Which tool to watch your competitors on Google Ads
Your costs do not rise on their own. They rise because somebody else is bidding on the same searches. Intelligence tools exist to put a name on that rise, and to tell whether it is temporary or lasting.
Without intelligence, a cost increase is observed but not explained. It gets blamed on the season, budget is raised to hold position, and three months later you discover a new entrant has changed the market for good. The right decision might have been to move towards other searches rather than pay more for the same ones.
How to choose
Market data, or your own auctions?
Some tools estimate the market from search sampling. Others start from your account’s auction insights, so from the reality of your own auctions. The second is more reliable, the first broader.
Is French coverage serious?
Many tools are excellent on English-speaking markets and very poor on niche French queries. Test on your ten most expensive keywords before committing.
Do you see the ads, or only the numbers?
Knowing a competitor’s impression share is information. Seeing their ad copy and their landing page is material to work with. The two do not cost the same.
How often will you actually look?
Competitive intelligence is the kind of subscription you open twice and then never again. An automatic alert on a position change beats a complete dashboard nobody opens.
What UNYX does
We watch your auctions for you and warn you when a new entrant changes things. An unexplained rise in cost very often comes from there.
The tools for this job
- Reference
Adthena
Competitive analysis dedicated to search advertising.
Discover - Reference
Semrush
Keywords, ads and competitors, in advertising and in search.
Discover - Reference
SpyFu
Years of your competitors’ advertising history.
Discover - Reference
Similarweb
Traffic and acquisition sources of a competing site.
Discover - Reference
AdClarity
The creative work your competitors are running.
Discover iSpionage
Watches rival ads and landing pages.
DiscoverSerpstat
Keyword research and competitive analysis.
Discover- SEO reference
Ahrefs
A benchmark in organic search, useful alongside advertising.
Discover
The questions we get
Are Google’s auction insights not enough?
They tell you who appears alongside you and how often, which is already a lot. They do not tell you which ads competitors are running, nor which keywords they are on and you are not.
Can we bid on a competitor’s name?
Bidding on a competitor’s brand name is possible, but using it in the ad text is not and exposes you to a complaint. On substance, it is also often expensive traffic that converts poorly.
What should we do about a new entrant?
Rarely follow them up in bids. First look at whether they are taking searches that make you money or secondary ones. Defending a position on low-margin keywords is the fastest way to lose profit.