Brand protection · UK
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Observations, not verdicts
Glossary · A

Letter
A
Related terms
3
Guides
7
Lessons
2
In one line

The panel behind an ad's three-dot or info icon on Google, naming the advertiser behind the ad and the country it's based in.

Every search ad on Google carries a small three-dot icon on a computer, or an info icon on a phone. Opening it shows who paid for the ad, as the advertiser's name Google verified and the country it's based in, along with Report ad. The same identity is public in the Ads Transparency Center.

The name comes from advertiser verification, so it's the legal name of a company or a person, not the brand on the ad. That's often the most useful single fact about an ad you don't recognise: an ad headed with your own brand and showing your address can turn out to be from your agency, a reseller, or an account you've never heard of.

  • Opening the panel isn't a click on the ad and costs the advertiser nothing.
  • Note the name and country exactly as shown, with the date, time, search and device.
  • Look the name up in the Ads Transparency Center for its advertiser id, which is firmer than a name.

The guide to who's bidding uses it as one of six places to look.

Sources

Google's own help and policy pages first.

  1. Advertising Policies Help: Ads transparency
  2. My Ad Centre Help: Report an ad
Related terms
Guides that use it
  1. Who is bidding on your brand? How to find outSix places to see which advertisers show ads on searches for your name, what each can and can't tell you, and how to look without skewing your own ads.
  2. How to find which partner is behind an ad on your brandMatch an ad on your brand's searches to a partner in your programme without clicking it: the four clues an ad carries, the record each meets and what to ask.
  3. How to read Google's “About this advertiser”What each line of Google's About this advertiser panel means: verified and unverified names, the name paying for the ads, what not to press, what to do next.
  4. How to use Google's Ads Transparency Center for your brandSearch Google's Ads Transparency Center for your name and web address, read an advertiser's page and each ad's dates, and know what it never shows.
  5. How to watch your brand's searches at night and at weekendsFor the hours your checks miss: map your week from your own Ad schedule page, close your own gaps, put each report on one clock and record what you see.
  6. What is ad hijacking? How a brand's ad gets copiedWhat people mean by ad hijacking: an ad that reads like a brand's own and leads to its shop, run from another account. How it works and how to look into it.
  7. How to report an ad to Google, without clicking itFour routes to report a search ad to Google, the policy to name for an affiliate outside your terms, what to write in the form, and what happens after.
Lessons that use it
  1. Looks like yoursHow another account's ad can show your web address, take the top spot from your own ad, and reach GA4 as paid search.
  2. New name, same adAn ad can come back word for word under another advertiser, and Google's Ads Transparency Center keeps the IDs and dates that connect the two.
Related terms
  1. Ads Transparency Center
  2. Advertiser verification
  3. Display URL