Google Ads Auction Insights: What Each Metric Means and How to Use It

Google Ads auction insights is a report that compares your ads with the other advertisers who entered the same auctions as you, over a date range you pick. For Search campaigns it shows six metrics (impression share, overlap rate, position above rate, top of page rate, absolute top of page rate and outranking share), so you can see who you compete with most often and whether you sit above or below them on the page.

It is one of the few places in Google Ads where competitors are visible at all, which is why people over-read it. The report shows who turned up in your auctions and how often. It does not show what they bid, what they spend or which keywords they target. Reading it well means knowing exactly what each number measures and where the data stops.

Where to find the auction insights report and at what level

According to the Google Ads Help article on auction insights, you open the report from the Campaigns menu. Go to Campaigns, Ad groups or Search keywords, tick the box next to the item (or items) you want to analyse, then select "Auction insights". If your selection mixes campaign types, a dropdown asks you to choose Search campaigns or Shopping campaigns, because the two are reported separately.

The levels available depend on the campaign type:

• Search campaigns: keywords, ad groups and campaigns. You can segment the results by time and by device.
• Shopping campaigns: ad groups and campaigns, also segmentable by time and device. Google's help page notes Shopping auction data is available from October 2014 onward.
• Performance Max: account and campaign level, split into the Search and Shopping parts of the campaign. Google says the Performance Max data covers Search Network activity from November 2021, and the same data can be pulled in Report Editor.

A practical habit: run the report at campaign level first to get the big picture, then drill down to the ad groups or keywords that matter most to revenue. Keyword-level reports are often where the threshold rules (covered below) start hiding data, so do not be surprised if a low-volume keyword shows nothing.

What each auction insights metric means

Every row in the report is one advertiser, shown by display domain, plus a row labelled "You" for your own numbers. The metrics are always relative to the auctions your selected campaigns, ad groups or keywords took part in. Here is what each one measures, based on the definitions in Google Ads Help.

Impression share

Impression share is the impressions you received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive. For the competitor rows, Google shows each advertiser's impression share calculated against the auctions they were eligible for. Because your eligible auctions and theirs only partly overlap, a competitor's impression share in your report can differ from what that advertiser sees in their own account.

Overlap rate

Overlap rate is how often another advertiser's ad received an impression when your ad also received an impression. If a competitor has a 60% overlap rate, then in 60% of the auctions where you showed, they showed too. This is the best single measure of who you are actually up against, as opposed to who happens to be big in your category.

Position above rate

Position above rate is how often the other advertiser's ad was shown in a higher position than yours when both ads were shown at the same time. It is a Search-only metric. A rising position above rate for one competitor means they are beating you on ad rank in the auctions you share, which may come from higher bids, better expected click-through rate, better ad relevance, better landing pages or more useful assets. The report does not tell you which.

Top of page rate

Top of page rate is how often an ad (yours, or the competitor's in their row) was shown at the top of the page, above the unpaid search results. Search only.

Absolute top of page rate

Absolute top of page rate is how often the ad was shown as the very first ad above the organic search results. Search only. Comparing your absolute top rate with a competitor's tells you who is winning the single most visible slot.

Outranking share

Outranking share is how often your ad ranked higher in the auction than another advertiser's ad, plus the times your ad showed and theirs did not. Because it counts "you showed, they did not" as a win, outranking share can be high against a competitor you rarely overlap with. Read it together with overlap rate, never on its own. Outranking share is available for Search and Shopping.

The table below summarises which question each metric answers and where you can use it.

Why only some competitors appear in the report

A common complaint is "my biggest rival is missing" or "there are only three names here". Several rules filter what you see.

• The 10% rule. Google's help page states that the auction insights report does not show insights when impression share is less than 10%. In practice, advertisers who barely touched your auctions in the period do not appear.
• Minimum activity. Keywords, ad groups and campaigns need a minimum threshold of activity in the selected period before a report is generated at all. Narrow date ranges and low-volume keywords run into this first.
• Only shared auctions count. A competitor who targets different queries, different locations or different hours than you will not show up, however much they spend elsewhere.
• Search partners are excluded. Google notes that search partner sites do not distinguish between top and other positions, so that traffic is left out of auction insights data.
• Domains, not companies. Rows are display domains. One company running several domains appears as several rows, and resellers or affiliates appear under their own domain.
• "google.com" rows. Google explains that google.com can appear for ads that point to Google-hosted domains, Google Business Profile pages or Google Sites URLs. It is not necessarily Google itself competing with you.

Shopping has its own filter: Google says Shopping auction insights filter out auctions with very low impressions, which can cause small differences from campaign-level figures.

How to read changes in auction insights over time

A single snapshot tells you who is around. The value is in the trend. Use the time segment (by week or month for most accounts, by day for short promotions) and the device segment, then look for movements that line up with something that happened.

Work through the questions in this order:

1. Did your own impression share move? Check the "You" row first. If it dropped, open the impression share columns in your campaign view (search lost impression share due to budget and due to rank) to see whether money or ad rank caused it. Auction insights tells you that something changed; those columns tell you which lever.
2. Did a competitor's overlap rate rise? A rising overlap rate means they are entering more of the auctions you enter. That usually follows a budget increase, broader match types, new keywords or expanded locations on their side.
3. Did their position above rate rise at the same time? Rising overlap plus rising position above rate is the pattern that hurts most: more of them, ranking higher than you.
4. Did anything change on your side the same week? Bid strategy switches, budget cuts, paused keywords and ad copy tests all show up in the "You" row. Check your change history before blaming the market.
5. Is it seasonal? Compare the same period last year. Some competitors only advertise around particular sales periods, and their appearance is predictable.

An illustrative example (made-up numbers for the sake of the arithmetic): over four weeks your impression share falls from 55% to 42%. In the same weeks, one domain's overlap rate climbs from 20% to 48% and its position above rate climbs from 15% to 40%. Your own budget and bids did not change. The likely story is that a new or newly aggressive advertiser is entering your auctions and winning ad rank. Before touching bids, check which of your keywords and devices the change is concentrated in, and whether your ads and landing pages are still competitive for those queries.

What to do when a new competitor appears

New names in the report are normal. Markets shift, and advertisers test new keywords all the time. A calm sequence works better than an immediate bid war.

• Measure how much it matters. A new domain at 12% overlap with low position above rate is a passer-by. One at 40% overlap ranking above you half the time is a real problem.
• Find where they overlap. Run the report at ad group and keyword level to see which themes they are entering. Segment by device; some advertisers compete mainly on mobile.
• Search the queries yourself. Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool (so you do not accrue impressions) to see their ad copy and offer for your key terms. Their headline, price or promotion may explain their click-through rate.
• Check your brand terms. If a new advertiser is showing on your brand keywords, look at their ad text. Bidding on a brand keyword is generally allowed, but use of a trademark in the ad text can be restricted under Google's trademark policy, which has its own complaint process.
• Improve ad rank before raising bids. Ad rank depends on bids, the quality of the ad and landing page, the auction context and the expected impact of assets. Better ad relevance and a faster, more relevant landing page can recover position without paying more per click.
• Decide where you do not need to win. Not every auction is worth winning. If the overlap sits on low-converting queries, letting the competitor have them may be the profitable choice.

Limits of the auction insights report

The report is useful, but it answers a narrow question. Be clear about what it cannot do.

• No bids, budgets or Quality Scores. The report contains no data on competitors' cost per click, spend, bid strategy or keyword list. Any statement like "they are bidding more" is an inference from position metrics, not a fact the report gives you.
• Eligibility is estimated. Impression share uses an estimate of eligible impressions, so treat small movements of a point or two as noise.
• Different denominators. A competitor's impression share in your report is measured against the auctions they were eligible for, which only partly overlap with yours. It is not a share of your market.
• Partial channel coverage. Auction insights covers Search and Shopping auctions (including the Search and Shopping parts of Performance Max). It does not describe competition on YouTube, Display or Demand Gen inventory.
• Thresholds hide the tail. Small and occasional advertisers fall under the 10% line, so the report systematically under-represents fragmented markets.

Common mistakes when reading auction insights

• Reading outranking share alone. A 90% outranking share against a competitor you overlap with 5% of the time means very little.
• Comparing mismatched periods. Comparing a week that contained a sale with a normal week will exaggerate changes. Compare like with like.
• Reacting to a single day. Daily numbers swing. Look at weekly or monthly segments before acting.
• Ignoring device. Competition on mobile and desktop can differ sharply. An average across devices can hide a mobile problem.
• Raising bids as the only response. Bids are one input to ad rank. Ad quality, landing page experience and assets also count.

What this means for Thai marketers

For advertisers in Thailand, the report is worth reading in both languages of demand. If you run separate campaigns for Thai-language and English-language keywords, run auction insights for each, because the competitor sets are often different: international brands and travel or booking sites tend to appear more on English queries, local businesses more on Thai queries.

In Shopping and in the Shopping side of Performance Max, expect marketplace domains and their sellers to appear alongside direct competitors, since they bid on many of the same product queries. A marketplace with a high impression share gives you no reason to copy its bids. It does mean your product feed, price and landing page have to justify the click against that comparison. Segmenting by device matters here too: if most of your own clicks come from phones, the mobile view of the report is the one that describes your real competition, and it can look quite different from the all-device average.

Finally, check location settings before drawing conclusions. If you target Bangkok only and a competitor targets the whole country, you will only see the part of their activity that falls inside your auctions.

Frequently Asked Questions about Google Ads auction insights

Is Google Ads auction insights available for Display or YouTube campaigns?

No, auction insights covers Search and Shopping auctions, including the Search and Shopping parts of Performance Max, and does not report competition on Display, YouTube or Demand Gen inventory. For those channels you have to judge competition through your own reach, cost and frequency trends.

Why does my competitor's impression share look higher than mine when I outrank them?

This happens because each advertiser's impression share is calculated against the auctions they were eligible for, which are not the same as yours. A competitor that targets a narrow set of queries can hold a high share of its own eligible auctions while you still outrank it in the auctions you share.

How often should I check the auction insights report?

Monthly is enough for most accounts, with weekly checks during peak sales periods or after a sudden drop in impression share. Daily checks tend to produce noise rather than decisions.

Can I see which keywords a competitor bids on?

No, the report never shows a competitor's keywords, bids or budget. Running auction insights at keyword level only shows which of your own keywords they share auctions with, which is the closest view the report allows.

Turning auction insights into decisions

Auction insights is best used as an early warning: it tells you who entered your auctions and whether they are ranking above you, so you know where to look next. The decisions themselves come from combining it with impression share lost to budget and rank, search term data and your own conversion results. If you want a second pair of eyes on a competitive Search or Shopping account, the Google Ads management team at Relevant Audience can review your auction data alongside your Google Shopping campaigns, your remarketing lists for search and, where you also advertise on Bing, your Microsoft Ads campaigns.