Audience research
Part of Build a repeatable audience research method for UK paid search
How to run PPC agencies competitor research that stands up
A checklist for PPC agencies competitor research covering where to look, which tools to use, what to record, how to score rivals and the limits of what you can claim.
What to take away
- Decide first whether you are researching rival agencies or your clients' auction rivals. The two need different methods.
- Public sources go further than most teams expectCompanies House filings, ad libraries, rivals' own pages and published public contract awards cover much of what a pitch needs.
- For a client's auction rivals, start with the Auction Insights report in Google Ads. Third-party tools add estimates for domains you do not manage.
- Record findings in a fixed template with a date stamp, so a claim made in March can be checked in September.
- Score rivals on evidence, not polishone verified case study beats a slide of client logos.
- Keep everything you can point to. Misleading comparative claims about a rival can be reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) under the CAP Code.
Define the research question
Write the question before you open a browser. "How does this agency price retainers?" is answerable. "Who are our competitors?" is not.
Most briefs fall into three shapes: a named shortlist to pitch against, a market to size for a new service line, or a rival's public claims to check. Each needs different evidence.
The audience research guide sets out how to frame these questions alongside audience work, which is worth reading before you commission any paid data.
Map the competitor set
Build three tiers. Direct rivals sell the same service to the same buyer. Adjacent firms sell part of it, such as a media agency with a search team. Aspirational names are those your prospect mentions first.
Three competitor tiers
Direct rivals
- What they sell
- Same service
- Who they sell to
- Same buyer
- Example
- PPC agency
Adjacent firms
- What they sell
- Part of service
- Who they sell to
- Shared buyer
- Example
- Media agency search team
Aspirational names
- What they sell
- Mentioned first
- Who they sell to
- Prospect's pick
- Example
- Big brand name
Limit the list to twelve. Beyond that, the research becomes a directory rather than a comparison.
Use Companies House for filings, registered addresses and director changes. This is public, dated and defensible. Smaller companies often file only brief accounts, so treat turnover as a rough signal rather than a measure.
Check the auction side
If the brief covers a client's paid search account, the competitor set is different. Open the Auction Insights report in Google Ads. It lists the domains that appear in the same auctions as the client and shows impression share, overlap rate, position above rate and top of page rate for each. Those figures come from Google, so they are the strongest evidence you have.
For domains you do not manage, third-party tools such as Semrush, SpyFu and Similarweb estimate keywords, ad copy and traffic. Treat those numbers as estimates and say so when you quote them. Group the domains you find by search intent.
The Google Ads Transparency Center shows which advertisers ran which creatives and when. The Meta Ad Library and LinkedIn's ad library do the same for those platforms. Record the observation date, because these libraries only reflect a rolling window of activity.
Read their public claims
Collect landing pages, pricing pages, case studies and job adverts. Job adverts are underrated: a vacancy for a paid social lead tells you where a rival is investing.
Pricing is often not published. Look for pricing pages, packages on agency sites and public contract awards on Contracts Finder, which lists the values of UK public sector contracts. Where nothing is public, say "not published" rather than guessing.
Where a rival publishes performance figures, note the wording. A claim of "average 4x return" without a stated period or sector is not comparable to anything.
The target audience data and sources article lists the datasets that make audience claims checkable rather than anecdotal.
Score what you find
Score each rival from 1 to 5 on every row, using the rubric below.
Scoring weights by criterion
- Service overlap20%
- Pricing transparency15%
- Client evidence20%
- Search visibility15%
- Creative output15%
- Talent signals15%
| Criterion | What counts as evidence | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Service overlap | Published service list against your own | 20% |
| Pricing transparency | Any published rate card or banding | 15% |
| Client evidence | Named case studies with measurable outcomes | 20% |
| Search visibility | Share of impressions on core terms over a set period | 15% |
| Creative output | Volume and consistency of ad and landing page changes | 15% |
| Talent signals | Live vacancies and stated specialisms | 15% |
For search visibility, use Auction Insights impression share where you manage the account, and a named tool's estimate where you do not. A rival scoring 4 or 5 on client evidence but 1 on pricing transparency is a threat on quality and a soft target on procurement. That combination shapes the pitch.
Treat the scores as a working hypothesis and revisit them each quarter.
Use the research to decide
Competitor data is only useful when it changes a decision. Set the decision before you start: a bid change, a pricing change, or a pitch angle.
Define the question, agree the measure, then act on the result rather than reporting it. Keep a one-page log of what changed because of the research. That log is how the exercise proves it paid for itself.
Common questions
Can I use a competitor's ad copy in my own campaigns?
No. Copying creative risks a misleading claim and a complaint through the ASA. Use rivals' ads to understand positioning, then write your own.
How often should competitor research be repeated?
Review the full set each quarter, and look at Auction Insights for core terms monthly if a client's spend is significant. Both are judgement calls rather than rules.
Do I need paid tools to do this?
Not for the basics. Companies House, ad libraries, Auction Insights and rivals' own sites cover a lot. Paid tools such as Semrush or SpyFu speed up keyword and ad copy work on domains you do not manage.
What should I do with the findings?
Turn each finding into one action with an owner and a date. Research that ends in a deck rather than a decision gets repeated next year.
