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Traffic and channels

Ad hijacking

Also called PPC hijacking, brand hijacking, search ad hijacking, ad copying.

Short answer

Ad hijacking is when an affiliate copies a store's own search ad and bids on the store's brand name, so the affiliate's ad appears above or instead of the store's. The sale would have happened anyway – but now it triggers commission.

Definition of Ad hijacking.

Ad hijacking relies on imitation. The ad uses the store's name in the headline and often a display URL that resembles the store's own, so the user cannot tell the difference in the search results. The click goes through the affiliate link and on to the store with a tracking parameter. The customer lands in the same place as always, buys as always – and the sale is recorded as a referral.

The method is hard to spot because the ads rarely run around the clock. They typically appear in limited time slots, from specific geographic areas, or only when the store's own ad is not active. Search for the brand name yourself from the office IP address in the middle of the day, and you see nothing.

The damage is twofold. The store pays commission on traffic it already owned, because the customer searched for its name and was on the way in. At the same time, the affiliate bids against the store in the same ad auction, pushing up the price of the store's own brand keywords. The bill arrives from two directions at once.

How to detect ad hijacking

Search for the brand name at odd hours, from different networks and from several geographic areas, or use the ad platform's own preview tool, which shows ads without registering an impression. Look for ads where the display URL and headline resemble the store's own, but where the destination goes through an intermediary.

The numbers give another clue. Hijacked traffic has a suspiciously high conversion rate and a short time from click to purchase, because the customer had already made up their mind. If one affiliate sits well above the rest on both, brand keywords are the first explanation to rule out.

What the terms should say

Spell out the brand rule instead of assuming it. The terms should take a position on four things: whether bidding on the brand name is allowed at all, whether the brand name may appear in ad copy and the display URL, whether the affiliate must add the brand name and its misspellings as negative keywords, and whether direct linking to the store's domain is allowed.

If the terms only mention the correctly spelled brand name, the problem moves to typos and run-together spellings. The rule has to cover the variants, or it covers nothing.

Ad hijacking vs. brand bidding

AspectAd hijackingBrand bidding
What happensthe ad imitates the store's ownbrand keywords are bid on with the affiliate's own ad
Agreed in advanceno – it relies on not being discoveredmay be allowed in the program terms
Customer experiencethinks they are clicking on the storesees a third-party ad
The damagecommission on the store's own sale plus a pricier auctiondepends on whether the store covers the keyword itself

Brand bidding is a channel you can allow on written terms; ad hijacking is an imitation that was never agreed.

How it goes wrong

  • 01

    The best affiliate is the one hijacking

    Hijacked traffic looks like the program's star: high conversion rate, high EPC, steady sales. If affiliates are judged on conversion rate alone, cannibalisation gets the biggest reward.

  • 02

    The terms only cover the correctly spelled name

    Without a requirement for negative keywords on misspellings and run-together variants, the traffic moves to them. The ban only holds if it names the variants.

  • 03

    Testing from one place only

    The ads are often scheduled to avoid the store's own area and working hours. A single search from the office is no proof that nothing is going on.

At Affilyflow

Ad hijacking in practice

Affilyflow does not see the ad market or the keywords, but it measures every click: a click from a Google Ads or Microsoft Ads ad carries a click ID, and if the program forbids paid search, the click is a breach. If the program only forbids the brand name, Affilyflow reviews such clicks itself, because the keyword cannot be seen. What the platform also gives you is time and a documented way out: the store has the program's approval period (30–90 days) to reject a sale, and a rejection requires a reason the affiliate can read. Every tracking event is logged, including those that did not become a sale, so the pattern in the clicks can be reviewed afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ad hijacking and brand bidding?

Brand bidding is bidding on the store's brand keywords with your own ad, and it may be allowed in the program terms. Ad hijacking is imitating the store's own ad so the user thinks they are clicking on the store. The difference lies in the imitation and in whether it was agreed.

How do I detect ad hijacking?

Search for the brand name from different geographic areas and at odd hours, or use the ad platform's preview tool. At the same time, look for affiliates with an unusually high conversion rate and a very short time from click to purchase – the signature of traffic that was already on its way into the store.

Is ad hijacking illegal?

First and foremost it is a breach of the program terms, if the terms forbid it. Beyond that, using someone else's name and marks in ads can run into trademark law and, in Denmark, the Danish Marketing Practices Act (markedsføringsloven), but that depends on the specific ad and should be assessed legally case by case.

Why does hijacked traffic look so good in the statistics?

Because the customer had already decided before the ad was shown. They searched for the store's name and would have bought anyway. The numbers do not measure whether the sale was new – only that it passed through an affiliate link.

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