In digital marketing, one thing never really changes: competition.
If you want to keep your business growing and your results consistent, you need to pay close attention to what your competitors are doing. One of the best ways to do that is through Google Ads.
Most people know Google Ads as a powerful tool for driving traffic. What many don’t realise is that it can also be used to gain valuable insight into your competitors’ strategies.
And that’s where things get interesting.
In this guide, we’ll break down why competitive analysis matters, the best PPC tools you can use to analyse your competitors, and how to use Google Ads itself to uncover useful insights you can apply to your own campaigns.
Settle in. Let’s get into it.
Why does competitor research matter?
There are plenty of reasons to keep a close eye on your competitors. Below are some of the most valuable ones.
Fast track your way to what works
No matter what industry you’re in, it’s almost guaranteed that others have been there before you.
The businesses leading your space today didn’t get there by accident. They tested, failed, refined, and repeated until they found a formula that worked. Studying what they’re doing now can help shortcut your own learning curve and steer you away from mistakes they’ve already made.
That means saving time, money, frustration, and a whole lot of trial and error.
Identify new and emerging competitors
By analysing competitor ads, you can start to understand how others in your market are behaving.
Using the right tools gives you visibility into what you’re really competing against, including auction insights, keyword overlaps, new entrants into the space, and shifts in messaging or positioning.
When you know what’s happening around you, it becomes much easier to adapt and stay competitive rather than playing catch-up.
What competitor insights should you be looking for?
Using Google Ads naturally exposes you to your competitors. Every time you search a relevant keyword, you’re seeing who else is willing to pay to appear in front of the same audience.
While it’s tempting to immediately try and outrank everyone else, that’s not always the smartest move. A higher position doesn’t automatically mean a competitor is profitable or running an efficient campaign.
Before increasing spend or changing bids, it’s worth gathering more context.
Next, we’ll walk through how to uncover what your Google Ads competitors are actually doing, and how you can use those insights to make smarter decisions in your own campaigns.
Which of my competitors are using Google Ads?
The first step is figuring out which of your competitors are actually running Google Ads.
The simplest way to do this is to search for your most relevant keywords and see which ads appear. This gives you a quick snapshot of who is actively bidding in your space.
That said, this method doesn’t show the full picture. Some competitors may only run ads at certain times of day, pause campaigns once daily budgets are spent, or target specific locations and devices. Your own browser location and language settings can also affect which ads you see.
To get a clearer view of the competitive landscape, it helps to use dedicated PPC tools.
What are the best PPC tools to analyse competitors?
Below are some of the most effective tools you can use to gain insight into your competitors’ Google Ads activity.
Auction Insights (Google Ads)
Auction Insights is built directly into Google Ads and shows you which domains are competing with you in the same auctions.
You can view this data at the campaign, ad group, or keyword level. It also highlights how your performance compares to other advertisers, including impression share, overlap rate, and relative position.
SimilarWeb
SimilarWeb allows you to estimate a competitor’s monthly website traffic, identify which channels drive the most visits, and see where that traffic is coming from.
It’s particularly useful for understanding how much emphasis competitors place on paid traffic versus organic, referral, or social channels.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a powerful all round tool for competitor analysis.
It gives you visibility into top performing pages, backlink profiles, referring domains, and traffic estimates. Ahrefs can also be used to analyse paid keywords and identify ad-related opportunities.
SEMrush
SEMrush is heavily focused on competitive intelligence.
You can use it to uncover competitors’ paid keywords, estimated ad spend, traffic volumes, and historical ad data. It’s especially useful for spotting trends and gaps in your own campaigns.
KeywordSpy
KeywordSpy provides insight into competitors’ keywords, ad copy, domains, and estimated Google Ads spend.
It also suggests keyword and ad combinations that are likely to be profitable, helping you identify opportunities you may not have considered.
Using a combination of these tools will give you a much clearer picture of who you’re competing with, what they’re bidding on, and how aggressively they’re investing in Google Ads.
Using Google Ad Auction Insights
If you’re already running Google Ads campaigns, the Auction Insights report is one of the most useful tools at your disposal.
It allows you to compare your performance against other advertisers across your entire account, or drill down into specific campaigns and ad groups. This gives you a clearer picture of where you sit in the auction and how competitive your space really is.
Using Auction Insights, you can uncover key data such as:
- Average ad position
- Impression share
- Quality Score
- Overlap rate
- Position above rate
These insights help you understand not just who you’re competing with, but how aggressively they’re bidding and how often they’re appearing alongside or above your ads.
What are your competitors’ top keywords?
Now it’s time to dig deeper into the actual Google Ads keywords your competitors are bidding on.
Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs are excellent for competitor keyword research. Both platforms allow you to see which keywords competitors are targeting, along with estimated monthly search volumes and average CPCs.
You can also use tools like iSpionage to uncover keywords that are proving profitable based on real competitor activity.
Once you have access to one of these tools, start by running a URL search for your own brand. From there, you can use the available filters and columns to identify:
- Keywords you and your competitors are both bidding on
- Keywords your competitors are targeting that you are not
This helps highlight gaps and opportunities in your current campaigns.
You can take this a step further by exporting these keyword lists as a CSV file. Doing so makes it easy to organise, sort, and prioritise the terms you want to test or add across your Google Ads campaigns.
Our three main tips to use Google Ads as a competitive analysis tool
After all that, you might still be wondering what the best approach to competitor analysis actually is. The good news is that it does not need to be complicated. If you know where to look, the right information is already there.
Search for your main keywords
Choosing the right keywords can make or break your campaign.
By identifying valuable keywords that your competitors have not fully capitalised on, you immediately gain an advantage. Start by searching your core keywords and reviewing the ads that appear.
Ask yourself:
- Are your competitors’ landing pages relevant and well aligned with the keyword?
- Does their ad copy actually speak to search intent?
Once you identify who is competing and which keywords they are targeting, you unlock valuable insight that you can build on with deeper analysis.
Use Auction Insights!
Google Ads provides a surprising amount of competitor data without the need for third-party tools, and Auction Insights is one of the most powerful features available.
Auction Insights allows you to view competitor performance at the account, campaign, ad group, or keyword level. From these reports, you can see:
- Who you are competing against
- How often your ads overlap
- Where competitors outrank you and why
This makes it easier to understand not just where competitors are ranking, but what is driving those results. It is an essential tool and one that is often underutilised.
Use SEMRush to compare your competition
If you are willing to invest in deeper insights, SEMrush is an excellent option.
It gives you the ability to:
- Identify your true organic and paid competitors
- See which keywords performed poorly for them
- Highlight keywords that are driving strong results
You also gain access to detailed keyword usage data and ongoing visibility into organic search performance. The Topic Research feature is another standout, helping you identify content opportunities and uncover the questions your audience is actively searching for.
So, what now?
The steps covered today will help you:
- Identify your real competitors
- Learn from their past campaigns and performance
- Understand which keywords they are targeting
- Use that data to build a stronger, more informed strategy
Combining a few of these tools will help you stay competitive and keep improving over time.
If you are looking for that extra edge, we are here to help. Get a free proposal with Local Digital today and let us take your Google Ads strategy to the next level.
