Use the Google Ads Transparency Center to See Your Competitors’ Ads

Your competitors have already paid to learn what works. In 30 minutes you can see their ads, offers, keywords and landing pages.

30–45 minutes

Verified by Hassan Rawther ·

Hassan Rawther is the Founder, Unlearn Academy. Written by the Unlearn Academy team.

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The short answer

The Google Ads Transparency Center (adstransparency.google.com) is Google’s free library of ads run by verified advertisers. To see a competitor’s Google ads, search their name or website there and filter by country, date and format. For their keywords and landing pages, use a tool like Ahrefs’ Paid search reports. To see live ads safely, use Google Ads’ Ad preview and diagnosis tool instead of clicking their ads.

Before you start

By the end of this SOP

A one-page audit of a competitor’s Google Ads: keywords, ads, offers, landing pages and likely account structure.

Time
30–45 minutes
You’ll need
Nothing for the free method. An Ahrefs (or similar) subscription for keyword and landing-page data.
Who does this
The person responsible for Google Ads.
About this SOP: why it matters, where and when

Why it matters: You skip months of trial and error by starting from what already works in your market, and spot gaps they’re missing.

Where: Google Ads Transparency Center, Google Ads Ad preview tool, and Ahrefs.

When: Before you build a new account, then monthly for your top 3 competitors.

Stage 1

See their ads for free

  1. 1

    Go to adstransparency.google.com and search the competitor’s brand name or website.

  2. 2

    Set the region (e.g. India) and the date range, then filter by format: Text, Image or Video.

  3. 3

    Open the ads and note: headlines, offers, calls to action, and how many variations they test.

    Tip

    Lots of near-identical ads launched together usually means they’re A/B testing. Note what changes between them.

  4. 4

    In your own Google Ads, open Tools → Troubleshooting → Ad preview and diagnosis. Search their main keywords for your target city to see which ads show, without clicking.

Stage 2

Find their keywords and landing pages

This needs a paid SEO tool. The steps below use Ahrefs; Semrush and Similarweb have similar reports.

  1. 1

    In Ahrefs Site Explorer, enter the competitor’s domain and open Paid search. Choose the country.

  2. 2

    Check the trend chart: when did they bid on the most keywords? That hints at their busy seasons.

  3. 3

    Open Paid keywords. Exclude their brand name (e.g. Exclude → keyword contains brandname) so you only see generic keywords you could bid on too.

  4. 4

    Open Paid pages. Look at the landing pages and any UTM parameters in the URLs.

    • utm_campaign values like “search-brand-exact-en” reveal how they split campaigns: brand vs non-brand, match types, languages, regions.

Stage 3

Write the competitor audit

One page per competitor. Answer each question in a line or two.

  1. 1

    Keywords:

    • Which countries or cities do they target?
    • Do they bid on their own brand name?
    • Which topics or services get the most keywords?
  2. 2

    Ads:

    • What offer or call to action repeats most?
    • Which assets do they use: sitelinks, callouts, prices, images?
    • Do headlines match the search query closely?
  3. 3

    Landing pages:

    • Separate pages for each service or query, or everything to the homepage?
    • Clear offer, fast on mobile, one obvious call to action?
  4. 4

    Structure (from UTMs):

    • Separate brand and non-brand campaigns?
    • Separate campaigns by region, language or funnel stage?
    • Any signs of remarketing campaigns?

    Note

    Treat UTM clues as educated guesses. Missing labels don’t mean they don’t use that structure.

  5. 5

    Finish with three ideas to test in your own account, and one gap they’re not covering.

Practice & check

Now do it for real

Reading is not doing. Open your own account and complete this task before you move on.

Practice task (5 min)

Audit one real competitor of a local business (e.g. a Kochi dental clinic). Use the Transparency Center and Ad preview tool, and write the one-page audit.

Prove it

1. What is the safest way to see which ads show for a keyword in your city?
2. Where can you see most ads a competitor runs on Google, for free?

Two questions. Get both right and this SOP is done.

Common questions

Can I see my competitors’ Google Ads budget?

Not directly. Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush estimate paid traffic and cost, but treat those numbers as rough ranges, not real spend.

Is it legal to bid on a competitor’s brand name?

Google allows bidding on competitor brand keywords in most countries, but you usually can’t use their trademark in your ad text. Check Google’s trademark policy for your region.

How often should I check competitors’ ads?

Monthly for your top three competitors, and before any big launch or seasonal campaign.

Done. That’s a real skill, not a certificate.

Want to do this on real client budgets, with a mentor checking your work? That’s Level 2 at Unlearn. See the Digital Marketing track