Google Ads Auction Insights can be your secret weapon to get more out of your Google ads campaigns if you know how to use them.
The often underrated tool can lend insights about your competitors and help you fine-tune your ad strategies. We’ll walk you through how to leverage auction insights to ensure you’re ahead in the Google Ads game.
The value of auction insights lies in their potential to reveal critical data.
If you’re wondering about the strength of your ads compared to your rivals, auction insights can help. They supply you with rich data that can help you understand your competitors’ strategies and eventually improve your ad positioning.
What Is Google Ads Auction Insights?
Think of Google Ads Auction Insights as a handy spyglass into your competitors’ activities.
They give you an overview of how your ads are performing compared to others who are participating in the same ad auctions. But, it’s not about winning or losing; instead, it’s about understanding your standing in the market and making informed decisions.
Auction Insights can indicate vital metrics like impression share, average position, overlap rate, and more (which are all explained below).
Whether it’s finding out how often your ad received impressions as a percentage of the auctions you participated in, or understanding how frequently your ad displayed above your competitors, these insights help you make tweaks to your ad strategy.
How to Generate A Report
Generating a Google Ads Auction Insights report is a fairly straightforward process.
Begin by signing into your Google Ads account. Select ‘Campaigns’, ‘Ad Groups’, or ‘Keywords’, depending on what you want to analyze. After selecting your desired date range, click on ‘More’, then ‘Auction Insights’, and finally, ‘Download Report’.
And there you have it, your own auction insights report ready for analysis.
How to Analyze Your Google Ads Auction Insights Report
It’s time to analyze your Google Ads Auction Insights report and before you can do that you need to understand what each insight means.
Each metric provides different insights that can shape your ad strategy.
But, without an understanding of what they indicate, they’re just numbers. So, next, we’ll discuss how each of these metrics can be pivotal to your Google Ads performance.
Impression Share: The Foundation of Insights
Our first stop in the auction insights report is the impression share.
This metric indicates the percentage of impressions your ad has received compared to the total number of impressions it could get. For example, if your impression share is 70% that would mean your ad was shown in 70% of the auctions it was eligible for.
It helps answer the question, “How often is my ad being seen?” Impression Share can provide a solid understanding of how well you’re maximizing your potential visibility.
If your Impression Share is low, it might mean you need to increase your budget, revisit targeting and keyword research, or improve your ad quality.
The Overlap Rate: Are You in Sync With Competitors?
Overlap rate describes the percentage of times a competitor’s ad received an impression when your ad also did.
It essentially shows how often you and your competitors are successfully competing for the same auction.
Understanding your overlap rate can highlight if you (or your competitor) are targeting the right audience, and whether you need to adjust your keywords or bidding strategy.
If there’s a high overlap with a competitor, you are likely directly clashing for the same potential customers.
Outranking Share: Where Do You Stand in the Crowd?
Outranking share is an important metric to monitor. It shows the percentage of auctions where your ad performed better than a competitor’s ad, or when your ad showed up and theirs did not. Essentially, it indicates how often you “beat” a specific competitor.
A higher outranking share suggests that your ads are doing well against the competition. Conversely, a low outranking share might signal a need for you to improve your ad’s relevance or bid higher.
Top of the Page Rate: Are You Getting in Front of Your Audience?
This metric is vital for search ads and shows how often your ad appears at the top of the page above Google’s organic search results. This is a particularly important metric since ads at the top of the page generally attract more clicks.
If your top of the page rate is low, you might want to consider improving your ad relevance, landing page experience, or increasing your bid.
Position Above Rate: Climbing the Ladder
Last but not least is position above rate. This indicates how frequently your ad showed up higher in the search results compared to another advertiser’s ad when both were shown at the same time.
This metric can offer insights into the competitive landscape and can help you understand whether you’re effectively outranking your key competitors. Improving position above rate often requires improving ad quality or increasing your bids.
Each of these auction insights offers a different perspective on your SEO performance. They can help you understand where you’re excelling and where you might need to put in more work. Remember, it’s not just about the data, but about using these insights to optimize your strategies and improve your Google Ads success.
How to Use the Google Ads Auction Insights to Rank Better
Now that we have an understanding of what auction insights are and how to generate a report, let’s dive into how you can use these insights to get more out of your ads.
First and foremost, it’s vital to remember that these metrics aren’t just numbers on a page.
They offer key information to help refine your ad strategy.
- Adjust Bidding Strategy: If your impression share is lower than your competitors, consider increasing your bids. It’s evident that your ad isn’t appearing as frequently as it should in auctions. A well-considered increase in your bid might boost your visibility.
- Refine Keywords: An important part of your strategy should involve keyword refinement. If your overlap rate is high, it signifies that you are consistently competing with the same advertisers. You might need to revisit your keywords, identify less competitive yet relevant ones, or better yet, utilize long-tail keywords to reach a more specific audience.
- Optimize Ad Quality: Your position above rate informs you how often your ad is placed above your competitors’ when shown simultaneously. If this metric is low, it’s time to focus on improving your ad quality. High-quality ads with relevant keywords, a compelling call to action, and a clear message can improve your ad rank.
- Explore New Times and Locations: The ‘hour of the day’ and ‘geographic’ reports can guide you to modify your ad schedule or target locations. If a competitor is outperforming you at certain hours or locations, consider adjusting your strategy to compete more effectively during those times or in those regions.
- Revamp Landing Pages: If your top-of-the-page rate is lower than your competitors, it’s not just about adjusting bids. The quality of your landing page also plays a significant role in ad placement. Make sure your landing page is highly relevant, easy to navigate, and provides value to visitors.
- Analyze Competitor Strategy: Use the outranking share metric to identify competitors who consistently rank better than you. Analyze their ads and strategies to understand what they are doing differently and what you can learn from them.
- Keep Testing: Digital marketing is all about testing and learning. Regularly review your auction insights, test different approaches, and refine your strategy based on what works best.
By strategically utilizing these insights, you can understand where you stand, find areas for improvement, and take actionable steps to enhance your SERP rankings.
The knowledge these insights provide is powerful, but it’s how you act on this information that can truly make the difference.
Grasping the Power of Auction Insights
Is paying attention to Google Ads Auction Insights really necessary?
In a word, absolutely.
These insights provide a crucial advantage by helping you understand how your ad strategy is performing relative to your competition. They shine a light on how other businesses in the same auction are performing, enabling you to gauge your performance in context.
Even more than that, auction insights give you the knowledge to take corrective measures.
If your performance lags behind your competitors, these insights can help identify the gaps in your strategy and provide actionable feedback.
Conversely, if you’re outperforming your competitors, you can see what’s working and double down on those tactics.
In short, Google Ads Auction Insights are more than just a data source—they’re a strategic tool.
While there’s no shortcut to a higher rank, the knowledge you gain from these insights can guide you in making informed decisions. They allow you to spot trends, adjust your strategy, and keep a pulse on your competition.
As with anything in marketing, data without action is futile.
Auction insights provide the data, but it’s up to you to put that information to good use. They offer a valuable window into your competitors’ activities, providing you with the chance to strategize effectively and outperform them.
By understanding, observing, and most importantly, using auction insights, you can strengthen your Google Ads performance.
So yes, these insights are important, and it’s crucial to harness their power to propel your business forward. After all, in the realm of digital marketing, information is power, and auction insights provide plenty of it.