Learn how to find insights on your competitors in Google Ads and discover valuable information to optimise your own campaigns and boost your competitive edge.
Martin Langborg Hansen
You have probably noticed that some of your competitors are highly visible when people search for your type of product on Google. They may appear at the top with their Google Ads and also in the organic search results further down.
You may even have thought: if only there were a way to find out which of my competitors are leading the way on Google and what their main focus is.
Competitor analysis with Google Ads
If you use Google Ads, you can actually access information about your competitors within Google Ads – completely free of charge. This is called an Auction Insights Report.
Of course, you could simply search for your product on Google and see what your competitors’ ads look like. However, you will never be able to get a clear overview of what the rest of the market is doing.
Google is constantly experimenting with how ads are displayed, which means the placement of Google Ads shifts all the time. You also never know which competitors you are shown alongside.
Even though you cannot get a full picture of what others are doing, Google Ads can give you an insight into:
How to find your Auction Insights Report in Google Ads
– Log in to your Google Ads account.
– Choose one of the following tabs: ‘Campaigns’, ‘Ad groups’ or ‘Keywords’.
Here, I have selected a specific ad group under the Dresses campaign, as I am analysing the competition for a particular type of dress. See the image below:
You can also select the entire ‘Dresses’ campaign (click on the ‘Campaigns’ tab and choose the campaign you wish to review). This will give you a more general overview.
If you want to conduct a more detailed analysis, you can select a specific keyword in the same way as shown in the image above, just under the ‘Keywords’ tab.
Who are your competitors?
The overview you get will look like this:
It is easy to be surprised if a new competitor appears. This tool helps you stay somewhat ahead of the curve. With Auction Insights, you can also spot any major shifts in the competitive landscape.
However, you should be somewhat critical when assessing the competitors that appear on the list.
For instance, are the largest players in the market actually your direct competitors?
At the same time, the list may highlight companies you do not currently consider as competitors, while excluding those from other industries who, in practice, compete with you and are worth monitoring more closely.
How do you compare to your competitors on the following parameters:
The overlap rate is typically quite interesting, as it allows you to compare yourself directly to specific competitors and see how often you appear at the same time.
If your competitor’s impression share is significantly lower than your own, it could indicate that they are not prioritising the specific product you are investigating. You can take advantage of this by writing even better ad copy and paying close attention to your bidding strategy.
Tip: Not seeing any numbers in your Auction Insights Report? Try selecting a broader date range.
Perhaps you are not at the very top – so what can you do?
If you are not ranking highly for general topics such as ‘Dresses’, you can focus on more specific topics such as ‘Summer Dress’.
You can then identify the products or topics where it makes the most sense to optimise your ads.
This will help your ad copy become more precise and deliver a sharper message that resonates with your target audience.
An additional benefit of this strategy is that your quality score is likely to improve. As a result, you will not have to bid as high to appear at the top.
Tip: A well-structured Google Ads account will also benefit you. If, for example, you have split your keywords as follows:
You can make your Auction Insights far more precise and conduct a detailed analysis of the products or keywords most important to you.
As you narrow down, you will eventually encounter limitations, as the report requires you to have received a certain number of clicks or impressions.
A clever little feature of the Auction Insights Report is that you can view the report broken down by device (mobile/tablet/desktop). If you know, for example, that your mobile campaigns convert particularly well, it can be extra interesting to monitor how the competitive situation looks by device. Therefore, a challenging overall competitive landscape may not necessarily be a problem.
Other useful features in Google Ads
During your daily review of your Google Ads account, you are likely monitoring the ‘average position’ for your most important keywords.
Often, you look at periods of 1 month, 3 months, or even 6 months to see how you are performing on average. However, looking only at the average position can be misleading.
Especially in the run-up to key dates, holidays, campaigns or sales, there can be major changes. To keep up with this, you can let Google Ads display the positions throughout the entire period. This way, you can easily spot if your position suddenly drops. See the image below:
Conclusion:
Do not panic if your positions deteriorate.
With consistent, thorough work, you will be in a stronger position in the long run. The following points are important to focus on:
If you want to know more about Google Ads, you can read Jesper’s excellent blog post on how to reach your target audience with Google Ads here.
Also read:
Google Ads responsive ads
At WeMarket, we offer businesses a benchmark report that compares their marketing efforts with their key competitors. You decide which competitors we should compare against.
We specialise in selling physical goods online and growing webshops – and now you can benefit from this expertise, even if you’re not already a client.
It’s completely free.
