Auction insights
Auction insights is a Google Ads report that compares your ads with other advertisers in the same auctions, such as how often their ads showed when yours did.
How it works
Every auction your ad enters has other advertisers in it. The report lists them by domain, with statistics for each:
- Impression share — the share of impressions the advertiser got, counted over the impressions your ads were eligible for.
- Overlap rate — how often its ad got an impression when yours did.
- Outranking share — how often your ad ranked above its ad, counted over the impressions your ads were eligible for.
Three more describe the search results page. Position above rate is how often its ad showed above yours when both showed. The other two count how often its ad showed at the top of the page and how often in the first position.
When impression share or outranking share is below 10%, the report gives no exact figure. Our guide to reading auction insights shows how to check whether a competitor really took your sales.
Where you see it
- Google Ads: the Auction insights report, for the account, a campaign, an ad group or a keyword.
- Google Ads API: Google marks these metrics as not publicly available.
Example
Example store, not client data.
The tableware shop’s Shopping campaign gets 400,000 impressions in a month out of an estimated 1,000,000 it was eligible for, so its impression share is 40%. Shop A’s ad also shows in 240,000 of them: an overlap rate of 240,000 ÷ 400,000 = 60%. Shop B’s ad shows in 40,000, an overlap rate of 10%.
Not to be confused with
- Competitive visibility — a Merchant Center report by category and country that also counts unpaid listings. Auction insights covers only your ad auctions.
- Impression share — your own share, in the campaign columns. Auction insights shows it for each competitor too.
Right and wrong readings
- Wrong: “A’s impression share rose as our sales fell, so A took our sales.” Right: the report shows who was in the same auctions as you, not their clicks or orders. First check the lost impression share columns to see why your own share fell: budget or rank.
- Wrong: “A has a 70% impression share, so it shows on 70% of searches in our niche.” Right: the report counts it over the impressions your ads were eligible for, not over every search in your niche.