Quick answer: Google Ads auction insights shows who competes in your auctions, how often and where. Pair it with lost impression share to act on it.
Ever wonder who else is bidding on your keywords? Google Ads shows you, in a report called auction insights. It won’t tell you what competitors pay or what their ads say, but it shows who appears in the same auctions as you and how often they beat you to the top spot.
Where to find it
In Google Ads, open a Search campaign (or select several) and go to Insights and reports → Auction insights. You can view it for the account, a campaign, an ad group or individual keywords, and change the date range.
The metrics, in plain terms
- Impression share: the percentage of eligible searches where your ad showed. If yours is 40%, you missed 60% of the searches you could have appeared for.
- Overlap rate: how often a competitor’s ad showed at the same time as yours.
- Position above rate: when you both showed, how often their ad appeared above yours.
- Top of page rate: how often an advertiser’s ad showed above the organic results.
- Absolute top of page rate: how often an ad was the very first ad.
- Outranking share: how often you ranked higher than a competitor, or showed when they didn’t.
What to look for
Who your real competitors are
You may find the businesses you’re competing with on Google aren’t the ones you expect: directories, lead-generation sites, franchises or national brands.
Why your impression share is low
Pair auction insights with the Search lost IS (budget) and Search lost IS (rank) columns in your campaign view.
- Lost to budget: your budget runs out. Raise it, narrow keywords or schedule ads for your best hours.
- Lost to rank: competitors outbid you or have better ad quality. Improve ads, landing page and Quality Score, or raise bids for your most profitable keywords. See Google Ads Quality Score.
New entrants and changes over time
Change the date range or segment by time to see when a new competitor appeared or a big player increased spend. That often explains a sudden rise in cost per click.
Who is bidding on your brand name
Run auction insights on your brand campaign. If competitors appear often, they’re bidding on your business name. See should you bid on your own brand name?
What not to do
- Don’t chase 100% impression share on generic keywords. It’s usually very expensive. Focus on the keywords and hours that produce profitable leads.
- Don’t start a bidding war over pride. Being above a competitor only matters if it’s profitable.
Pair it with the Ads Transparency Centre
To see what competitors’ ads actually say, search their business in the Google Ads Transparency Centre. It shows ads verified advertisers have run, by region and format. That’s useful for understanding their offers and messaging.
Sources and further reading
Written by Gregory
20 years building websites and running lead generation, mostly with my own money on the line. Based in Sydney, working with clients worldwide. How I work →