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How to Read Auction Insights in Google Ads: Every Metric Explained
Key Takeaways
- Auction Insights compares your Google Ads performance with the other advertisers in the same auctions, for Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.
- Search campaigns get six metrics: impression share, overlap rate, position above rate, top of page rate, absolute top of page rate and outranking share. Shopping gets the first two plus outranking share.
- Outranking share is the one to watch: it shows how often you beat each competitor, or showed when they did not.
- The report hides competitors whose impression share is under 10%, leaves out search partner traffic, and reports only these rates: nothing about anyone's bids or budgets.
- Segment by time and device, and look at the trend, not one week; most useful decisions come from a competitor whose share is rising.
- We check competitors' ads monthly and before each peak season, and Auction Insights is the first place we look.
Quick Answer
Auction Insights is Google Ads' report of who else is bidding in your auctions and how you compare. Read it in this order: impression share tells you how often each advertiser showed, overlap rate tells you how much of your auction they share, and outranking share tells you who is winning when you meet. For Search campaigns, the position above and top of page rates then show where on the page each of you lands. Judge the figures by trend and by segment, and act on them with bids, budgets, negative keywords and better ads rather than by chasing every competitor.
Table of Contents
- What Is Auction Insights?
- Where to Find the Report
- The Six Metrics Explained
- A Worked Example
- Auction Insights for Shopping and Performance Max
- How to Read the Report for a Shopify Store
- What to Do About What You See
- What the Report Cannot Tell You
- Why Matters Perspective
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Final Thoughts
- Related Articles
Most store owners open Auction Insights once, see a list of rivals with percentages next to them, and close it again. That is a shame, because it is the only place Google tells you anything about the advertisers you are bidding against. This guide explains each number in plain English, with a worked example, and what to do with it.
What Is Auction Insights?
Google's Auction Insights help page describes it as a report that lets you compare your performance with other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions as you. Google says it shows where you are succeeding and where you may be missing opportunities, and that it can inform bidding and budgeting decisions. It covers Search campaigns, Shopping campaigns and Performance Max, but not Display.
Every time someone searches, Google runs an auction among the ads eligible to show. Auction Insights looks at the auctions your ad entered and reports on the other advertisers it met there. It never names anyone you did not compete with, which is why the list can look different from the competitors you expect.
Where to Find the Report
- Open Campaigns, Ad groups or Search keywords in the Google Ads campaigns menu.
- Tick the rows you want to compare, or run it for everything on the page.
- Choose Auction insights from the options above the table. If the account mixes campaign types, pick Search campaigns or Shopping campaigns from the dropdown.
- Segment the result by time or by device using the segment control, which is where the real insight sits.
Google also offers Auction Insights in Report Editor at account and manager account level, where you can chart impression share, overlap rate and outranking share over time, and segment Shopping data by product category. Use the filter above the table to show only rows that have a report, because keywords with little activity have none.
The Six Metrics Explained
These definitions follow Google's own wording. The first two and the last apply to Search and Shopping; the middle three are Search only.
| Metric | What it measures | Google's example |
|---|---|---|
| Impression share | Your impressions divided by the impressions you were eligible for, given your targeting, approval status and Quality Scores | Shown for you and each competitor |
| Overlap rate | How often a competitor's ad showed in the same auction as yours | 60% means they showed 6 times in every 10 times you did |
| Position above rate | How often the competitor's ad showed above yours when both showed (Search only) | 5% means 5 of 100 shared impressions |
| Top of page rate | How often an ad showed at the top of the page, above the organic results (Search only) | 20 of 100 impressions is 20% |
| Absolute top of page rate | How often an ad was the very first ad above the organic results (Search only) | 10 of 100 impressions is 10% |
| Outranking share | How often your ad ranked higher than the competitor's, or showed when theirs did not | 20% means 2 of every 10 auctions |
Two points trip people up. Impression share counts eligible impressions, so a low figure can mean a small budget, a low bid or poor ad quality rather than a strong competitor. And outranking share already includes the auctions where the competitor did not show at all, which is why it can be far higher than the position above rate suggests.
A Worked Example
Take 100 auctions your ad entered for the search "organic dog food". One competitor appeared in 60 of them, so its overlap rate is 60%. In those 60 shared auctions, your ad ranked higher 35 times and theirs ranked higher 25 times. Your outranking share against that competitor is the 35 auctions you won plus the 40 where they did not show, which is 75 of 100, or 75%. Their position above rate against you is 25 of the 60 shared auctions, about 42%.
In words: the competitor shares most of your auctions, but you win three quarters of the time overall and more than half of the auctions you both enter. That is a healthy position. The time to worry is when the competitor's overlap rate and position above rate both rise month on month, because that means they are bidding on more of your terms and paying more for them.
Auction Insights for Shopping and Performance Max
Shopping campaigns get three metrics: impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. Google notes that the Shopping figures come only from the Search Network, that Shopping campaigns do not use Quality Score, and that the report filters out auctions with very few impressions, so the numbers can differ slightly from the campaign level impression share.
For Performance Max, Google says the report covers the Search and Shopping ads the campaign served on the Search Network, at account and campaign level, segmented by Search or Shopping. The Display, YouTube and Gmail parts of a Performance Max campaign have no auction insights, so for a Shopify store running Performance Max the report shows the Shopping side of the campaign and nothing else.
How to Read the Report for a Shopify Store
- Start with your own impression share. If it is under about 50% on your best selling products or brand terms, the problem is usually budget or bids, not a competitor.
- Sort by overlap rate. The advertisers at the top are the ones really competing with you. Ignore the rest for now.
- Read outranking share for those few. Above 50% means you usually beat them; below means they usually beat you.
- Segment by device. It is common to win on desktop and lose on mobile, or the reverse, which points to a bid adjustment or a landing page problem.
- Segment by month and look for movement. A new name, or a competitor whose share is climbing, matters more than any single figure.
- Check who is bidding on your brand. Run the report for your brand campaign; a competitor with a high overlap rate there is paying to intercept your customers.
What to Do About What You See
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Low impression share, few competitors | Budget capped or bids too low | Raise the budget or target on the terms that convert |
| High overlap, competitor outranks you | Their bids or ad quality are higher | Improve ad relevance and landing page speed before raising bids |
| Competitor appears on your brand terms | Deliberate brand bidding | Protect brand with its own campaign and a strong top of page rate |
| Marketplaces dominate the report | Amazon or eBay bidding on your product terms | Compete on long tail and product specific terms, not head terms |
| Retailers that do not stock your product | Broad match pulling in unrelated searches | Add negative keywords and tighten match types |
| Share falls each month | A competitor increasing spend | Decide whether to defend or move budget to better margin terms |
Whatever you change, judge it on new customers and return on ad spend rather than on winning the auction table. Our guide to what a good ROAS is for ecommerce explains the target to work to, and our Google Ads audit checklist covers the rest of the account.
What the Report Cannot Tell You
- Nothing about bids or budgets. The report lists the six rates above and nothing else; it does not show what anyone pays or spends.
- Nothing about their keywords or ads. For that, use the Google Ads Transparency Center, which shows the ads a competitor has run.
- No one under 10% impression share. Google says the report does not show insights when impression share is below 10%, so small or occasional bidders are invisible.
- No search partner data. Google says partner data is not included in the auction insights figures.
- Not the same figures the competitor sees. Google notes that a competitor's impression share in your report can differ from the figure in their own account.
- Sometimes google.com itself. Google notes that google.com can appear as a competitor in the report.
Why Matters Perspective
We run Google Ads for Shopify stores, and Auction Insights is the first report we open when a client says a competitor has "started bidding against us". Usually the report shows something else: a budget cap, a broad match keyword pulling in retailers that do not even stock the product, or a marketplace that has always been there. We check competitors' ads monthly and before each peak season, and the report is more useful read as a trend over six months than as a snapshot.
Broken conversion tracking is the most common problem we find in inherited Google Ads accounts this year; in the worst case a freelancer run account double counted every purchase, so the client's ROAS report showed double the real figure. No auction report is worth acting on until the conversions behind it are right. We work to a floor of at least 2x ROAS across the accounts we manage, ad accounts we set up always belong to the client, and our pricing is published: PPC management starts from £650 a month plus VAT, billed one month in arrears with no long contracts. For a free review of your account, visit our PPC agency page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Auction Insights report in Google Ads?
Auction Insights is a report in Google Ads that compares your performance with other advertisers who take part in the same auctions as you. Google says it shows where you are succeeding and where you may be missing opportunities, so you can make better bidding and budgeting decisions. It is available for Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.
What does impression share mean in Auction Insights?
Impression share is the number of impressions your ads received divided by the estimated number you were eligible to receive, based on your targeting settings, approval status and Quality Scores. The report shows the same figure for each competitor, so you can see who is showing most often in the auctions you share.
What is overlap rate?
Overlap rate is how often another advertiser's ad received an impression in the same auction as yours. Google's example is that an overlap rate of 60% means the competitor's ad showed six times out of every ten times your ad showed. A high overlap rate means you are bidding on much the same searches.
What is outranking share?
Outranking share is how often your ad ranked higher in the auction than another advertiser's ad, or showed when theirs did not. Google's example is that 20% means your ad outranked theirs in two of every ten auctions you both entered. It is the clearest single measure of whether you or a competitor is winning.
Does Auction Insights work for Shopping campaigns?
Yes, with three metrics rather than six: impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. Google says the Shopping figures come only from the Search Network, and that Shopping campaigns do not use Quality Score. Position above rate and the two top of page rates are Search only.
Does Auction Insights work for Performance Max?
Yes. Google says the Auction Insights report for Performance Max covers the Search and Shopping ads the campaign served on the Search Network, shown at account and campaign level and segmented by Search or Shopping. It does not cover the Display, YouTube or Gmail parts of the campaign.
Why is a competitor missing from my Auction Insights report?
Google says the report does not show insights when impression share is below 10%, and that only keywords, ad groups and campaigns with a minimum amount of activity have a report at all. Search partner traffic is also left out. A competitor who bids rarely, or only on a few of your terms, may not appear.
Final Thoughts
Auction Insights answers one question well: who else is in your auctions and who is winning. Read impression share, overlap rate and outranking share in that order, segment by device and month, and treat the rest of the metrics as detail.
Then act on your own account, because that is the only one you control: tracking, budgets, match types, ad quality and landing pages. If you would like us to read your report with you, email us.
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Ayo is the founder of Why Matters and Head of Marketing. With over 20 years of experience in ecommerce, digital marketing and commercial growth, he has helped hundreds of Shopify brands build, launch and scale their online stores. Why Matters, a Shopify agency based in Brighton, is a Shopify Select partner and a Klaviyo, Recharge, Awin, Meta and TikTok partner.About AyoConnect on LinkedIn
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