Glossary · Marketing, CRM & Growth
Auction Insights
Overview
What Auction Insights is
Auction Insights is a competitive-analysis report available for eligible Search and Shopping campaigns in Google Ads, with a similar report in Microsoft Advertising. It lists the domains you compete against in the same auctions and a set of comparison metrics, giving a relative view of how often and how prominently your ads show versus theirs.
The report does not reveal competitors' bids, budgets, keywords, or quality scores. It only reports aggregated, anonymized auction behavior for advertisers who competed for the same impressions you were eligible for.
How it works
Key metrics include impression share (the percentage of eligible impressions you received), overlap rate (how often a competitor's ad appeared when yours did), position above rate (how often their ad ranked higher when both showed), top-of-page rate, and outranking share (how often you appeared above them or they did not show at all).
You can view the report at the account, campaign, ad group, or keyword level and segment it over time, which helps you see whether a new competitor entered the auction or whether your visibility is trending up or down.
Why it matters
Auction Insights turns abstract performance changes into competitive context. A drop in impression share alongside a rising competitor overlap rate signals new pressure in the auction, guiding decisions about bids, budgets, and messaging rather than guessing why results shifted.
Because the data is relative and anonymized, it is best used for trend-watching and prioritization rather than exact competitor intelligence. Pairing it with tools that estimate competitor spend or keywords gives a fuller picture.
Where we use it
Related Zen in Tech services
How our team puts Auction Insights to work in real projects.
FAQ
Auction Insights — common questions
Does Auction Insights show competitors' bids or budgets?
No. Auction Insights only reports anonymized, aggregated comparison metrics such as impression share, overlap rate, and outranking share. It never reveals competitors' actual bids, budgets, keywords, or quality scores, so it is a relative competitive view rather than direct visibility into rivals' account settings.
What is impression share in Auction Insights?
Impression share is the percentage of impressions your ads received out of the total impressions they were eligible to receive in the auctions analyzed. A low impression share means you are missing eligible impressions, often due to budget limits or lower ad rank relative to competitors.
At what level can I view the Auction Insights report?
You can run Auction Insights at the account, campaign, ad group, or keyword level for eligible Search and Shopping campaigns, and segment the data over time. Narrower levels help pinpoint exactly where a competitor is gaining ground so you can respond precisely.
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