One of the first things we do when onboarding new Google Ads clients is check out the competition already advertising and gather some intelligence on their history and estimated success from Google search ads. If competitors have been running ads consistently for months or even years, that’s a strong signal the channel is profitable for them. Here’s how to do your own competitor research:
Step 1
Go to Google and search for your service. This could be [your service/business + town/city] or [your service business near me], and see what’s listed. Focus on the service or keyword people would search for, not your business name. In this example, I’ve searched for [dental implants near me] – a high-ticket, specialist service with significant demand.
Step 2
I can see a relevant ad, so I’ll click on the three dots to the right of the headline.
Step 3
I’ve clicked on this and we now see a pop-up. From here I’ll click on ‘See more ads’.
Step 4
This takes us to the Ads Transparency Centre, where we can do more digging. Firstly, we see a full list of all the ads this company is running.
Step 5
However, more useful is working out how long these ads have been running for. By default, Google always shows any ads running over the last 7 years or so. We click on the date range to change this.
Step 6
I’ve gone back a few months. For example, I’m writing this in November 2025, so I’ll select June 2025 to see if the ads were running a few months ago.
Looks like they were.
Step 7
So I’ll go back further, this time selecting January 2025 to see if they were running a few months earlier.
Step 8
We can now see that this business wasn’t running ads then. So we now know they started advertising at some point between January 2025 and June 2025. You can always dig down further to find out exactly, but it doesn't really matter.
What this tells us
We can see that the campaign has been running for several months at least. Of course, we don’t know what their daily budget is, but it’s safe to assume it’s going to be at least £1,000 per month, although very likely much more than this (clicks for our dental example above might cost anywhere between £7–£20). So from here, we can see that if this client had been spending £1,000 a month since June, they’ve spent at least £5,000 on Google Ads.
You’d think, therefore, it’s likely this is a viable marketing channel for them. They’re unlikely to have run ads for that length of time at a loss. Obviously, the longer the campaigns have been running, the safer it is to assume that their marketing is working for them.
It’s not necessarily a bad sign if the ads haven’t been running for very long (say, for under a month), but it may be that the business is testing the platform or is new to Google Ads. It just means we can’t take as much from the data.
Important limitations: The Transparency Centre won’t show you their exact budget, conversion rates, or return on investment – but the longevity of their campaigns tells you a lot about whether the channel is working for them.
What to Do Next
Try this for yourself across 3-5 competitors in your area. Look for patterns:
- Are multiple competitors running ads consistently?
- Have they been advertising for 6+ months?
- Are they running multiple ad variations?
If the answer is yes to these questions, Google Ads is likely a viable channel for your business too. Don't be put off if you see little to no competitor activity, that could just mean that the market is untapped with lots of potential!
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