How to See Your Competitors' Ads on Facebook and Google

By Rijad Mujić · Published 2026-10-01

Your competitors' ads are one of the most useful things you can study, because they show what a business is willing to pay to say. The good news is that the two biggest ad platforms publish them for free.

Facebook and Instagram: Meta Ad Library

Meta's Ad Library (facebook.com/ads/library) shows every active ad running on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Choose your country, set the category to "All ads", and search for a competitor's page name. You'll see each ad's image or video, its text, and when it started running. You don't need an account or an ad budget.

Google and YouTube: Ads Transparency Center

Google's Ads Transparency Center (adstransparency.google.com) shows ads from verified advertisers across Search, YouTube and Display. Search for the competitor's name or website and filter by region and format. It's a quick way to see which search ads and video ads they're running and in which countries.

Other platforms

On LinkedIn, a company page has an "Ads" section showing the ads it has run recently. TikTok has a Creative Center with top ads by industry and region. For a local business, also check the obvious places: OLX, local news portals and community groups, where competitors often advertise without running platform ads at all.

What to look for

• How long an ad has been running. An ad that's been live for months is almost certainly working. One that disappears after a week probably wasn't.
• The promise in the headline. What problem do they lead with, and which customer are they talking to?
• The offer. Discounts, free trials, free delivery, a free first visit. This tells you what they think it takes to win a customer.
• Where the ad sends people. Click through and look at the landing page: what they ask for, and how fast you get to the point.
• How many versions they run. Lots of variations of one message means they're testing it seriously.

Turn it into decisions

Don't copy their ads. Use them to find what's missing: the customer nobody's talking to, the complaint nobody's answering, the offer nobody makes. That gap is usually your message. More on finding it in how to find a gap in the market and how to differentiate your business.

Ads show what competitors say about themselves. Their reviews show what customers say back, and the gap between the two is often the most useful thing you'll find. More in what competitor reviews tell you.

Rijad Mujić builds and runs ScoutBrief, a competitor research tool for small businesses. How ScoutBrief researches competitors →

Keep reading

• What Your Competitors' Reviews Can Tell You
  A competitor's reviews are free, honest research that most people only glance at. Here's how to actually read them.
• How to Find Your First 10 Customers
  Your first customers are already buying from someone else. Here's how to find where they are and what would make them switch.
• How to Find a Gap in the Market Using Your Competitors
  Real gaps usually sit next to existing competitors, not far away from them. Where to look, and how to test one before building.

Looking for advice for your trade? Competitor analysis by industry →