Brandjacking: Analysis and Guide for Protection
In recent years, the line between protecting your brand and navigating potential threats has blurred significantly. One of the most notable culprits of brand abuse and hijacking includes brandjacking – a term that translates to third-party entities misappropriating your brand.
Here, we closely analyse brandjacking and provide actionable strategies to prevent, overcome, and effectively combat this issue through brand protection services.
What is Brandjacking?
In simple terms, brandjacking refers to the unauthorized use of a trademark or brand identity by malicious entities which can severely impact a company’s reputation as well as branded traffic if brand protection efforts are not in use.
Brandjacking: A Thorough Breakdown
Brandjacking takes several forms, each aiming to exploit brand identity. Mostly, all forms of brandjacking include brand impersonation and misrepresentation (brand theft) which could cause detrimental negative outcomes for business.
Brandjacking in its Many Forms
Website Piracy
Website Piracy is a common form of brandjacking/brand piracy where a malicious threat creates a copy of an existing website, complete with logos, images, and detailed brand identity.
- Susceptible industries – iGaming
Email Phishing
Generally, email phishing is carried out by culprits pretending to be a trusted entity through emails that typically resemble legitimate addresses of the original brand with slight tweaks in letters and word order.
- Susceptible industries and markets – Financial phishing attacks in Vietnam + Streaming
PPC (pay-per-click keyword hacking)
PPC is synonymous with brand hijacking where competitors bid on branded keywords associated with a legitimate company for branded traffic. This tactic diverts traffic away from the original brand site.
- Susceptible industries and markets – iGaming + sports betting
Fake Social Media Accounts
Malicious actors create profiles that imitate brand official accounts, posting misleading information or fraudulent services. This adds even more emphasis on the importance of monitoring online presence.
- Susceptible industries and markets – Event ticket bookings and ticket resale
Typosquatting (URL Hijacking)
Typosquatting is a form of brand abuse happening either through slightly misspelt popular websites to deter traffic away from the original site or to resell the domain back to the original and trademarked brand.
- Susceptible industries and markets – high-traffic Crypto casinos and e-commerce retailers
*Although different threats, brandjacking and site parasites ‘Parasite SEO’ can add detrimental effects on your search rankings – Be safe, and ensure strong brand protection services for full protection*
The Risks of Brandjacking on Your Brand
Left unchecked, brandjacking/brand piracy can have a detrimental effect on the future of a brand and may surpass the threshold for effective efforts in regaining branded traffic naturally. To protect your brand identity and image consider the following risks of brandjacking and how it has the potential to be your company’s downfall.
Erosion of Brand Trust
Through brandjacking, customers may unintentionally engage with fraudulent entities, leading to confusion and damaged client relationships.
Financial Losses
Brand theft incurs financial loss through counterfeit websites drawing customers and finally the financial burden of legal actions against impersonators and restoring your brand.
Negative impact on SEO and Digital Presence
Brand abuse can severely affect your SEO efforts. Especially through the brand hijacking of keywords through PPC and deterring traffic to impersonated sites.
Legal Repercussions
Legal costs detract from your primary focus on growth and innovation by drawing towards pursuing costly legal action.
Market Position Vulnerability
The risk of brand piracy becomes more pronounced as competitors evolve – leading to market share loss when a brand is compromised.
Stay Shielded from Brandjacking: How?
With increasing incidents of brandjacking, including brand hijacking, brand theft, new cybercrimes, PPC hacking, and more, it’s vital to adopt a proactive approach to brand protection. Keep control of your brand, monitor your online presence, and ensure you have the right team looking out for your SEO efforts.
Stay in Control of Your Online Presence
Monitor your online presence on social media, advertisements, and websites
Leverage analytics tools to monitor branded traffic effectively
Have an active presence on social media to deter clients from accessing brand impersonation sites
Employ brand protection and netlinking services
Incorporate proactive strategies against brandjacking
Ensure that your brand trademark is registered
Consider reputation management
Safeguard Your Brand: How to Take Down Brandjacking
If you find yourself grappling with brandjacking/brand piracy, it’s vital to take immediate action to protect your brand and business before irrefutable damage is caused to your SERP rankings and business and client trust.
Here is how you can effectively avoid and take down brandjacking and reclaim your position
Legal Options
If you have identified websites or entities engaging in illegal activities that undermine your brand, several legal options are available.
DMC Takedown Notices:
The robust framework of the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) assists in addressing copyright infringement including through brand abuse and hijacking.
How to use DMC: File a DMC takedown notice to alert the offending website or platform that their use of your content violates the copyright, and they are compelled to remove the website or the infringing elements.
Strategic Options
Pursuing legal action can however be too slow at times, especially as brandjackers continuously create new websites when existing ones are taken down. This outlines the importance of taking on a proactive approach, as shown through the strategies below.
- Prioritize SEO for Key Assets: Get the primary website optimized for organic traffic
- Monitor and track brand mentions across the web
- Engage with web hosts and registrars of the brand hijacking culprits
- Invest in brand protection and Netlinking services
Investing in Brand Protection services is the best line of defence against brand abuse. Our brand protection services provide ongoing monitoring and take action against unauthorized use of your brand identity, ensuring that your brand image remains intact while maintaining a competitive edge in organic search.
Secure Your Company’s Future with Brand Legends
At Brand Legends we understand the importance of keeping your brand trust intact. We specialize in brand protection services that assist in safeguarding your assets from misuse and maintain integrity in the ever-evolving competitive marketplace.
Brand Protection Solution
Our brand protection services are designed to shield your brand’s identity, reputation, and revenue from unauthorized use or infringement through the use of satellite sites that represent your brand appropriately.
Our brand protection services focus on monitoring and combating brand infringement across various platforms. One of our primary strategies includes the optimization of SERP rankings to create a robust online presence that actively showcases your Brand authenticity.
Guide to Our Brand Protection Services
First, we carry out a comprehensive analysis of your current online presence and brand exposure to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Secondly, after developing a thorough understanding of your brand’s current online state, we employ our satellite sites which serve multiple purposes and act as a shield for brandjacking by pushing unauthorized users down the SERPs, making it difficult to undermine your brand’s credibility.
Protecting your brand demands vigilance and strategic action. At Brand Legends we are dedicated to providing the services and experience you need to safeguard your brand.
Mitigate brandjacking risk with Brand Legends – Start Today.
FAQ
- What is brandjacking/brand piracy, and how does it affect businesses?
Brandjacking is the intentional brand hacking of a company to hinder its integrity, and growth, and to ultimately surpass organic traffic for branded keywords. This is done through misuse of the brand’s name, trademarks, and brand identity, often to mislead consumers. - What are the most common forms of brandjacking?Common forms of brandjacking include website piracy, typosquatting, phishing and other factors that involve brand theft and domain spoofing. Brandjacking /brand piracy can also manifest in social media impersonation where fake accounts mimic legitimate brands.
- What is the most efficient solution to prevent and fight brandjacking?Legal strategies and monitoring your website through brand protection stand as the most robust service for tracking unauthorized use of your brand. Brand protection not only solidifies your brand’s position in SERPs but also ensures brand theft cannot go unnoticed, assisting in a fast reaction.
- What steps can I take to protect my brand from brandjacking?Having a strong legal framework in place allows businesses to respond quickly and effectively to incidences of infringement and brand abuse. Registering your trademark and domain names aggressively is also extremely important for easier access to DMC infringement strategies.