Grouped by topic: legality and method, detection and coverage, cases and workflow, getting started and plans, and agencies with multiple brands.
The differentiator is what BrandPatrol reads to build a case, and just as importantly, what it never logs into to do it.
Yes. Everything BrandPatrol checks is publicly visible — the same search results any shopper would see, plus the public ad-transparency record advertisers are already required to publish. Nothing behind a login is touched, and no private account, dashboard, or customer data is accessed. See how it works for the full method.
No. A scan reads public search results the same way an ordinary shopper's browser would, from ordinary locations — it never logs into an affiliate's account, dashboard, or infrastructure, and it never sends a request that would register as anything other than a normal visit. There's no notification, pixel, or callback on their side that would flag the check as different from real search traffic.
Two: public search-engine results pages — what a shopper searching your brand name would see — and the public ad-transparency record that ad networks already require advertisers to publish. Together they identify the ad, the advertiser or affiliate behind it, and the path a click takes to the landing page. Nothing from a private system, login, or API key you'd have to hand over is involved.
No. BrandPatrol's methodology runs entirely on public search results and the public ad-transparency record, so there's nothing of yours to connect — no OAuth grant to your Google Ads or Meta account, no login to your affiliate network's dashboard. That's a deliberate design choice: it keeps the check independent of anything you or an affiliate could see or influence from inside those systems.
The trace follows the same public hops a real shopper's click would generate — from the ad, through the redirect chain, to the landing page — because that's how the affiliate ID and network get identified. It never goes further than that: no login, no account created, no form submitted, no purchase started. Nothing happens that a browser loading a public page wouldn't already do.
The case file is a timestamped record of what was publicly shown — the ad, the landing page, the redirect chain, and the affiliate ID it resolved to — built to the same standard a network's compliance team already asks for. That evidence belongs to your brand, and you're free to use it in your own dispute with a network, platform, or partner. Whether a specific network upholds a specific claim is still their own process and their own contract terms to apply, not something we can decide on your behalf — see terms for how evidence ownership works.
Coverage is scoped per brand during setup, not applied blanket everywhere — here's what's actually checked, and the honest limits of a scan-based approach.
Coverage centers on the major paid-search engines' results pages, plus the shopping-ad placements shown alongside them — text ads and shopping listings bidding on your brand terms. Which engines and formats matter is set during onboarding to match the program you actually run, rather than checking every engine that exists. See features for the full detection breakdown.
Search results are checked from the specific countries and cities you tell us matter, on the devices your customers actually use — desktop and mobile are tracked separately, since an ad can appear on one and not the other. Most programs start with wherever they already run paid search and expand coverage from there.
Misspellings and close variations go on the keyword list built during scoping, as their own terms alongside the exact brand name — a hijacker bidding on a common misspelling is checked the same way as one bidding on the correct spelling. That starting list can come from an AI-assisted suggestion, used when a new brand is onboarded, or be built by hand; either way nothing about spelling variants is auto-detected once monitoring is running, so add or remove terms any time as you find they matter.
That depends on the plan and scope you agree on. A snapshot audit is a single complete pass, done once. Continuous monitoring runs on a recurring schedule, with the exact cadence set as part of what gets scoped and quoted — see pricing for what each plan includes.
A scan-based approach has real limits, worth knowing up front. An affiliate that only bids during certain hours, or pauses when its budget runs out, can simply be off when a scan runs. Geo- or device-targeted ads only show to the audience they're aimed at, so a check from the wrong country or device won't see them, and ad rotation means the same search can show a different set of advertisers minutes apart. Continuous monitoring narrows these gaps by checking more often and across more of your regions and devices, but no scan-based method sees everything, every time.
Not yet. Detection today is based on who's bidding on your branded keywords, not on scanning the text of every ad for trademark use. Catching your trademark inside an advertiser's ad copy or display URL — separate from the keyword being bid on — is on the roadmap; see features for what's shipped today.
Not yet. Detection today is limited to paid search and shopping ads on your branded keywords, not phishing domains or lookalike social accounts. Domain and social-handle spoofing detection is on the roadmap — see features for the complete list of what's shipped and what's next.
A case is built to be forwarded, not just read — here's what's inside one, how it moves through your workspace, and where our involvement stops.
Every case carries a timestamped screenshot of the ad on the search results page and of the landing page it leads to, the affiliate ID and network extracted from the tracking link, the full redirect chain hop by hop, and the country and device the ad was observed from. It's built to the standard a network's compliance team already asks for, so you can forward it without rewriting it. See features for the full breakdown.
Each case moves through four statuses: new (just surfaced, not yet reviewed), in progress (someone's actively working it), solved (resolved, kept for your record), and muted (reviewed and deliberately set aside, without deleting the evidence). You set the status per case in your own workspace — it's not something we change for you.
Every detection is checked against your authorized-partner roster before it's ever raised as a case — a partner you've explicitly added there is never surfaced as a violation. The most common reason an approved partner gets flagged anyway is a roster that's gone stale, so keep it current in your workspace as partners join or leave your program.
That's yours to decide. Most teams send it straight to their affiliate network's compliance contact, or use it to open their own outreach to the advertiser, since the case already carries the identity and evidence a dispute needs. Some route it internally first — to legal, or to whoever owns the affiliate relationship — before anything goes out. BrandPatrol doesn't send it anywhere on your behalf.
No. Enforcement is yours to run — with your network, the ad platform, or your own legal team. We hand over the evidence file, not a cease-and-desist or a submitted complaint. Turning a confirmed case directly into a filed complaint with the network or platform is on the roadmap Coming soon, but isn't available today.
Case evidence and the account data behind it are kept for as long as your workspace stays active, scoped to the brand it was collected for — that's what lets you pull up a case months after the scan that first flagged it. If you close your account or want a specific brand's data removed, email us and we'll confirm exactly what's deleted and when. See privacy for the full policy.
Case evidence belongs to your brand, not to us — the fields, screenshots, and redirect chain are built to be taken out of the workspace and used wherever your dispute needs them, whether that's an email to your network's compliance contact or an internal ticket. You don't need to reconstruct anything in another format first. See terms for the ownership terms that cover it.
Setup starts with a conversation about your keywords, regions, and roster — not a card form. Here's the timeline, the requirements, and the cost.
After a short scoping conversation to confirm your branded keywords, target regions, and devices, a first pass is typically ready within a week. Continuous plans then keep finding new cases on the schedule you choose — see how it works for the full process.
Your branded keywords, including any close misspellings or variations you want tracked; the countries and devices that matter to your customers; and, if you run an affiliate program, the roster of partners you've already authorized to bid on your brand, so they're never mistaken for a violation. That's the scope conversation before anything runs.
A login to your ad accounts, your affiliate platform, or your CRM. BrandPatrol works from public search results and the public ad-transparency record, so there's no API key, OAuth grant, or account password to hand over at any point — see privacy for exactly what we do and don't collect.
A one-time Snapshot Audit is $149; Continuous Monitoring is $99/month. Enterprise is a custom quote for brands that need multiple brands under one account, client-branded reporting, or a custom frequency. Final scope and price depend on your keyword volume, regions, and scan frequency — see pricing for the full breakdown.
No. Continuous Monitoring renews on the billing cycle agreed at signup and you can cancel it; a Snapshot Audit is a one-time charge with nothing ongoing. Pause or cancel monitoring whenever your program changes — see terms for the specifics.
Plans are quoted based on your keyword volume, regions, and scan frequency, then invoiced on the schedule agreed at signup — there's no self-serve card checkout today. A Snapshot Audit is billed once; Continuous Monitoring renews on the agreed cycle until you cancel. Get a quote from the pricing page to start that conversation.
Yes. A Snapshot Audit is a reasonable way to get a first, independent read on your program, and starting there doesn't lock you out of Continuous Monitoring afterward — the keywords, regions, and roster already scoped for the audit carry over instead of starting again from zero.
Then your program is clean on the terms you scoped, and you have an independent check confirming it — worth having on record for your affiliate network or your own leadership. A clean Snapshot Audit is also a reasonable point to decide Continuous Monitoring isn't necessary yet, or to revisit it later if your affiliate program grows.
Agency accounts separate access from data — one login for your team, but every client's evidence stays in its own workspace.
Yes. An agency account manages every client brand from a single login, switching between brands instead of juggling separate accounts and passwords per client. Each brand still keeps its own cases, roster, and evidence in a separate workspace — the shared login is a convenience for your team, not a merge of the underlying data.
Yes. A brand-owner account sees and manages only its own brand — full control over that brand's monitoring groups, roster, and cases, with no visibility into your other clients or your agency's platform-level settings. Whether to grant a client their own login is your call to make per brand, not something we decide for you.
No. Each client brand is a separate workspace — cases, roster, evidence, and monitoring groups for one brand are never visible from another, even though you manage them all from the same agency account. See privacy for how access is scoped.
Onboarding is self-serve from your agency account: name the client's brand, point it at their domain, and a quick scan of their homepage proposes hero-product candidates for you to confirm. From there, an AI-generated starting list of roughly 30 high-intent keywords is ready for you to review and edit — nothing goes live until you approve it. The last step, activating the brand for scanning, is completed on our side once that list is ready.
Starter is $349/month for up to 5 client brands, and Portfolio is $499/month for up to 10 — both include the self-serve onboarding wizard and roster cross-checking for every brand. Enterprise is a custom quote for agency groups running unlimited brands across many markets. See agency plans for what's included in each.
Yes. If you outgrow a single-brand account and want the agency workspace instead, your existing brand and its case history move into the new agency account — you don't re-onboard it as if it were a new client. Talk to us when you're ready and we'll handle the migration.