How to See What Creatives Your Competitors Are Using

Modern research tools have made analyzing competitor ads more accessible and convenient than ever before. Until a few years ago, access to information about competitors’ ads was limited, requiring significant financial investments in specialized services such as Semrush, SpyFu, or Google Ad Preview and relying on sample data with no comprehensive results.

However, now we can use competitors’ data directly thanks to the Ads Transparency Center and Meta Ad Library. These two services were created to increase user trust in ads by making relevant data available to everyone. The innovative tools are also a treasure trove for business owners and marketers, as they allow you to track competitors’ advertising campaigns and analyze their strategies and budgets. This creates new opportunities for business owners to study the market, identify trends, and improve their marketing strategies.

Analyzing competitors’ advertising is an important component of success, helping businesses make informed decisions and increase the effectiveness of their own advertising campaigns. Therefore, in this article, we will explain how to research competitor ad creatives, what information you can find, and what you should focus on to get the most out of your business.

Google Ads Transparency Center

Let’s start with what Google has to say about its policy regarding ads: “User trust in Google products and services is of the utmost value to us. We want to provide users with information to make informed decisions about the ads they see online… We verify the identity of the advertiser or company on our platforms and include a note with their name (or company name) and location in the ads served through Google Ads.”

What does this mean for competitor analysis? Google’s ad policy allows you to see information about who the advertiser is, what types of ads they use, and to view ad copy, creatives, and targeted countries in addition to the ads in the search results.

So, how to analyze competitor’s ad creatives using the Ads Transparency Center?

1. First, enter your query in the search bar and hover the cursor over the three dots next to the ad’s URL.

2. Then, click on “See more ads this advertiser has shown using Google.”

3. You will be redirected to the Ads Transparency Center. Here you will be able to filter the ads by the time they were shown, the targeted country, and the ad format (text, image, or video).

What useful information can you get here?

1. Ad texts. You will see ad variations using different headlines, descriptions, and additional extensions that your competitor uses or has used in the past. This will help you to understand what services or products are highlighted in the promotion, what benefits the competitor is trying to offer the client, etc.
2. Graphic creatives. Google will show you which banners the advertiser uses, which photos are shown most often in product ads, as well as text descriptions for such ads.
3. Video creatives. Here, you can view all the variations of video ads your competitor has ever used.

Analyzing this data, you can better understand the competitor’s promotion strategy. For instance, you can get interesting Google Ads insights for your business, draw inspiration from it, or simply borrow some ideas.

Disadvantages of the Google Ads Transparency Center

We have noted two major drawbacks of this tool so far:

1. Ads Transparency Center shows ads only from advertisers verified by Google. Therefore, you may not have information on all your competitors. However, as the number of verified accounts increases, the amount of information increases, too.
2. Competitors can also research your ad creatives. Yes, this is a side effect of open advertising. Not only do you see other people’s information, but they see yours as well. However, this promotes healthy competition and reduces the risk of unfair campaigns against you.

Meta Ad Library

Meta Ad Library allows you to view the ads on Meta’s social media, namely any Facebook page or Instagram account. This tool allows you to view ads of any business, from your direct competitors to companies you would like to compete with in the future.

How to check competitor ad creatives using Meta Ad Library? There are several ways to access competitors’ ads in this repository.

The first thing to do is to locate the competitor’s Facebook page. Go to the competitor’s business page, click on “About” in the top menu. Click on “Page transparency”.

In the mobile app, you will find it under the “About” panel.

Click “Show All” and scroll down to the bottom of the panel. You can see if the page shows ads in the “Ads from this Page” section. By clicking the “Go to Ad Library” button, you can see more details.

Another option is to go directly to this link: https://www.facebook.com/ads/library

The interface of this search tool is quite simple. There are several sections:

• Ad Library;
• Ad Library Report;
• Ad Library API;
• Branded Content.

Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Ad Library

This is a database that contains all the competitors’ ad creatives that have been used in advertising over the past five years. To get started, you can select the country where the ad was shown, its type (general or socio-political), and enter a search query. You can use the name of the competitor’s company or a specific keyword or phrase as a search query. In the results you receive, you will see the relevant creatives, advertising texts, the date of the ad launch, and the platforms on which the ads were displayed.

There are also helpful filters available for additional analysis.

You can choose:

• Ad language;
• Ads from certain advertisers (it’s very convenient that Facebook immediately compiles a list of companies that have ads related to your query);
• Platform (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger);
• Media file type. You can choose from images (with little or no text), memes (images with your keyword), videos, and text-only images;
• Online status. This filter allows you to select active ads or ads that have been shown before;
• Impressions by date. Here, you choose the desired range, but only within the last five years.

Ad Library Report

This section is dedicated to socio-political advertising, and its main task is to increase the transparency of such advertising. Here, you can find all advertisers that have shown this type of advertising and find out their advertising costs. Yet, we won’t find anything useful here for competitor analysis.

Ad Library API

This feature allows you to find competitor ad creatives from a longer period (seven years) by filling out a form here and getting permission from Facebook.

Branded Content

This is a new service from Meta that was launched this summer. It allows you to track branded content campaigns in Ad Library, providing more information about how competitors engage with influencers on Facebook and Instagram. You can enter the platform you want to find, a date range (available since August 2023, when the service was launched), and then find any user by their name. It’s a pretty interesting tool, but you can get the most out of it only in the countries where bloggers and brands use the “Branded Content” tag.

Meta Ad Library provides simple and free information about competitors’ advertising campaigns. Similar to Google’s Ads Transparency Center, you can find information about companies’ text, photo, and video creatives. But unlike Google, here you can find information about all competitors who have run ads, not just verified ones. And there are also convenient filters.

Final Thoughts

Using the free services described in this article, you can research competitor ad creatives in your niche. You can identify trends and tendencies, understand what your competitors focus on and how they run their advertising campaigns, and note their weaknesses and strengths. It can also be a real treasure trove of ideas for improving your own ads and introducing new ideas to enhance their effectiveness.

Consider Livepage as Your Trusted Partner

At Livepage, we believe in the power of data. We utilize new and proven methods alike to provide you with valuable insights into your online presence. By analyzing your metrics and those of your competitors, we can develop a promotion strategy that will boost your brand awareness and bring more leads and customers to your business.

Choosing Livepage means partnering with an expert team dedicated to the success of your online venture. Whether you’re only establishing your digital presence as a small local business, or a big enterprise seeking to improve your online reach, we will tailor our campaigns to your specific needs. Contact us now, and achieve the advertising results your business deserves!