Documentation
Competitive Analysis gives you a daily view of auction crowding across your Google Ads search terms. It calculates a Competition Index from 0 to 100 at the search-term level, weights higher-impression traffic more heavily, and rolls the score up so you can review competition at search-term, ad group, campaign, or account level. Pair the index with spend and conversion distributions to decide where to invest, defend, or pull back.
- Primary signal
- Competition Index from 0 to 100
- Data refresh
- Daily
- Calculation basis
- Search term level, impression-weighted rollup
- Available pivots
- Search term, ad group, campaign, account
- Scope requirement
- At least one search term with impression data
#What Competitive Analysis does
Competitive Analysis surfaces a Competition Index for each of your keywords, sourced from Google Keyword Planner, then impression-weights and rolls it up so you can compare auction crowding across your account. A score close to 0 means the auctions behind that keyword or rollup are relatively uncrowded. A score close to 100 means the auctions are highly contested.
Scores are weighted by impressions, so high-visibility keywords carry more weight in rolled-up campaign and account scores than low-traffic terms. The index reflects where your real traffic is, not where a long tail of keywords happens to exist.
#Who it is for
Competitive Analysis is most useful when you are trying to explain performance differences between campaigns, find expansion opportunities with less auction pressure, or audit whether budget is being spent in markets where it can still win.
- Account managers reviewing why two campaigns with similar keywords behave differently in terms of CPC or impression share.
- Strategists looking for lower-competition pockets to scale before competitors enter.
- Teams auditing spend concentration: is most of the budget going to the most crowded auctions?
- Analysts preparing a competitive context section for client reporting or quarterly reviews.
- Campaign builders targeting multiple countries or regions who need to understand localized competition differences.
#How it works
- Open Competitive Analysis Navigate to Competitive Analysis in the Adnine sidebar. The dashboard loads with your account-level Competition Index and the spend and conversion distribution charts for the selected date range.
- Choose your scope Select the account, campaign group, or individual campaign you want to analyze. The Competition Index and all charts update to reflect only that scope.
- Read the headline index Check the overall Competition Index for the selected scope. Compare it with impressions and spend to understand how much of your real traffic sits in crowded versus lighter auctions.
- Review spend and conversion distributions The spend chart shows how budget is split across low, medium, and high competition ranges. The conversion chart shows where conversions are actually landing. Look for mismatches: spend concentrated in high-competition areas that produce few conversions, or conversions appearing in lower-competition areas that receive less budget.
- Pivot to campaign and ad group Click into the campaigns and ad groups listed in the dashboard. Adnine rolls up competition scores at each level so you can locate the structures driving the overall pattern before inspecting individual search terms.
- Inspect the detail table Use the sortable, filterable table to review impressions, clicks, spend, conversions, and competition scores row by row. Sort by competition score to surface the most crowded terms, or sort by conversions to confirm whether those crowded terms are still worth the cost.
- Decide and act Based on what the index, distributions, and detail table show, decide whether to scale, defend, cut back, restructure, or simply monitor. Then revisit the same scope after your changes have had a few days to affect traffic.
#Dashboard signals explained
The dashboard combines the Competition Index with Google Ads performance metrics so you can understand not just how competitive an area is, but whether that competition is commercially important.
Signals and what they mean
| Signal | What it measures | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Competition Index | A 0-100 auction-competition score from Google Keyword Planner, impression-weighted across your search terms. | Compare scores across search terms, ad groups, and campaigns to find where auction pressure is heaviest relative to the rest of your account. |
| Spend vs. competition distribution | How your total budget is allocated across low, medium, and high competition ranges. | Identify whether budget is concentrated in expensive, crowded auctions that may not justify the cost. |
| Conversion vs. competition distribution | Where conversions fall across the same low, medium, and high competition ranges. | Find competition levels that already convert well, or confirm that high-competition spend is producing enough value to defend. |
| Top campaigns and ad groups | Which campaign or ad group structures have the highest or lowest competition scores within the selected scope. | Use this to prioritize which structures to investigate first rather than auditing everything at once. |
| Detailed table | Sortable and filterable rows showing impressions, clicks, spend, conversions, and competition score per search term, ad group, or campaign. | Confirm the exact entities behind a chart pattern before making a budget, bid, or keyword decision. |
#Reading the Competition Index
The Competition Index is most reliable as a relative signal. Use it to compare similar scopes over the same time frame, or to explain why two parts of an account with similar keywords behave differently in cost and visibility.
Common patterns and what to do next
| What you see | Likely interpretation | Recommended next check |
|---|---|---|
| Low competition, useful conversions | A possible scaling opportunity with less auction pressure than competing areas. | Check search volume, budget caps, CPA, ROAS, and landing-page fit before increasing investment. |
| High competition, strong performance | The auction is crowded, but the account is still winning enough value to justify the cost. | Protect budget if efficiency and margin support it. Monitor CPC and conversion rate for early signs of deterioration. |
| High competition, weak performance | Spend may be flowing into expensive auctions that do not produce enough return. | Review query intent, match types, bids, landing pages, and negative keywords. Look for lower-competition alternatives. |
| Competition rising over time | Google's competition estimate for these terms is trending upward. | Compare CPC, impression volume, conversion rate, and conversion value over the same period to see if economics are deteriorating. |
| Same keyword, different score per market | Competition is localized. The same keyword can carry a different competition estimate depending on the country a campaign targets. | Review location targeting and campaign structure before applying one market's conclusion to another. |
| Very low score, very low volume | The auction may simply be small. Low competition is not always an opportunity if there is insufficient search traffic. | Check impression volume and search trend data before treating a low score as a scaling signal. |
#Pivot levels and when to use them
Competitive Analysis is designed for both high-level diagnosis and granular review. Start broad to locate areas with the strongest competition pressure, then pivot into the campaign, ad group, or search term where a decision can actually be made.
Pivot level guide
| Level | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Understanding whether the overall account operates in a competitive market. Useful for new-client audits and quarterly strategy reviews. | Account averages hide campaigns with very different pressure levels. Never stop here if you intend to take action. |
| Campaign | Comparing market pressure across brands, product lines, regions, or bidding strategies. | A campaign can mix profitable and unprofitable search terms inside the same score. Compare spend and conversions alongside the index. |
| Ad group | Finding the theme or product area where competition is concentrated before looking at individual terms. | Ad group structure may not cleanly match user intent if queries are broad-matched or fragmented across themes. |
| Search term | Inspecting the most granular competition signal available. The only level where the index is calculated before rollup. | Very low-volume terms can be noisy. Read competition scores alongside impressions, clicks, spend, and conversions before concluding. |
#Limitations and data quality
Competitive Analysis depends on search-term data. If the selected account or scope has no search terms with impression data, the Competition Index cannot be calculated. Understanding the known constraints helps you avoid misreading the score or drawing conclusions from thin data.
Known limitations
| Limitation | Why it matters | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| No search terms, no score | The Competition Index is calculated at the search-term level first. If there are no search terms, no score can be rolled up. | Widen the date range or scope, or use another report if search-term data is unavailable for the selected period. |
| Competition is localized | The same keyword can have a different Competition Index depending on whether the campaign targets the UK, Germany, or a specific city. | Compare like-for-like markets and avoid applying one market's score to another without confirming the location context matches. |
| High-volume terms dominate rollups | Impression weighting means a few high-traffic keywords can pull the campaign or account score strongly in one direction. | Check the detail table to see whether a handful of large terms are responsible for the overall score before generalizing. |
| Not a named-competitor report | Competitive Analysis reports competition level, not a named list of which advertisers appeared alongside you or how often. | Use Google Ads Auction Insights when you need advertiser-level overlap rate, outranking share, or position data. |
| Not a profitability metric | A low Competition Index does not prove a term is valuable, and a high score does not prove it should be avoided. | Always combine the Competition Index with conversion volume, conversion value, CPA, ROAS, and business margin before acting. |
#Best practices
- Start at the account or campaign level to get orientation, then pivot down to ad group and search term before recommending any action.
- Always read the Competition Index alongside spend and conversion distributions. The index alone does not tell you whether competition pressure matters for your account.
- Treat low-competition, high-conversion areas as expansion candidates, but confirm search volume and business fit before increasing budget.
- Treat high-competition, weak-performance areas as investigation candidates: review query intent, match types, bids, negatives, and landing pages.
- Segment by market or location when campaigns target different countries, regions, or cities, since competition is fully localized.
- Use Google Ads Auction Insights separately when you need named-advertiser overlap, position data, or outranking context.
- Avoid reacting to very low-volume search terms without enough impressions or conversions to make the score reliable.
- Revisit the same scope over time after making changes so you can separate a short-term fluctuation from a real shift in auction pressure.
- When briefing a client or team on competitive pressure, always name the competition level (low, medium, high), the spend concentration, and whether conversions justify that concentration.
#Frequently asked questions
Why is the Competition Index not showing for my campaign?
The Competition Index requires at least one search term with impression data in the selected scope and date range. If your campaign uses broad or phrase match without generating search term reports, or if the date range is too short to include any traffic, the index cannot be calculated. Try widening the date range or checking a different campaign.
Does a high Competition Index mean I should reduce my bids or budget?
Not necessarily. A high Competition Index means the auction is crowded. Whether to reduce bids depends on whether spend in that area is still producing valuable conversions. If CPA and ROAS are acceptable, defending a high-competition term may be the right call. If performance is weak, the index provides useful context for why costs are high, but the fix may be in match types, query intent, landing pages, or negatives rather than just bids.
Why does the same keyword have different Competition Index scores in different campaigns?
Competition is fully localized. A campaign targeting the UK and a campaign targeting Germany can have different Competition Index scores for the same keyword because Google reports a different competition estimate for the term depending on the country the campaign targets. Always check which countries, regions, or cities each campaign targets before comparing scores.
How is the Competition Index different from Google Ads impression share?
The Competition Index is Google Keyword Planner's competition estimate for your search terms, impression-weighted by Adnine. Impression share measures how much of the eligible traffic your ads actually captured. A low Competition Index with low impression share might mean budget or quality constraints are limiting you even where the auction is not very crowded. Use both signals together for the clearest picture.
Can Competitive Analysis tell me which specific advertisers are competing against me?
No. Competitive Analysis reports a competition level, not a named list of advertisers. Use Google Ads Auction Insights for advertiser-level data such as overlap rate, position above rate, and outranking share.
How often does the data refresh?
Competition data refreshes daily. This means you can check yesterday's auction conditions, but the index is not a real-time signal. Allow a few days after making bid, budget, or keyword changes before comparing the Competition Index to assess impact.
What should I do if most of my spend is in high-competition areas?
Check whether those high-competition areas are producing conversions at an acceptable CPA and ROAS. If they are, the spend may be justified even at higher auction pressure. If they are not, review query intent, match type, bid strategy, negative keywords, and landing page quality. Also use the search-term pivot to look for lower-competition pockets within the same campaign that might be worth expanding.
Is Competitive Analysis available for Performance Max or Display campaigns?
Competitive Analysis is built on search-term data. If a campaign type does not produce search-term reports in Google Ads, the Competition Index will not be available for that campaign. Search campaigns with search-term reporting enabled will have the most complete data.