Competitors in PPC: what auction insights really tell you and what is just a hunch
Auction insights looks like a window into competitors' accounts. It is not. It shows only what met you, and for several metrics Google itself says when they cannot be read literally. What can be drawn from it and where guesswork starts.
- Auction insights shows only auctions you took part in. It is not a view into a competitor’s account, and their impression share there differs from what they see themselves.
- Google itself states that insights do not appear when your impression share is below ten percent and that search partner data is excluded.
- The most useful number is lost impression share. Lost to budget is headroom you can buy; lost to ad rank is not solved with money.
Auction insights is the most frequently misread report in Google Ads. It looks like a list of competitors with their numbers, which invites conclusions like "competitor X raised their budget". Most such conclusions are more than the data can carry.
This article separates what the report really shows, what can only be estimated from it, and what is guesswork.
What auction insights actually is
It compares your performance with other advertisers in the auctions you took part in. It is not a sample of the market and not a view into someone else's account. If a competitor targets queries you are not in, it will not show up at all.
Google states one thing here that is often overlooked: a competitor's impression share in your report can differ from what they see in their own account, because their eligible auctions only partly overlap with yours. Their number in your report is therefore not their real share of the market.
What each metric means
| Metric | What it says |
|---|---|
| Impression share | Impressions you received divided by the estimated impressions you were eligible for. |
| Overlap rate | How often a competitor's ad showed when yours did. |
| Outranking share | How often you ranked above a competitor, or showed when they did not. |
| Position above rate | How often a competitor was higher when both of you showed. |
| Top of page rate | How often an ad appeared above the organic results. |
For Shopping campaigns the help says only the first three are available. For Performance Max the data is split into Search and Shopping and available only at account and campaign level.
When the data does not appear
This is the part that saves the most pointless searching. Google's help states that:
- Insights do not appear when your impression share is below ten percent. On small campaigns there will often be nothing to see, and that is not a configuration error.
- Only keywords, ad groups or campaigns with enough activity in the selected period get a report.
- Search partner data is excluded, because top placements cannot be separated from the rest there.
The oddity that confuses people. "google.com" can appear among competitors. According to the help this happens when an advertiser uses Google-hosted domains, a Business Profile or Google Sites URLs. It is not Google competing with you.
The most useful number is not in this report
For decisions, lost impression share in the campaign columns is worth more. It splits in two and each half means something entirely different:
- Lost to budget. The ad did not show because the money ran out. That is headroom you can buy. According to the help this figure is available at campaign level only.
- Lost to rank. The ad did not show because of low Ad Rank in the auction. Adding budget will not help; it needs a higher bid or a better ad and landing page.
The difference between these two is the most practical thing competitive data gives you. How much to add and whether to add at all is covered in the article on budget and marginal CPA.
What counts as guesswork
The following conclusions get drawn from auction insights routinely, and the data cannot carry them.
"The competitor raised their budget." A higher overlap rate can also mean they changed targeting, widened matching, added a campaign on another theme, or that you moved into different auctions. The report does not reveal the cause.
"The competitor has 60 % impression share, so they own the market." They have 60 % in the auctions you were also in. It says nothing about the rest of the market.
"Competition got more expensive, that is why our cost per click is rising." It may be, but equally it may be worse quality, a different season, a changed landing page or a bid adjustment on your own side.
When you want to know what actually changed because of you, an incrementality test answers that, not a look at a competitor.
How to work with it in practice
- Look at the trend, not the value. A single number says nothing. What matters is whether overlap with a particular competitor has been rising for three months.
- Separate brand and non-brand. Mixed together the report is unreadable, because the competitive set on brand queries is different. Why to split them is in the article on brand and non-brand.
- Look campaign by campaign, not at the account. An account-wide view mixes themes that have nothing to do with each other.
- Allow for a delay. The help says impression share metrics are updated within one to two days. Do not look for yesterday's change today.
What to take from this
Auction insights is good for one question: are we meeting someone more often than before, and are we above or below them? For anything else it is weak evidence, because it does not show causes and cannot see outside your auctions.
Anyone drawing conclusions about a competitor's strategy from it is telling a story. Sometimes a correct one, but a story, not a measurement.
Common questions
Why does the auction insights report not show for me?
The most common reason is stated in Google’s help directly: insights do not appear when your impression share is below ten percent. On new or small campaigns this is normal and not a configuration error. The second reason is insufficient activity, because only keywords, ad groups or campaigns with enough data in the selected period get a report. Extending the period or looking at campaign level rather than ad group level helps.
Does auction insights show a competitor’s real market share?
No. It shows their share in the auctions you also took part in, and Google’s help explicitly states that their impression share in your report can differ from what they see in their own account, because the eligible auctions only partly overlap. If a competitor targets queries you are not in, none of it will show. So those numbers cannot be used as an estimate of the market.
Which matters more, auction insights or lost impression share?
For decisions, lost impression share. The split into lost to budget and lost to rank tells you directly whether adding money makes sense or whether you need to work on the bid, the ad and the landing page. Auction insights will not answer that; it is better for the question of whether you are meeting someone more often than before. Look at both campaign by campaign and as a trend, not as a single number.
- About Auction insights report, Google Ads HelpGoogle documentation on the individual auction insights metrics and on its limits, including the ten percent impression share threshold and the excluded search partners. It describes the product as of this article’s revision date.
- Impression share metrics, Google Ads HelpSource of the definitions of impression share and of lost impression share to budget and to rank, including that lost to budget is available at campaign level only and that the metrics update within one to two days.