Written by Elias Saliba | Founder, Adchievers
Elias is a paid advertising specialist with over a decade of hands-on experience running campaigns across Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and X for 250+ clients across 28+ countries. He has personally managed over $30M in ad spend and writes from real-world campaign experience, not theory.
Introduction
Understanding what your competitors are doing in Google Ads can give you a serious edge. Knowing how to check competitors’ Google Ads means you can see which keywords they are bidding on, what their ad copy looks like, and where there are gaps you can exploit. You do not need to guess. Both free and paid tools give you a clear picture of your competitive landscape in paid search. This guide covers exactly how to do competitor research, how to spy on competitor ads without any grey-area tactics, and how to turn that intelligence into a stronger campaign strategy.
Why Competitor Research in Google Ads Is Worth the Time
Running Google Ads without looking at the competitive landscape is like opening a restaurant without knowing what other restaurants in the area are serving or charging. You might get lucky, but you are making decisions without important context.
Competitor research in Google Ads helps you understand which keywords are already crowded and expensive, which angles your competitors are using in their messaging, where there are gaps in the market that nobody is addressing well, and how aggressive the competition is in terms of ad coverage and positioning. Understanding how Ad Rank works is also important here, because your competitors’ ad positions are not just determined by their bids but by a combination of bid, Quality Score, and landing page experience.
This information does not tell you exactly what to do. But it gives you a much smarter starting point than guessing.
Free Tools to Check Competitors’ Google Ads
Google’s Auction Insights Report
This is the most direct competitor intelligence available inside Google Ads itself. Navigate to your campaign or ad group, click Auction Insights, and Google shows you a list of domains competing in the same auctions as you. You can see their impression share, how often their ads appear above yours, and how their top-of-page rate compares to yours. The report also includes three additional metrics worth monitoring: Overlap Rate, which shows how often a competitor’s ad appeared at the same time as yours; Position Above Rate, which shows how often their ad ranked higher than yours when both appeared; and Outranking Share, which shows how often your ad ranked above theirs or appeared when theirs did not.
What Auction Insights does not show you is which specific keywords they are bidding on or what their ad copy says. It tells you who is competing, not exactly how.
Google Ads Transparency Centre
Google runs a public database of ads that have been served through its platform. Visit ads.google.com/transparency and search for any advertiser by name or domain. You can see their active ads, the formats they are using, and in some cases the regions they are targeting. This is completely free, completely above board, and requires no account to use.
Google Search: Manual Search
The simplest method of all. Search for the keywords you care about in Google and look at what ads appear. Pay attention to the headlines competitors are using, what offers they are leading with, what calls to action they include, and whether they are using ad extensions like sitelinks, callouts, or phone numbers. Screenshot and save the ads that catch your attention for reference.
Google Keyword Planner
Another free tool worth using alongside manual search is Google Keyword Planner. While it is primarily a keyword research tool, it also shows you which keywords have high competition levels, which signals where other advertisers, including your competitors, are concentrating their budget. It gives directional data on bid ranges per keyword, which helps you estimate where competitors are spending most aggressively.
Google Trends
Google Trends is useful for spotting seasonal patterns in competitor activity. If a competitor consistently increases their ad presence around a specific time of year, search trend data can help you anticipate that and plan your own budget accordingly.
Paid Tools for Deeper Competitor Intelligence
Semrush
Semrush is one of the most comprehensive competitive intelligence tools available for paid search. Enter a competitor’s domain and you can see an estimated list of keywords they are bidding on, their ad copy for each keyword, their estimated monthly ad spend, and how their traffic has changed over time. This is not perfectly accurate since all third-party tools use estimates, but it gives you a strong directional picture.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is primarily known for SEO research but also provides paid ads data. You can see competitor ad copy, the keywords driving their paid traffic, and how their paid strategy compares to their organic strategy. This is useful for identifying keywords where competitors are investing heavily in both paid and organic, which signals strong commercial intent.
SpyFu
SpyFu is specifically built for competitive paid search research. Enter a competitor’s domain and it shows their most profitable keywords, their historical ad spend estimates, the ad copy they have used most consistently over time, and which keywords they have bid on and stopped bidding on. The historical data is particularly useful because ads running consistently over time are almost always converting well.
SimilarWeb
SimilarWeb is a useful complement to keyword-focused tools. It gives you a broader picture of competitor traffic sources, showing how much of their overall traffic comes from paid search versus organic, direct, and referral channels. This helps you understand how heavily a competitor relies on Google Ads compared to other channels, which informs how seriously to treat them as a paid search rival.
How to Do Competitor Analysis in Google Ads
Gathering competitor data is only half the job. The other half is turning that data into decisions. Here is how to do it systematically.
Step 1: Identify Your Top 5 Competitors
Start by listing the brands that appear most consistently when you search for your main keywords. Use Auction Insights to add any you might have missed. Focus on the competitors that show up repeatedly across multiple keywords rather than those appearing for just one term.
Step 2: Analyse Their Ad Copy
Collect 10 to 20 examples of competitor ad copy across different keywords. Most competitors today use Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), which means their headlines and descriptions are being tested in different combinations by Google automatically. Look for patterns. What benefits do they lead with? What language do they use for their calls to action? Are they competing on price, quality, speed, or something else? What is absent from their messaging that your brand could own?
Step 3: Map Their Keyword Coverage
Using a tool like Semrush or SpyFu, note which keyword categories your competitors are covering and which they are not. Also review your own Search Terms Report inside Google Ads, which shows the actual queries that triggered your ads and reveals competitor territory you may already be entering without realising it. Gaps in their coverage represent opportunities for you to capture traffic in spaces where competition and cost are lower.
Step 4: Assess Their Landing Pages
Click through to competitor ads and analyse their landing pages. What offer do they lead with? How do they structure their value proposition? What does their conversion flow look like? You are not copying them. You are understanding the benchmark so you can do it better.
Step 5: Apply Insights to Your Own Campaigns
Use everything you have learned to strengthen your own keyword selection, ad copy, and landing page strategy. Where competitors are strong, find an angle that differentiates you. Where they are weak, move in with strength. Add negative keywords based on irrelevant search terms you spot in competitor territory, and consider adjusting your bid strategy to prioritise the keyword gaps where your Ad Rank can realistically compete without overspending.
What to Do With Competitor Intelligence
- Find keyword gaps where competitors are absent and CPCs are lower
- Identify the most common messaging angles so you can write ads that stand apart
- Use competitor ad copy as inspiration for A/B testing your own headlines, particularly across different Responsive Search Ad headline variations
- Benchmark your Quality Scores and landing page experience against what competitors are doing
- Spot seasonal patterns in when competitors increase or decrease their ad activity using Google Trends alongside Auction Insights data
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to spy on competitors’ Google Ads?
Yes. Using publicly available tools and Google’s own transparency features to research competitor ads is completely legal and widely practised. You are looking at information that is publicly displayed to anyone who searches on Google. There are no grey areas here.
How accurate are third-party tools like Semrush and SpyFu?
These tools use algorithmic estimates based on traffic data, not direct access to competitor accounts. The data is directionally useful but not perfectly precise. Treat it as intelligence for forming hypotheses rather than hard facts to act on without further verification.
Can my competitors see my Google Ads through these same tools?
Yes. The same tools and methods you are using to research competitors can be used by them to research you. Anyone can see your publicly running ads. This is not a reason to stop using these tools. It is a reason to make sure your own ad copy is compelling and your offers are differentiated.
How often should I do competitor analysis in Google Ads?
A quarterly review is a reasonable minimum. In fast-moving or highly competitive industries, monthly reviews are more appropriate. Markets change, competitors adjust their strategy, and new players enter. Keeping your competitive intelligence current ensures your strategy stays sharp.
What should I do if a competitor is bidding on my brand name?
This is conquest bidding, which is allowed under Google’s policies. The most effective response is to make sure you are bidding on your own brand name so you appear first for your own brand searches. You can also file a trademark complaint with Google if a competitor is using your brand name in their actual ad copy, which Google does not permit.
Can competitor research help me reduce my cost per click?
Yes, indirectly. By identifying keywords where competition is lower and gaps in the market that competitors are not targeting, you can shift budget toward less contested terms with lower CPCs. This does not mean avoiding competitive keywords entirely, but it does mean allocating budget strategically rather than fighting in the most expensive auctions for every click.
About the Author
Elias Saliba is the founder of Adchievers, a performance marketing agency managing paid advertising across Meta, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and X for clients in 28+ countries. With over $30M in managed ad spend and 250+ clients worldwide, every article Elias writes comes from real campaign experience.
Work With Adchievers
Adchievers manages Google Ads campaigns for clients across 28+ countries, building strategies based on data, competitive intelligence, and proven campaign structures. If you want campaigns built to outperform the competition, not just run alongside it, visit adchievers.me to learn more.