FAILURE MODE: Bidding on the merchant's brand term in paid search

FAILURE MODE: Bidding on the merchant's brand term in paid search
The shortcut that gets accounts nuked: buying '[brand] coupon code' ads, often with the brand name in the display URL. Most programs explicitly ban trademark and trademark+coupon bidding, and we hear brand teams now run automated SERP monitoring that flags violators within days, not months.
The fix: Read the program's PPC policy line by line before any paid push. Stick to your own brand and generic non-trademark terms, and if you run a 'Online Coupon Network'-style middleman setup, know that the merchant can still see the source URL.
Why it matters: One flagged trademark bid can mean clawback of every commission tied to that traffic — plus a network-wide reputation hit that follows your publisher ID. Developing...