I’m looking at PPC affiliate offers where the merchant seems okay with search traffic, but I know some get strict fast. Has anyone found a safe way to test this without losing the account?
Brand bidding is the fastest way to get nuked—“search traffic allowed” ≠ “bidding on trademarks,” so the safe test is to run non-brand intent keywords only (generic + competitor + problem/solution terms) and keep ad copy/URL/display path completely trademark-free, plus add the merchant’s brand as a negative keyword from day one. If you want to push it, get written TM bidding permission (email + program terms), route traffic through your own compliant pre-lander with clean UTM + postback tracking (Voluum/RedTrack), and start with a small cap ($20–$50/day) while monitoring disapproval rate, trademark complaints, and EPC/CVR before scaling.