Competitive analysis is a critical and common initiative for PPC managers. You should monitor what offers other brands are promoting, what keywords they’re focusing on, and where their ads overlap with your ads in search results.
Auction Insights in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising offers a ready-made solution for viewing key data about competitor ads that are bidding on the same queries as you.
This article explains how to view this report across ad platforms and practical ways to use it for ad management and reporting.
Access to auction information
Depending on how much data is available, you can view auction statistics at the account level by campaign, ad group, or keyword. You can also filter by sets of any of the above.
Segmenting your insights down to a lower level can show you what topics are of interest to specific competitors based on which ones appear on each campaign’s radar.
Google Ads
To access auction statistics in Google Ads, go to the Campaigns view and click the Campaigns arrow in the left sidebar. Then select Auction Statistics from the menu that appears. You will see statistics for the entire account at this level.
Depending on the types of campaigns you have active in your account, you can use the drop-down menu above the table to filter by search or shopping segments.
For more segmented data, select the Add Filter option above the table. You can then use the Campaign option to choose specific campaigns to include in the data.
The data table shows you a list of brands that overlap with your brand in search results for the selected time period. Your own site will be listed as Vosté in the table, with the rest broken down by its top-level domain.
Here are the stats you’ll see broken down by column:
Share of impressions: The number of impressions you received divided by the number of impressions you could receive.
Overlap rate: The percentage of times a competitor’s ad had an impression in the same auction where your ad had an impression.
Position above the rate: The percentage of time a competitor’s ad was shown in a higher position within the same auction.
Rate from top of page: The percentage of time an ad appeared anywhere in the top section of search results.
Abs. top page rate: The percentage of time a brand’s ad appeared in the #1 position above search results.
Passing fee: The percentage of times your ad was shown more than a competitor’s ad or was shown when their ad was not.
Microsoft Advertising
If you’re also running ads on Microsoft Advertising, don’t forget to check your auction data. You might discover a different mix of competitors there, and find out whether those who give Google a high priority also prioritize Microsoft.
To access Auction Insights in Microsoft Advertising, find the Auction Insights tab in the left sidebar under Campaigns.
You can also access statistics for individual campaigns, ad groups or keywords by selecting them in the table and clicking the Auction Statistics option directly above. The metrics are the same as those available on the Google end.
In a win for unique features that Google doesn’t have, Microsoft Advertising also includes a chart that shows how competitive metrics have changed over time. You can also choose the Summary option to see all-time comparisons by brand.
Auction statistics application
Now that you know how to access Auction Insights data, how can you make it practical for your account management and reporting process? Here are a few suggestions.
Identify new competitors
Keep an eye out for unknown brands starting to increase impression share for your queries. Give new names to your stakeholders to see if they are aware of the brands and investigate aggressive offers. Sometimes the brands that compete with you the most in search aren’t necessarily the ones that would normally rank as your top competitors.
Additionally, you may find brands on your radar that previously didn’t do paid search but are now starting to increase their paid media budgets. If you see a competitor’s overlap rate increase, you know they’ve probably increased their budget.
You can also identify whether competitors are expanding into different products, service offerings or even regions. For example, if you have separate campaigns for different countries, you may have seen a customer who overlapped in the US campaigns, but not in the Canadian campaigns.
By monitoring auction statistics, you can see if they are expanding their advertising efforts in Canada and flag potential international expansion efforts to offer to your client or boss.
Compare Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising
Many times the competitor table in Google’s auction data will differ from Microsoft’s.
In general, there are fewer active brands on the Microsoft end, and the ones that spend the most on Google may not even compete with Microsoft. Sometimes you’ll find different brands listed on Microsoft than on Google.
Be sure to include Microsoft and Google in your auction data analysis to identify even more competitors and get a more accurate picture of their multi-channel tactics.
Tracking historical changes
You can track changes in bid activity over time by building reports by month and seeing which brands have increased and decreased.
For Google Ads, you can manually pull reports for multiple date ranges to get this data, or set up a Looker Studio report that collects the auction data.
But Microsoft Advertising makes this analysis easier by displaying a time series graph right in the interface.
When you look at auction statistics by month, you can identify seasonality trends. Are other companies increasing their research activity at the same time as you? You can also see responses to current events.
See who is bidding on your brand
Brand bidding is a frequently debated topic within the PPC industry, with many valid arguments for or against it. But one of the benefits of brand campaigns can be the ability to see who else is bidding directly on your brand name and how often they appear.
Based on impression share and overlap rate, you can get an idea of which competitors are the most aggressive, specifically in terms of your brand.
Pay attention to your auction data
If you haven’t already, start making it a regular task in your PPC management process to review Auction Insights data. Find top competitors across channels and campaigns and find highlights to share with your stakeholders.
Identify brands that suddenly appear on the radar or increase their overlap with you in search results and monitor the impact on your campaigns when competitors are more or less aggressive. You’ll find value in making these reports a regular part of your approach.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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