How to Know Competitors' Google Ads Budget?

Posted March 13th, 2025 by Amita & filed under Google Ads Tips.

In today’s digital world, online advertising has become an essential requirement. With this increasing demand to rank at the top of search engine results, competition has increased. To establish a strong online presence, you have to plan your advertising budget as per your competitors.

Most businesses rely on Google Ads, which follows a bid-based strategy. But have you ever wondered how much your competitors are investing in Google Ads?

Researching a competitor’s Google Ads budget can be tricky as Google does not publicly share that information. However, you can use a combination of tools and techniques to gain valuable insights into their advertising strategies and estimate their potential spending.

How to know competitors Google Ads Budget?

1. Use Google Ads Transparency Center

Google’s Ad Transparency Center helps to learn more about the ads you see across Google platforms. “It’s designed to give you even greater insight into the advertisers you see.. While it doesn’t show the budget, it gives insights into their active campaigns, ad formats, and regions they target.

2. Use Google Ads Auction Insights

Google Ads auction insights provides valuable data on your competitors’ performance in the ad auctions. It reveals metrics like impression share, overlap rate, and outranking share, which can indicate how frequently your competitors’ ads appear compared to yours. By observing changes in these metrics, you can infer potential shifts in their budget or bidding strategies.

3. Use Google Ads Keyword Planner

If your competitors focus on high-volume, competitive keywords, they likely have a significant budget. Moreover, this free Google tool allows you to estimate the cost-per-click (CPC) for relevant keywords. By studying the CPC of their targeted keywords, you can evaluate their anticipated ad spend. Formula to know the estimated budget is:

Estimated Budget= Estimated Clicks per Month × Average CPC

So, if a business expects to receive 8000 clicks a month and the average CPC is ₹2.00, the estimated budget would be:

Estimated Budget = 8000 x 2.00 = ₹16,000

4. Use Competitive Intelligence Tools

Third party tools like SEMRush, Spyfu, iSpionage and Ahrefs can be very useful. They offer competitive analysis features that can provide estimates of competitors’ paid search activity by:

Revealing the keywords competitors are bidding on
Knowing their ad copies, and the quality of the landing page
Estimating traffic and potential spending

While these tools don’t provide exact budget figures, they offer valuable insights into your competitors’ overall advertising efforts. Here is how:

SEMrush – Shows estimated ad positions, keywords, and CPC data.
SpyFu – Reveals competitors’ historical ad performance, keyword bidding strategies, and estimated budgets.
Ahrefs – Gives insights into paid keywords, ad copies, and estimated traffic.
iSpionage – Tracks competitor PPC strategies, including ad copy and budget estimates.

5. Analyse Ad Impression and Position

Keeping an eye on your competitor’s ad impressions and rankings can give you a sense of how much they are spending. Moreover, if their ads consistently appear in top positions for competitive keywords across different searches, it’s a strong sign that they’re investing heavily.

To analyze competitor keywords, search in incognito mode to see which ads consistently appear at the top. Additionally, leverage the Google Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool to check ad placements without affecting impressions. Although not meant for competitor analysis, this tool lets you see which competitor ads are showing up for your target keywords, giving you useful PPC insights.

6. Analyse Ad Frequency and Variety

Check how often your competitor’s ads show up for key search terms. If their ads appear consistently, they likely have a big budget. A variety of ad copies and extensions also suggest they’re investing in testing and optimization, which usually requires more spending. Consider these questions when evaluating their online presence and ad strategy:

Are they consistently in the top positions?
Are their ads appearing frequently throughout the day?
Do they use multiple variations of headlines and descriptions?
Do they increase their ad activity during specific seasons or promotions?
Are they constantly testing and refining their ad copy and landing pages?

If your competitors are running Facebook or Instagram ads, you can use Meta Ad Library to observe the variety.

The Budget Mystery: Solved (Partially)

Gaining an understanding of your competitor’s ad spend and tactics helps you stay competitive. Keep these thoughts in mind while doing the analysis:

The data you collect offers insights but not exact numbers
Focus on competitor strategies instead of their exact spending
Use these insights to improve your own Google Ads and budget

These insights are a great starting point, but using strategies and tools gives you a clearer view of your competitors’ Google Ads, helping you make smarter advertising decisions.

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