Trivago is celebrating after an official complaint it made to Google regarding review rival TripAdvisor's use of Google AdWords has been accepted.
The Germany-based review and metasearch engine reacted angrily after discovering Tripadvisor was bidding on its brand name and including the trademarked name in its ad copy.
It has since emerged that Google responded quickly to Trivago and said the matter had been dealt with and TripAdvisor would no longer be using the term in its ad copy.
The victory was reasonably shortlived, however, as no sooner had the ads disappeared Trivago was reeling again when the ads re-emerged the following day.
Trivago executives complained once more to Google and the ads have since been removed completely.
A Trivago spokeswoman says:
We were startled by the ad in which TA used our brand name, which is a strong brand abuse and which leads to disorientation on the side of our visitors.
Google has been responsive to our complaint and the issue has been solved without any further complications.
You will still find keyword bidding by Tripadvisor on our name though, which is not surprising and – sadly enough - a commonly used strategy.
"We were startled by the ad in which TA used our brand name, which is a strong brand abuse and which leads to disorientation on the side of our visitors.
"Google has been responsive to our complaint and the issue has been solved without any further complications.
"You will still find keyword bidding by Tripadvisor on our name though, which is not surprising and – sadly enough - a commonly used strategy."
TripAdvisor will not comment on its keyword buying or SEO strategy.