The easiest way for startups & businesses to burn is by advertising on their own brand keywords to stop competitors from doing so. Hopefully, this high court order will put an end to what feels like a regressive tax by big tech, especially on SMEs.

Years ago, when our competitors first ran ads against the “Zerodha” keyword, we got influenced to run ads as well. We stopped quickly when we realized that it made no difference to our traffic & the ad was essentially cannibalizing our organic traffic while costing us money.

Stopping own brand keyword ads was a tough decision, something most businesses can’t take due to the fear of losing business, especially when the ads are misleading. Hopefully, businesses stop doing this & Google disallows it now that there’s a legal precedent.

This is a great listen for everyone thinking about advertising for their business.

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