, it passes through an auction a retailer or rival can enter.

The export cannot show which visits began with a search, or whether that store bid on its name. It is one store, not a benchmark for health and beauty.

What changes for a health and beauty brand?

Product names come first. Bid on your bestsellers' names in exact match, since reorders and comparisons tend to start there. Plain brand searches from loyal buyers matter less.
Retailers are partners and rivals at once. If a stockist's ad wins your product search, you still sell, at a wholesale price. Decide which you prefer before you outbid them.
Creator spikes invite company. A video that takes off on TikTok or Instagram sends a wave of people to search your name. Retailers and rivals can bid on the same wave, so check who shows up while it lasts.
Reorders are cheap to defend and easy to overpay. If a customer clicks your brand ad at every refill, you pay for each of those clicks. A saved link or a subscription does the same job for free.

What to do this week

Preview your three bestsellers' names. In Google Ads, open Tools, then Troubleshooting, then Ad preview and diagnosis, and search each product name. Pass: your listing or ad sits first. Fail: a retailer, marketplace or rival sits above you, so add those names to your brand campaign.
Find out who already buys your product-name clicks. Select Campaigns, then Search terms under Insights and reports, and filter for each product name. Pass: they sit in one brand campaign. Fail: Performance Max or other campaigns buy them in several places, so decide where they belong.
Add a reorder sitelink to your brand ad. Go to Assets in the Campaigns menu, click the plus button, then Sitelink, and link your bestsellers or subscription page. Pass: Ad preview shows the sitelink under your ad. Fail: it never shows, so add a second one, since Google needs at least 2 sitelinks on mobile.

Check the homework. Your GA4 Attribution paths export already holds the evidence. Causality Engine reads that one file and shows what each channel caused next to what last-click gave it, in 1 to 2 minutes, for €99 once (excluding VAT), refundable within 30 days. Check the homework

Sources, 1 October 2026: Trademarks (Google Advertising Policies Help); Healthcare and medicines (Google Advertising Policies Help); Cost-per-click (CPC): Definition (Google Ads Help); About keyword matching options (Google Ads Help); About the Ad preview and diagnosis tool (Google Ads Help); About the search terms report (Google Ads Help); Default channel group (Google Analytics Help); About sitelink assets (Google Ads Help).

Frequently asked questions

Should a beauty brand bid on its product names too?
Usually yes, for bestsellers. Reorders and comparisons often start with a product name rather than your brand. Retailers and marketplaces that stock you can bid on those names, because Google does not restrict trademarks used as keywords. Exact match keeps you on the product, not the whole category.
What if a retailer that stocks my products bids on my brand?
That is allowed. Google's trademark policy does not restrict ads whose landing pages sell your products. Decide whether you would rather pay for the click or let the retailer take the sale at your wholesale price. Then set your bids to match.
Should I raise brand bids when a creator video goes viral?
Often, for a short spell. A viral video sends people to search your name, and retailers or rivals may bid on that wave. Raise the cap for the spike, then judge it by Shopify sales, since the campaign's own conversions collect demand the video created.

Go deeper: Incrementality testing, explained.

Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.

Keep reading

Terms in this article

Browse the full glossary