Several methods of Google Ads competitor analysis

Understanding your competitors’ Google Ads ads can provide valuable insights into your own advertising strategy. While you can’t directly see your competitors’ Google Ads account data, there are tools you can use to gain insight into their advertising campaigns. This guide details the strategies and insights for conducting a Google Ads competitor analysis.

What is a Google Ads competitor analysis?

A Google Ads competitor analysis is the process of researching and evaluating your competitors’ online advertising strategies. This process involves monitoring and analyzing ad keywords, ad content creatives, budget allocations, and performance metrics to gain insight into how your competitors run their advertising campaigns. This information is valuable for making informed decisions, refining your own advertising, and staying competitive in the online advertising space.

Why is it important to analyze your competitors’ Google Ads?

Google Ads competitor analysis can reveal market opportunities, guide budget allocation, expand keyword targeting and ad copy creativity, thereby improving advertising strategies for better ROI. Analyze and learn from them instead of copying and replicating.

The online advertising market is constantly evolving. Regularly monitoring competitor ads allows us to stay ahead of the curve. Adjust our advertising strategies based on new entrants or changes in competitor strategies.

How to spy on competitors on Google Ads?

While there is no direct way to view the specific settings of competitors’ ads on Google Ads, there are still some ways to get some valuable clues.

1.Spy on competitor ads in the Google Ads Transparency Center

The Google Ads Transparency Center provides a convenient way to gain insight into all advertisers’ search ads, YouTube video ads, and display ads, similar to Meta’s ad library.

2.Manually search for competitors on Google Many advertisers who run Google ads often run “brand” keyword campaigns, that is, they bid on keywords for their trademark names and brand names. This ensures that they are the top priority in Google search results.

Use the Auction Insight report The Google Ads Auction Insight report allows you to evaluate how your campaigns are performing relative to other advertisers participating in the same auction. It provides data such as impression share, overlap, outranking share, outranking share (for search campaigns), top of page share (for search campaigns), and absolute top of page share (for search campaigns).

This data helps us adjust bids and budget allocations to improve advertising performance.
To access the report, navigate to your Google Ads account, select the relevant campaign, ad group, or keyword, and click “Auction Insights”.

4.Use Google Ads Keyword Planner

Google Ads Keyword Planner provides in-depth insights into keyword performance and competition levels. Whether you enter a competitor’s URL or a specific keyword, you will receive a list of keywords and a report on metrics such as average monthly search volume, competition level, and recommended bids. We can view relevant keyword data by either competitor keywords or competitor URL domains.

5.Take advantage of Google Merchant Center’s Price Competitiveness feature

As part of Google Merchant Center’s Market Insights, the Price Competitiveness report provides valuable insights into how your product pricing compares to your competitors’ pricing. This tool uses your Google Shopping data feed to compare your prices with those of other merchants selling the same products. It categorizes them based on whether they are above, on par with, or below the industry average.

You can also assess price competitiveness for individual products, product types, categories, and brands.

By clicking “View Submitted Products” you can see how your specific product listing compares to the industry average.

The above information may seem unrelated to Google Ads, but in fact, the products that sell well in Merchant Center are running Shopping ads or Pmax ads.

6.View the best-selling products in Google Merchant Center

You can use Google Merchant Center to observe the best-selling products in your industry. You can use this tool to identify related products that are performing well. This way you can customize your Shopping and Search campaigns based on these trends. You can apply the “Category” filter to narrow down the popular products.

7.Check Ads on YouTube
Whenever you see an ad on YouTube, you can click the three-dot menu or the information icon to access more details about the ad. For example, if you come across a mid-roll ad, click the information icon below the call to action (CTA) to open My Ad Center.

Once you select My Ad Center, you can view the advertiser’s name, which you can then browse or search for in the Google Ads Transparency Center. Be sure to check the targeting data displayed in the My Ad Center pop-up. While sometimes targeting data can be very general, like in the example below where Google only lists location and time under “Why did you see this ad,” other times you’ll see more detailed information.

As the example below shows, search terms (among other factors) play a big role in determining where your ad is served. If you use keywords for targeting, this information can help you analyze the differences in keyword lists for ads you’re competing with.

8 Use third-party tools
Ahrefs and SEMrush are among the top tools for SEO (search engine optimization). These platforms offer competitive analysis, keyword research, and PPC (pay-per-click) analysis features.

1. SEMrush
   SEMRush offers three tools tailored for PPC campaigns: Keyword Magic Tool, Ad Research, and PLA Ads. These paid marketing tools provide a comprehensive view of your competitors’ Google Ads campaigns, including keywords, estimated traffic, ad copy, and more.

Ahrefs Ahrefs is widely used by SEO marketers everywhere. Similar to Semrush, it also offers tailor-made tools for paid search marketers. By using Ahrefs’ Site Explore feature, you can evaluate your competitors’ paid search strategies. Simply enter your competitor’s domain, navigate to the Paid Search section, and use Ahrefs’ data to identify the PPC keywords your competitors rank for and the pages that generate the most paid search traffic.