Introduction
Understanding your competitors in the Google Ads landscape is crucial to making smart decisions and improving campaign performance. One of the most valuable tools for this purpose is the Auction Insights report. It gives you access to key comparative metrics that show how your ads are performing in relation to others who are bidding on the same keywords. While Google Ads doesn’t provide full visibility into your competitors’ strategies, Auction Insights offers a powerful view of your share of voice, who your major rivals are, and how often they outrank or overlap you in the ad auction.
Running a proper competitor analysis using Auction Insights can help you benchmark your campaigns, identify aggressive advertisers, and adjust your bidding, ad copy, or budget strategies to gain a competitive edge.
What is Auction Insights?
Auction Insights is a reporting feature within Google Ads that shows how your performance compares with other advertisers who participated in the same auctions as you. It is available at the campaign, ad group, and keyword levels for Search, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns. Auction Insights doesn’t reveal your competitors’ actual ad creatives or CPCs, but it does provide relative performance metrics that help you gauge market competitiveness and visibility.
Why Use Auction Insights for Competitor Analysis?
– Identify who your main advertising competitors are
– Understand how often they show up in the same auctions
– Discover how often their ads appear above yours
– See how aggressive they are with bids and budgets
– Spot trends in competitor activity (e.g., seasonality, ramp-up, or slowdown)
– Adjust your bidding strategy to counter strong competitors
– Find opportunities to outperform weaker players in your space
Key Metrics in Auction Insights
To use this report effectively, you must understand each metric and what it tells you:
-
Impression Share
This is the percentage of impressions your ads received out of the total available impressions for the keywords you’re targeting. A low impression share usually indicates missed opportunities due to budget limitations or low Ad Rank. -
Overlap Rate
The percentage of times your competitor’s ad was shown in the same auction as yours. A high overlap rate means you and the competitor are often going head-to-head. -
Position Above Rate
This shows how often your competitor’s ad was shown in a higher position than yours in the same auction. If this rate is high, their ad is regularly outranking yours. -
Top of Page Rate
The percentage of times your ad (or your competitor’s ad) appeared above the organic results (i.e., on top of the page). A lower rate here can indicate poor bidding, lower quality score, or unoptimized ad copy. -
Absolute Top of Page Rate
This indicates the frequency at which your ad (or competitor’s ad) appeared in the very first position of the page. -
Outranking Share
The percentage of times your ad ranked higher than a specific competitor’s ad in the same auction. A high outranking share suggests you are bidding more aggressively or have better quality.
How to Access Auction Insights
-
Log into your Google Ads account
-
Navigate to the campaign, ad group, or keyword tab you want to analyze
-
Select the checkbox next to one or more campaigns or keywords
-
Click on “Auction Insights” from the menu
-
A report will be generated showing all the competitors who were in the same auctions as your ads and the six key metrics mentioned above
Step-by-Step Guide to Running a Competitor Analysis
Step 1: Choose the Right Scope
Begin by selecting the appropriate level of analysis. For broad market insights, use the Auction Insights at the campaign level. For more detailed analysis on specific products or services, use the ad group or keyword level. For instance, if Zara is running campaigns for women’s formal dresses, analyzing Auction Insights at the keyword level for “Zara formal dress” can show which fashion retailers are competing on those exact terms.
Step 2: Identify Your Key Competitors
Once the report is generated, take note of the competitors that consistently appear. If a specific advertiser has high overlap and high position above rates, they’re clearly investing in the same audience. In a MakeMyTrip travel campaign, competitors might include Goibibo, Yatra, or Cleartrip. These names can give you clues on industry competitiveness and help you plan counter strategies.
Step 3: Analyze Impression Share
Look at your impression share and compare it with your competitors. If your share is low and theirs is high, they are likely dominating the auctions either with higher bids, better quality score, or larger budgets. If your impression share is strong and consistent, you’re maintaining a healthy presence.
Step 4: Check Overlap Rate and Position Above Rate
If a competitor has a high overlap rate and frequently appears above you, it’s time to dig deeper:
– Are they showing more compelling ads?
– Are their landing pages better aligned?
– Do they have higher Ad Rank?
If a competitor appears above you often but has a similar or lower overlap rate, it may suggest they’re bidding more aggressively but not always competing in the same auctions.
Step 5: Compare Top of Page and Absolute Top of Page Rates
If your Top of Page rate is low, most of your impressions may be showing below organic results, which results in poor CTR. If your competitor has a higher Top or Absolute Top rate, they are gaining more visibility. You might consider:
– Increasing your bids or budget
– Improving Quality Score by refining your ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience
– Using ad extensions to improve ad appeal and surface area
Step 6: Evaluate Outranking Share
This metric is valuable when you have specific competitors you want to beat. If your outranking share against a key rival is low, your ads are underperforming. To improve:
– Analyze and enhance ad relevance
– Use more aggressive bid strategies like Target Impression Share
– Focus on campaign segmentation by device, geography, or audience to refine targeting
Step 7: Benchmark and Track Over Time
Competitor analysis isn’t a one-time task. Set up regular weekly or monthly checks to track trends:
– Has a competitor increased their impression share recently?
– Has your position above rate improved or declined?
– Are new advertisers entering the auction?
You can export Auction Insights data and chart these metrics over time to monitor trends.
Step 8: Use Insights to Take Action
Based on your findings, apply specific changes such as:
– Bidding: Increase bids or switch to Target Top of Page strategy to improve visibility
– Ad Copy: Study your competitors’ messaging and offer better or unique value propositions
– Budgeting: Shift budget to high-intent campaigns where competition is weaker
– Segmentation: Break campaigns into more targeted segments to focus on underserved geos or devices
Step 9: Use Tools Alongside Auction Insights
Auction Insights is just the beginning. To go further:
– Use SEMrush or SpyFu to analyze competitor ad copy, keywords, and budget estimates
– Use Google Trends to understand market demand for the keywords
– Use Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool to manually see what ads competitors are running
Example 1: Zara Running Women’s Fashion Campaign
Zara is bidding on keywords like “summer dresses for women.” The Auction Insights report reveals high overlap and position above rates from Myntra and Amazon. Zara’s impression share is 48%, while Myntra’s is 76%. Their top-of-page rate is also lower. This analysis suggests that Myntra is either bidding more or has better Quality Score. Zara could improve by adjusting its bids, adding sitelinks for “Free Shipping” and “Summer Collection,” and improving ad headlines with seasonal urgency like “Flat 40% Off – Zara Summer Styles.”
Example 2: MakeMyTrip Advertising Holiday Packages
MakeMyTrip is running a campaign targeting “Thailand holiday packages from Delhi.” Auction Insights shows Goibibo and Yatra have high overlap and are outranking MakeMyTrip. Goibibo has an absolute top rate of 70%, while MakeMyTrip is at 40%. The audit reveals MakeMyTrip’s ad copy is more generic. To compete, they revamp the ads to say “Thailand Holiday from Delhi – ₹35,000 | 5N/6D Flight + Hotel” with sitelinks for Visa Info, Hotel Options, and Customer Reviews.
Conclusion
Auction Insights in Google Ads is an incredibly powerful tool for performing competitor analysis. It offers direct visibility into how often your ads appear against your rivals, how you rank, and how much market share you’re capturing. By learning how to interpret and act on these metrics—such as impression share, position above rate, and outranking share—you can make data-driven decisions to optimize bids, improve ad copy, fine-tune budgets, and ultimately outperform your competitors. Make Auction Insights a regular part of your campaign analysis workflow, and you’ll stay one step ahead in the Google Ads battlefield.