Google Ads Transparency Center: track your competitors' Google ads

What is the Google Ads Transparency Center?

The Google Ads Transparency Center is Google's public archive of ads from verified advertisers. It shows ads from Google Search, YouTube, the Display Network and Google Shopping, with the period they ran and the countries they were shown in. For ads in the EU, the Digital Services Act adds further detail.

That makes it the most reliable source for what your competitors pay for on Google. AdLupe uses it as a data source, together with the Meta Ad Library.

Why the Transparency Center alone is not enough

The Transparency Center is built for transparency, not for watching competitors:

• One search shows one advertiser. Tracking five competitors means five searches, every week from scratch.
• It keeps no history for you. What is new or stopped since your last visit, you have to compare yourself.
• It shows text ads without the search term they appear for.
• Facebook and Instagram are missing; they sit in a library of their own.

How AdLupe tracks your competitors' Google ads

You enter a competitor's website, AdLupe finds its Google ad account, and you confirm with one click. From then on AdLupe reads the Transparency Center for you every day and marks each ad as new, running, proven (30 days or more) or short test.

AdLupe shows text ads the way your customers see them: as a search result under the search term they are most likely booked for. For many competitors you also see which search terms they bid on at Google and roughly what a click costs there.

What the Google ads tell you

On Google a company advertises where people are already searching. So its ads show very directly what it is fighting for:

• Search terms: which searches your competitors pay for, and whether your own terms are among them.
• Cost per click: how expensive a term is, and where there are cheaper ways to the same customer.
• Offers: which prices, discounts and promises they show in search.
• Countries: which markets they advertise in; AdLupe watches up to 3 markets per company.

Just ask: with Claude or ChatGPT

With AdLupe you ask in your own words, for example “Which search terms does competitor B book on Google?”, and the answer comes from your AdLupe data. How to connect AdLupe to Claude or ChatGPT.

What AdLupe costs

One plan for businesses and the self-employed: €9.99 a month including VAT, cancel any month. Up to 10 competitors and 3 markets, your whole team at no extra cost. See pricing or compare AdLupe with other tools.