How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
See which competitors are bidding against you in Google Ads
Updated October 11, 2026
15 minutes
Tick a Search campaign under Campaigns and click Auction insights to see which competitors show in the same auctions. Read Overlap rate first to find who you meet most, then Position above rate to see who beats you. Before raising a bid, compare Search lost IS (rank) with Search lost IS (budget).
Before you start
- Read-only access or higher to the Google Ads account. Read-only can view campaigns; changing a bid or budget afterward is a campaign edit, which needs Standard or Admin access.
- A Search campaign with steady traffic. Google shows the report only for campaigns, ad groups and keywords that meet a minimum threshold of activity, and shows no insights when your impression share is under 10%.
Open the report for one campaign
Start at the campaign level over a month or more, where the report has the most auctions to work with.
- In Google Ads, open Campaigns within the Campaigns menu.
- Set the date range at the top right to the last 30 days or longer.
- Tick the box next to one Search campaign, then select Auction insights.
- If you ticked a mix of Search, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns, choose Search campaigns in the drop-down menu.
If a campaign has no report, click the filter icon above the table and add the auction insights filter. It lists which campaigns, ad groups and keywords have a report for the dates you chose.
Read who you meet, then who beats you
Overlap rate tells you who is actually in your auctions; position above rate and outranking share tell you who wins them.
- Sort the table by Overlap rate: how often the other advertiser's ad showed when yours did. At 60%, their ad appeared in 6 of every 10 auctions where yours showed. A rival with a low overlap rate rarely meets you, whatever else their row says.
- For the rows with the highest overlap, read Position above rate: how often their ad showed above yours when both showed. High overlap plus a high position above rate marks the rival who most often takes the spot above you.
- Read Outranking share on the same rows: how often your ad ranked higher than theirs, or showed when theirs did not. At 20%, you won 2 of every 10 auctions you entered together.
- Compare Top of page rate and the absolute top of page rate on your own row against theirs. The first counts ads above the unpaid results; the second counts the very first ad.
- Skip a google.com row. Google says it can appear if you use Google-hosted domains or a Business Profile, or when a competitor's landing page is a Google Site.
The report shows these rates and each advertiser's impression share, and nothing else: no bids, spend, keywords or ad text for anyone. It also leaves out Search partners.
Decide whether rank or budget is the gap
A competitor outranking you matters most when your campaign is losing impressions to Ad Rank, so check that before you raise a bid.
- Go back to Campaigns, select the columns icon, open Competitive metrics, tick Search lost IS (rank) and Search lost IS (budget), then select Apply.
- If Search lost IS (budget) is the larger number, your ads miss auctions because the budget runs short. Beating a rival on rank will not win those auctions back.
- If Search lost IS (rank) is the larger number, your ads miss auctions because of Ad Rank. Google says the bid may affect Ad Rank and ad quality is considered too, and that higher quality ads typically cost less per click. Working on ad quality before raising bids is a judgment, not Google's rule, but it is the cheaper lever to try first.
Check it worked
After a few weeks, run the report again over a range the same length as the first one and compare the rows for the competitors you noted. Impression share metrics update within 1 to 2 days, so leave out the most recent days.
Google calls impression share an estimate, and small fluctuations do not necessarily mean action is needed. Judge any bid or budget change on cost per lead, not on outranking one name.
Why a competitor's impression share in your report differs from their own
Google says the impression share shown for a competitor may differ from what that competitor sees in their own report, because their eligible impressions may overlap with only part of yours. Its example: a competitor at 100% in your report may have a 50% impression share in their own eligible auctions. Read it as their strength in the auctions you share.
Performance Max and Shopping campaigns
Shopping reports show impression share, overlap rate and outranking share only. Performance Max reports are available at the account and campaign level and are split into Search and Shopping ads.