Competitive Intelligence Playbook: Research, Targeting, and Testing Systems

Using Auction Insights (For Advertisers with Data)

How to Access:

1. Log into your Google Ads account
2. Navigate to Campaigns
3. Select Insights and Reports
4. Click on Auction Insights

What You'll See

Metric	What It Shows
Impression Share	How dominant each competitor is
Overlap Rate	How often you compete head-to-head
Position Above Rate	Who wins when you compete

Choosing the Right Competitors to Analyze

Competitor Type	Analysis Value
Too Similar (Same Size)	May be making same mistakes
Too Far Ahead (Giants)	Different economics, can't replicate
A Few Steps Ahead	Sweet spot—their learnings apply to you

Ideal Competitor Characteristics:

• Direct product overlap (same customers, same keywords)
• "A few steps ahead" (more testing budget, figured things out)
• 3-5 competitors total (enough for patterns, not overwhelming)

If You're New (No Auction Insights)

Make educated guesses through direct market research:

• Who appears when you Google your key terms?
• Which businesses consistently advertise?
• Who do customers mention as alternatives?

What Is It?

The Tool: Google's free public database showing all ads currently running (and recently run) by any advertiser.

Access: https://adstransparency.google.com (no login required)

What You Can See

• All active ads from any advertiser
• Ad formats (text, image, video)
• Placement types (Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display)
• When ads last showed
• Total number of ads running

What You Can't See

• Performance metrics (ROAS, conversion rates)
• Ad spend amounts
• Targeting details (keywords, audiences)
• Bidding strategies

Critical Settings to Configure

Setting 1: Time Frame

• "Any Time": General competitive research, understanding overall strategy
• Custom Date Range: Analyzing seasonal campaigns (Black Friday, etc.)

Setting 2: Geographic Location

The Rule: Select the location where ads are shown, not where the company is based.

Common Mistake: Searching for a competitor and seeing "no ads" because you've selected the wrong country.

Setting 3: Platforms

• All Platforms (default)
• Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover

Start broad, then drill down to formats relevant to your strategy.

What High Ad Volume Tells You

• Serious advertising investment
• Extensive testing and optimization
• Likely have significant data on what works
• High-priority competitor to analyze

Text Ad Analysis (Search Campaigns)

Document Language and Messaging Patterns

Type	Examples
Benefit-Focused	"Breathable bamboo keeps baby comfortable all night"
Feature-Focused	"Made from 100% organic cotton"

Which dominates? The balance tells you what resonates with customers.

Common Keywords and Phrases

Repeated Language = Tested Language

Example: Seeing "organic" in 50+ ad headlines strongly suggests:

• Customers care about organic materials
• This differentiator drives conversions
• You should emphasize organic (if applicable)

Offer Strategies

Offer Type	Examples
Discounts	"20% off first order," "Summer sale: 60% off"
Free Shipping	"Free delivery over $65"
Bundles	"Buy 2, save 25%"
Risk Reversal	"30-day money-back guarantee"

Market Segmentation

How are they segmenting messaging?

Segmentation Type	Examples
Age-Based	"Premature baby," "Newborn," "Toddler"
Use-Case	"Sleep training," "Outdoor wear"
Benefit	"For sensitive skin," "For hot sleepers"

Custom Audience Strategy

Create custom audiences that target people who visit competitor websites.

Step-by-Step Implementation:

1. Log into Google Ads
2. Click Tools (wrench icon)
3. Under "Shared Library," select Audience Manager
4. Navigate to "Custom Segments"
5. Click the blue (+) button
6. Select "Create Custom Segment"
7. Name your audience (e.g., "Competitor Targeting - [Competitor Name]")
8. Select "People who browse types of websites"
9. Enter competitor website addresses
10. Save and apply to campaigns

Where to Apply

Campaign Type	Effectiveness
Performance Max	Most effective—serves across all Google properties
Display Campaigns	Banner ads across millions of websites
Video (YouTube)	Video ads with competitor messaging
Demand Gen	Visual discovery across YouTube, Discover, Gmail

Messaging Strategy for Competitor Audiences

Be direct about your advantages:

• Price: "Same features, 40% less cost"
• Quality: "Premium ingredients, not mass-market fillers"
• Service: "24/7 live support, not chatbots"
• Guarantee: "30-day money-back vs. [Competitor]'s 7-day"

Test Priority Hierarchy

Not all tests are equal. Focus on highest-impact elements first.

Priority	Test Element	Expected Impact
1	Offer (price, guarantee, bundle)	50-200% conversion lift
2	Landing page (structure, copy)	20-100% conversion lift
3	Headline messaging	10-50% CTR improvement
4	Creative format (image, video)	10-30% engagement lift
5	Call-to-action	5-20% click improvement

Statistical Significance Requirements

Don't call tests early. Minimum requirements:

• Conversions: 50+ per variation minimum
• Duration: At least 7 days (ideally 14)
• Confidence: 95% statistical significance

Test Documentation Template

Field	Example
Hypothesis	"Adding free shipping will increase conversion rate"
Control	Current offer: 10% discount
Variation	New offer: Free shipping over $50
Success Metric	Conversion rate improvement of 15%+
Duration	14 days
Result	Winner, 23% improvement, 97% confidence

Continuous Testing Cadence

• Weekly: Review active tests, check for significance
• Bi-weekly: Launch new tests based on priority queue
• Monthly: Review all test learnings, update priority queue
• Quarterly: Major strategy reviews based on cumulative learnings