For agencies that grow D2C brands
How do you see a competitor's Google ads, and which ones are working?
Search the rival's advertiser or website name in Google's Ads Transparency Center, Google's free public record of ads on Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. Filter by date and location, then log each ad's format and the last date it ran. Ads that keep running for weeks are the best clue to what works; spend and results stay hidden.
What you'll see in 10 minutes
- Your first brand's report, built from its domain alone, including the rivals it competes with.
- Those rivals' Google search, display and YouTube ads and advertiser activity, from Google's public Ads Transparency Center (Professional and Enterprise plans; partial on Starter).
- The same rivals' Meta ads beside them, each marked new, still active, disappeared or creative changed.
What does Google's Ads Transparency Center show about a competitor?
Thursday, brand review. The founder has seen a rival's banner on two news sites and its video before a YouTube recipe, and asks what else it is running. The Meta Ad Library can't answer that. These are Google ads, and they sit in a different library.
Google keeps a public record of them. The Ads Transparency Center is a searchable record of advertisers and the ads they have served on Google platforms such as Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. You search by advertiser or website name, see the advertiser's name and location and the entity that pays for its ads, and filter by date and by the location the ads targeted (Google Advertising Policies Help, ads transparency). For each ad, Google shows its format and the last date it ran. You can open the centre directly, or from My Ad Center through the menu next to an ad you see, which also shows whether the advertiser is verified (Google, launch of the Ads Transparency Center).
| What you want to know | In the Transparency Center | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Who is advertising | Advertiser name and location, and who pays | The name can be the company behind the brand, so search the website too |
| What it runs | Its ads on Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube, with each format | Every format a rival uses, in one place |
| When it ran | The last date each ad ran | Not the start date: log when you first see each ad |
| Where it ran | A filter for the location the ads targeted | Set it to the brand's market first |
| Spend, impressions and results | Not listed | Read staying power instead |
| Who it targets | Only for ads served in certain countries or regions | Infer it from the offer, page and language |
Which of a rival's Google ads are working?
Copy a rival's newest ad and you may be copying a test it is about to drop. With spend and results hidden, the clue public data gives is staying power: advertisers seldom keep paying for an ad that isn't earning its place. Google shows when each ad last ran, not when it started, so you build the length yourself. Log the date you first see each ad, then check its last-shown date every week.
An ad first seen in August that ran again yesterday is still being paid for. One that hasn't run for two weeks has probably been switched off. A new ad is a test until it survives a few weeks. The five signals of a winning rival ad apply here too: weeks of running, several versions and a hook that keeps coming back.
Rival ad longevity reader
Enter up to five of a rival's Google ads with the date you first saw each and the last date the Transparency Center says it ran. The reader ranks the ones likely working and flags what is new or just stopped.
2 likely working · 1 to watch · 1 new · 1 stopped
- 1Subscribe and save 20%search · 78 days · last shown yesterdaylikely working
- 2Single-origin gift boxdisplay · 50 days · last shown todaylikely working
- 3Diwali coffee hampersdisplay · 21 days · last shown todayworth watching
- 4Free grinder with first ordersearch · 5 days · last shown todaynew
- 5Cold brew in 60 secondsYouTube · 24 days · last shown 8 Octjust stopped
note for the brandStudy first: "Subscribe and save 20%" (search), running 78 days and still being shown. New this week: "Free grinder with first order"; check it again next week before you read anything into it. "Cold brew in 60 seconds" stopped after 24 days: worth asking what replaced it.
Free, no login. Nothing you enter leaves this page. Likely working means still shown and running 30 days or more; new means first seen in the last 7 days; stopped means not shown for more than 3 days. A rule of thumb from public signals, not a measure of spend or results.
How do search, display and YouTube ads differ when you study a rival?
Each format tells you something different. A search ad answers someone already looking, so it shows the promise the rival trusts most. A display ad has to stop someone reading something else, so it shows the visual and the offer. A YouTube ad shows the story the rival tells when it has a few seconds of attention.
| Format | What it shows about the rival | What to note each week |
|---|---|---|
| Search (text) | The promise it makes to people already searching | Headline, offer, any price and the landing page |
| Display (image) | The visual and the offer it uses to catch attention | Product shown, offer, how many versions and the landing page |
| YouTube (video) | The story it tells and how it opens | The first few seconds, the offer, the length and the call to action |
When the same offer appears as text, image and video at once, the rival is backing it everywhere. A rival running Performance Max can show one idea across Search, Display and YouTube from the same set of assets, so match ads by their offer, not only by their format.
How do you narrow a rival's Google ads to one country or region?
Filter by location, then read the ads for local clues. Google lets you filter an advertiser's ads by the location they targeted, and see which ads were shown in a region. Its help pages don't describe anything finer, and the centre doesn't tell you which cities an ad targeted.
So set the filter to the brand's market, then look for where each ad leads: a landing page for one city, a store address, same-day delivery in one place or copy in a local language. A rival's new offers and posts on a nearby Google Business Profile in the same week usually belong to the same push. Tag each ad with the city it points to, or with "national", and compare the tags week on week.
How should you check a rival's Google ads every week?
Ten minutes per rival, the same steps every week. The log you build is the record Google doesn't keep for you: when each ad first appeared and how long it lasted. Run it for the three to five rivals that take the brand's sales.
Find the right advertiser
Search the rival's brand name and its website. The advertiser name Google shows can be the company behind the brand, so confirm it is the one whose ads the brand's shoppers see.
Set the location to the brand's market
Filter to the country the brand sells in, so you read the ads its shoppers are shown and not the rival's ads elsewhere.
Log every ad you can see
For each ad, note its format, headline or hook, offer and landing page, the date you first saw it and the last date Google says it ran.
Mark what is new, still running and stopped
Compare this week's log with last week's. An ad with a fresh last-shown date is still running; one that hasn't run for two weeks has probably stopped.
Send the brand one line per rival
What changed, which long-running ad is worth answering and what you will test in response. Your team decides what the brand runs.
(login required) · Billed in USD and INR. Per-brand plans or pay as you go.
How does ai-dm track a rival's Google ads?
Both libraries, for every brand's rivals, in one place. ai-dm collects each rival's Google search, display and YouTube ads and advertiser activity from Google's public Ads Transparency Center. They sit beside the same rivals' Meta ads, which ai-dm compares run to run and marks new, still active, disappeared or creative changed, as the competitor ad tracking page explains. Google ads tracking is included on Professional and Enterprise plans, with partial access on Starter.
1 new · 3 still active · 1 stopped since last week
In this illustrative example, a week-on-week read of a Terra Brew Coffee rival's Google ads in India shows a "subscribe and save 20%" search ad still running after 78 days and a gift-box display ad after 50 days, the two worth studying first. A free-grinder search ad is new, and a YouTube video stopped on 8 October after 24 days.
From signal to the brand's next ad. ai-dm shows which ideas a rival keeps funding and recommends what the brand could test in response; your team decides. When you are ready, ai-dm can write ad copy and creatives from the brand's own positioning, and nothing goes live until your team approves it. If a rival's push is costing the brand clicks, audit the brand's own Google Ads next.
What can't a rival's Google ads tell you?
How much it spends, how well an ad does and, in most cases, who it targets. Google's description of the Transparency Center lists the advertiser, its ads, their format and where and when they ran. It lists no spend, impressions, clicks or sales. Targeting information and the number of people an ad reached are added only for ads served in certain countries or regions (Google Advertising Policies Help).
That is why staying power is the useful question. "How much are they spending?" has no public answer. "Which ads do they keep paying to show?" does.
Related pages
Questions agencies ask about a competitor's Google ads
What is the Google Ads Transparency Center?
It is Google's free, public, searchable record of advertisers and the ads they have served on Google platforms such as Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. You can search by advertiser or website name, see the advertiser's name and location, and filter its ads by date and by the location they targeted. Each ad shows its format and the last date it ran.
Can you see how much a competitor spends on Google Ads?
No. Google's Ads Transparency Center lists the advertiser, its ads, their format and where and when they ran, but no spend, impressions or results. ai-dm does not estimate a rival's spend either. How long an ad keeps running, and how many versions of it appear, is the most honest clue public data gives.
How do you find a competitor's YouTube ads?
Search the rival in Google's Ads Transparency Center, set the location to the brand's market and look at the video ads. Note each one's opening seconds, offer and the last date it ran. A video that keeps running week after week is one the rival keeps paying to show.
Is Google ads tracking included in every ai-dm plan?
Google ads tracking is included on Professional and Enterprise, with partial access on Starter. Meta Ad Library tracking runs alongside it, so each brand's rivals are read on both platforms in one place. Billed in USD and INR. Per-brand plans or pay as you go.
Can ai-dm copy a rival's Google ads for the brand?
No. ai-dm shows which ideas a rival keeps funding and recommends what the brand could test in response; your team decides. When you are ready, ai-dm drafts ad copy and creatives from the brand's own positioning, and nothing goes live until your team approves it.
Billed in USD and INR. Per-brand plans or pay as you go. A brand's data is deletable on request.