Strategy
Competitor Analysis | How to Spy Ethically
Public ad libraries, auction data and benchmarks show a lot about what competitors do, without anything underhand. Where to look and what to take from it.
BenchMarketing editorial team Updated October 2, 2026 3 min readShare
You can learn a great deal about competitors' advertising from sources they and the platforms make public. None of it requires scraping, fake accounts or anything you would be uncomfortable explaining.
Public ad libraries
- Google Ads Transparency Center: search an advertiser to see ads they are running across Search, YouTube and Display, by region.
- Meta Ad Library: every active ad on Facebook and Instagram, searchable by page, with start dates. Long-running ads are usually the ones that work.
- LinkedIn Ad Library: ads companies have run on LinkedIn.
- TikTok Creative Center: top-performing ads and trends by industry and region.
Look for patterns rather than single ads: which offers they repeat, which formats they invest in, how often they refresh creative.
Your own auction data
The auction insights report in Google Ads shows which advertisers compete in the same auctions as you, how often they appear and how often they rank above you. A competitor whose impression share rises sharply is investing more; one that disappears may have cut budget or changed strategy.
Benchmarks for context
Ad libraries show what competitors say, not how well it works. Industry benchmarks fill that gap: if your cost per lead sits well above the median for your industry on the benchmark library, competitors are probably converting more efficiently somewhere, whether through offer, landing page or targeting.
What to take from it
- Offers: what are competitors giving away or promising? Can you make a better or clearer offer?
- Positioning: which problems and audiences do they focus on? Gaps they ignore can be cheaper to win.
- Timing: when do they ramp up? Seasonal pushes show where demand peaks.
What not to do
Copying ads wholesale invites trademark complaints and makes you look like a follower. Using competitor trademarks in ad text can lead to complaints. And bidding wars on each other's brand names mostly enrich the platforms. Use what you learn to sharpen your own position.
See share of voice benchmarks and our guide to brand bidding.
About the figures
Benchmark figures in this article come from the BenchMarketing dataset and update when the benchmark pages do. Each benchmark page lists its sources and period; see our methodology.
Sources
See where you stand
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