Do you know the Google Ads Transparency Tool？ Would you like to know more about your competitors? For example, would you like to know what YouTube audiences they are targeting and what ad materials and creatives they are testing? In this article, I'll show you how you can learn to use Google AdsTransparencyCenter to research your competitors and gain a competitive advantage.
By Createsomes
What is Google AdsTransparency Center and What makes it important for marketers?
Launched in March 2023, Google Ads Transparency Center is a library of paid content for advertisers to run on Google assets such as YouTube, known in Chinese as Google Ads Transparency Center. It includes search, display, G-mail, and YouTube ads that are either currently active or have been published in the last 30 days, and Transparency Center is also able to show ads that have been published in the past seven years on Google material record of political ads that have appeared on Google over the past seven years.
While the main purpose of Google Ads Transparency Center is to give users more control over the ads they see, it is also a valuable resource for advertisers. Because the site is searchable, advertisers can easily use it for competitor analysis. In other words, you can use it to find your competitors and see what ads they are placing on Google.
With the Google Ads Transparency Center, you can find any verified advertiser and:
· Watch their video ads.
· Check out their photo ads.
· Read their ad copy, including headlines and descriptions.
· Check out the call-to-action terms (CTA s) they are using.
· Calculate the number of ads they are placing.
So what can't Google Ads Transparency Center do? It does not list unverified advertisers or display paid content from unverified advertisers. This means you can't use it to search for competitors who haven't completed the Google Advertiser Verification Program. An inside source reveals that Google seems to be actively pushing this program, so more and more advertisers will be joining soon.
If your competitors are not yet verified, or if you want to find ads from unverified advertisers, you may be able to use another solution. I will describe that process below.
Another limitation of Google Ads Transparency Center is that it lacks informative data disclosure on ad versions. For example, if you search for ads placed by Google in the Google Ads Transparency Center, you will see approximately 20,000 ads (as shown below). These ads are sorted chronologically, but there is no way to distinguish which are test versions of each other and which are standalone ads.
However, if you search the Meta Ads library for ads placed by Google, it's much easier to find similar creatives; Meta groups ads with duplicate elements together, so you'll probably see notes like "3 ads used this creative and text". If you click on the "View Ad Details" button, you can also scroll through the version to see how advertisers tested elements of the material.
So how helpful is Google Ads Transparency Center? Using it may require some extra preparation, especially if you're researching unverified advertisers or competitors with large ad libraries. It's worth noting that it provides far more data than advertisers have previously had access to, and it's a tool that's extremely helpful from our brand-side perspective for competitor ad creative analysis.
So how do you use the Google Ads Transparency Center for competitor research?
Advertisers have two main options for researching competitors using Google Ads Transparency Center. So first, let's start by describing what the workflow is for searching for competitors in the database and analyzing ads in the feed!
Search for competitors in the Google Ads Transparency Center
The easiest way to research competitors using this tool is to search for them directly, (e.g. URL - brand name, etc.) First, open Google Ads Transparency Center and check that the search settings match our choices.
By default, the platform searches for ads in all formats across all topics, and these ads will be displayed in the areas you set up within the eligible time frame.
You can also use the drop-down options to change the settings. (For example, you may want to focus on video ads that have played in the past week)
When we trigger the results page with a search, we can start browsing them immediately on the results page. By clicking on an ad you can view the full content, and read the copy or watch its video creative. Here are some of the things you can learn from this type of search.
How much advertising are your competitors placing?
For example are they significantly more active in advertising than your brand? A significant increase in the number of ad portfolios can be used to determine that competitors are either testing more extensively or investing more money in ad campaigns. If you find a big difference, you can take this opportunity to reconsider looking at whether you're under-investing in Google Ads and adjusting.
Where are your competitors advertising?
Are your competitors running video ads? If so, there's a good chance they're placing ads on YouTube. To find out what they think of YouTube versus other Google products products, compare their video ads to text and image ads.
What video formats are your competitors using?
I'm going to ask rhetorically here, do you know your competition, for example, do you know if the majority of your competitors' video ads are in landscape format, or if they have optimized their formatting for an audience that watches video on a TV or desktop device? And are they in full-screen vertical format and optimized for Shorts Feed alone? If you're not sure, then you can find out and improve and optimize your ad creative right here in the Google Transparency Center. (For example, if their video ad format is entirely focused on Shorts, you might consider exploring that format as well.)
What types of messages do your competitors use for delivery?
You can post on a competitor's website or social media posts to see their public messaging. But what kind of messaging are they using in their paid content? Are they experimenting with new targeting or testing pain points you haven't touched yet? If you're not sure, you can find out through the Google Transparency Center
What kind of deals are your competitors offering?
What strategies are they using to achieve results by using in their ad bidding? Are they utilizing scarcity to create fear of missing out on opportunities, or are they enticing consumers to convert by launching limited-time offers that require quick action? Or are they using discounts and promotions to attract customers? By thinking about these questions, you can use the Google Ad Transparency tool to determine which of their tactics are working for your business, so know your enemy and know yourself.
What funnel stages are your competitors targeting?
Google Ad Transparency Tool
The channel stage for each ad will not be labeled. However, you can use signals such as CTA to determine the stage of the funnel that matches each ad. Do your competitors primarily run top-of-channel or bottom-of-channel ads? How does this compare to your team's strategy? How can you use these details to research your competitors and gain a competitive advantage?
What YouTube ad styles are your competitors using?
Are they shooting live-action ads, creating animations, or re-purposing user AI-generated content? Are they using text overlays and custom titles to reiterate key messages? If they're testing video styles and ideas that your team hasn't tried yet, then this type of video style and creative direction may also be worth experimenting with for you as well.
reach a verdict
Google Ad Transparency Tool
It makes it easier for advertisers to conduct competitor ad research and material analysis. Whether you're preparing your next video campaign or planning to place image or text ads in Google Ads, the platform can help you analyze your competitors and evaluate their ads so you can get good material ideas and ad strategies.
Of course, all methods are oh-so-legitimate ways to stay ahead of the competition in holiday marketing. Through research, you may find that your current ads or promotions are already excellent. But it doesn't stop it from being a great analytical perspective that ensures your ads are advantageous compared to others on Google, and it can also provide you with new ad campaigns to test the functionality and effectiveness of new ad types. If you're not getting the ROI you need from your ads, or have seen a dip in the effectiveness of your ads, then you may be in need of some minor tweaks.
Oftentimes, when your marketing results don't meet expectations, most people will subconsciously look internally and compare previous iterations of ads, promotional efforts, and target pages. While this is also a practice, it's valuable to try to look at what other advertisers are doing-especially if their target audience happens to be the same as yours. Note that competitors can also view your ads, and they can also read blog posts and copy what you're doing, so "know your enemy and know yourself", and learn to research and understand your competitors in order to continually improve your competitiveness in the marketplace oh so much.
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