---
title: "Google Ads Auction Insights: How to Read and Use It"
description: "How to download Google Ads auction insights, read impression share, overlap and outranking, and rank competitors with a free tool. Step by step."
canonical: "https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/google-ads-auction-insights"
pageType: article
language: en
publisher: "Product Metrics"
author: "Berend Vrakking"
datePublished: 2026-10-15
dateModified: 2026-10-16
image: "https://www.productmetrics.io/og/blog/google-ads-auction-insights.png"
---

> Content index: https://www.productmetrics.io/llms.txt

# Google Ads Auction Insights: How to Read and Use It

## Key takeaways

- Google Ads Auction Insights shows three statistics for Shopping campaigns: impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. Position above rate, top of page rate and absolute top of page rate are for Search campaigns only.
- To get the report, tick your campaigns or ad groups in Google Ads, select Auction insights, set the last 90 days, add a Week time segment and download the table as a CSV. Google shows no insights when your impression share is below 10%.
- Overlap rate says which competitors you meet and outranking share says how often you win. The competitor to look at first meets you often and is outranked by you in fewer than half of your shared auctions.
- Our competitor power score is the mean of a competitor's impression share, its overlap rate and 1 − your outranking share. It is our composite, not a Google metric.
- Read impression share only after break-even ROAS. In our illustrative example, the campaign with the highest impression share (71%) lost €1,600 a month and the one with 38% earned €3,750, measured as revenue × contribution margin − ad spend, before fixed costs.

**Google Ads Auction Insights is the report that compares your ads with the other advertisers in the same auctions. For Shopping campaigns it shows three metrics: impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. To get it, tick your campaigns in Google Ads, select Auction insights and download the table as a CSV.**

Google's help page starts with the six Search statistics, and so do most guides to the report. This one starts with Shopping and [Performance Max](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/performance-max "Performance Max is a goal-based Google Ads campaign type that uses automation to reach customers across Google advertising channels."). It shows how to download the report, what each number means, how to read it against [break-even ROAS](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/break-even-roas "Break-even ROAS is the revenue-to-ad-spend ratio at which contribution profit exactly covers advertising costs.") and how to rank your competitors with the free tool at the end of the page.

We checked every Google Ads claim against Google Ads Help on 15 and 16 October 2026, and each page is linked in the sources. The euro figures are illustrative.

## Quick answer: Google Ads auction insights in three steps

1. Open it: in Google Ads, go to Campaigns, tick your Shopping or Performance Max campaigns and select Auction insights.
2. Download it: set the date range to the last 90 days, add a Week time segment and use the download icon above the table to save a CSV.
3. Read and act on it: rank competitors by overlap rate and outranking share, then increase priority only where the campaign's ROAS clears its break-even ROAS. The [free Auction Insights tool](#tool) below does the ranking from your CSV.

## Part 1: How to download the auction insights report in Google Ads

### 1. Select your campaigns and open Auction insights

1. In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu, expand Campaigns and select the Campaigns table. You can also use the Ad groups table for Shopping campaigns.
2. Tick the box next to each campaign or ad group you want in the report. Shopping reports work for ad groups and campaigns, and Performance Max reports for campaigns. Keyword reports are for Search campaigns.
3. Select Auction insights. If you ticked a mix of Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, choose "Shopping campaigns" in the dropdown. Performance Max impressions are then split into "Search" and "Shopping".

![Recreated English Google Ads Campaigns table with a Shopping campaign selected and Auction insights highlighted](https://www.productmetrics.io/images/blog/google-ads-auction-insights/open-auction-insights.png)

_Select the campaign checkbox, then Auction insights in the selection bar. Recreated interface; illustrative data._

### 2. Set the last 90 days and segment by week

4. Set the date range to the last 90 days.
5. Select the segment icon, then Time, and choose Week ([Use segments in your tables](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2454072)). Google segments Shopping auction insights by time and device.

![Recreated Shopping Auction insights report with the last 90 days selected and Segment, Time, Week highlighted](https://www.productmetrics.io/images/blog/google-ads-auction-insights/segment-by-week.png)

_Keep the last 90 days selected and choose Segment → Time → Week. Recreated interface; illustrative data._

### 3. Download the weekly report as Excel CSV

6. Select the download icon in the upper right corner above the table, then Download, and choose a format such as Excel CSV.

![Recreated English Google Ads Auction insights download menu with Excel CSV highlighted above a weekly Shopping report](https://www.productmetrics.io/images/blog/google-ads-auction-insights/download-excel-csv.png)

_Choose Excel CSV from the table's Download menu, then use that file in the tool below. Recreated interface; illustrative data._

Segments you apply show up in the downloaded report as rows, so a Week segment gives one row per competitor per week. These are the settings we use for an export the tool can read.

| Setting | Our choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level | One or more campaigns | A campaign has more auctions than one ad group, so it is more likely to pass Google's minimum activity threshold. |
| Date range | Last 90 days | About 13 weeks: enough points for a trend, recent enough to reflect your current set-up. This is our choice, not a Google rule. |
| Time segment | Week | One row per competitor per week gives the tool its trend line. Google allows Day only for date ranges of 16 days or less. |
| Format | Excel CSV | The tool reads comma-separated files and UTF-16 tab-separated exports. |

If the report stays empty, Google Ads Help gives two reasons: it shows no insights when your impression share is below 10%, and campaigns and ad groups need a minimum threshold of activity for the period you selected. Try a longer date range, or the campaign instead of a single ad group.

## Part 2: Upload the export to the free tool

The [Auction Insights tool](#tool) at the end of this page reads your CSV in the browser. The file isn't uploaded to a server or stored. Drop it on the tool or pick it with the file button. It needs four columns and uses two more when they are there.

| Column in your export | Needed | What the tool does with it |
|---|---|---|
| Display URL domain | Yes | Names each competitor. |
| Impression share | Yes | One of the three inputs of the power score. |
| Overlap rate | Yes | Power score input, and one axis of the threat map. |
| Outranking share | Yes | Power score input, and the win or lose side of the threat map. |
| Day, Week or Month | Optional | Draws the trend of each competitor over time. |
| Campaign | Optional | Adds a campaign filter. |

The tool handles UTF-16 tab-separated exports and cells exported as "< 10%". After it has read the file, you can filter by campaign, choose how many competitors to show and download the ranking as a CSV.

## Part 3: Read the auction insights metrics

Auction Insights shows six statistics for Search campaigns and three for Shopping campaigns. Each row below your own is another advertiser that took part in the same auctions. The definitions are shortened from Google Ads Help, and the last column is our reading.

| Statistic | What Google says it measures | Search | Shopping | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impression share | Your impressions divided by the impressions you were eligible to receive. For competitors, measured against the auctions they were eligible for. | Yes | Yes | Reach. A gap is an opportunity only where the return clears break-even. |
| Overlap rate | How often another advertiser's ad received an impression when yours did too. | Yes | Yes | Who you meet. It says nothing about who wins. |
| Outranking share | How often your ad ranked higher in the auction than theirs, or showed when theirs didn't. | Yes | Yes | Who wins when you meet. Read it next to overlap. |
| Position above rate | How often their ad was shown higher than yours when both showed. | Yes | No | Search only. |
| Top of page rate | How often an ad showed above the unpaid results. | Yes | No | Search only. |
| Absolute top of page rate | How often an ad was the very first ad above the organic results. | Yes | No | Search only. |

Google's own examples help. An overlap rate of 60% means that in 6 of every 10 times your ad showed, the other advertiser's ad showed as well. An outranking share of 20% means your ad won over theirs in 2 of every 10 auctions you entered together.

A row may show "google.com". Google says that happens when an advertiser uses Google-hosted domains or Google Business Profile, or when its landing page is a Google Site.

### Read overlap rate and outranking share together

Overlap rate tells you which competitors you meet, and outranking share tells you how often you win when you do. Read both for each competitor. This grid is our reading, not Google's, and the free tool's threat map uses the same four boxes.

| Overlap rate | Outranking share | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| High | High | You meet this competitor often and mostly win. Check whether the return justifies more share. |
| High | Low | The competitor you most need to understand. Check price and product data before anything else. |
| Low | High | Rarely meets you. Low priority. |
| Low | Low | A small overlap you lose. Look only if the products matter. |

In the tool, high overlap means above the median of the competitors in your file, and the line between winning and losing is an outranking share of 50%. Both lines come from your own export, not from a Google benchmark.

Neither number tells you why you lose. Google says the overall quality and relevance of your Shopping offers factor into eligibility, and its tips for impression share name budget, bids and product data ([Improve your impression share](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103386)).

### Shopping has its own prominence measure

Shopping campaigns have absolute top impression share, but it sits in the campaign columns, not in Auction Insights. Google defines it as the percentage of your Shopping ad impressions shown in the most prominent Shopping position, and reports it for campaigns, ad groups and product groups ([About impression share](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2497703)).

Shopping impression share also counts differently from Search. When several of your Shopping ads could show in one auction, only your first impression per search counts, so you are not credited twice.

### What the Shopping report shows, and what it leaves out

The Shopping report is available for ad groups and campaigns, with segments for time and device, and only from the Search Network. Google Ads Help describes nothing for Shopping by product, brand, category or custom label. The table sets the Shopping report next to the Performance Max report.

| Detail | Shopping | Performance Max |
|---|---|---|
| Report level | Ad groups and campaigns | Campaigns, and the account level. Also in Report Editor. |
| Statistics | Impression share, overlap rate, outranking share | Search and Shopping ads data. Google does not list the statistics. |
| Segments | Time and device | Search and Shopping |
| Traffic | Search Network only | "Search and Shopping ads served on the Search Network or after November 2021" |
| History | From October 2014 | Not stated separately |
| By product or label | Not described | Not described |

Search partners are excluded, and Google gives no number for the activity threshold. Your impression share in the report can also differ slightly from the campaign view, which Google puts down to Auction Insights filtering out auctions with very low impressions.

A competitor's figure can differ from what that competitor sees in its own report, because its eligible auctions only partly overlap with yours. Google's example: you show 100%, while the competitor has 50% in its own eligible auctions. For product-level impression share on Shopping, the Product Groups tab is the nearest thing. It shows only your own figure, and only for product groups with enough volume.

### Performance Max: campaign level, split by Search and Shopping

For Performance Max, Google documents an Auction Insights report per campaign with impressions segmented by Search and Shopping. Impression share is Search plus Shopping impressions divided by eligible Search plus Shopping impressions. We read that as meaning the other places Performance Max serves are not part of the report.

The Listing groups tab of an asset group reports product-level data, and its numbers can differ from the Campaign tab ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11596074)). That tab has no competitor columns.

So the campaign is the unit you can read. We suggest one campaign per group of products you want to read separately, for example per margin band or per segment. That works against Google's guidance that "performance will generally improve if you run fewer, larger campaigns that get more conversions" ([About Target ROAS bidding](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6268637)), so weigh it against your conversion volume. Our guides on [Performance Max for ecommerce](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/performance-max-for-ecommerce) and [target ROAS from margin](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/target-roas-from-margin) show how to size the split.

### How the competitor power score works

The competitor power score is our composite, not a Google metric. It is the mean of three numbers from your export: the competitor's impression share, its overlap rate and 1 − your outranking share. We call that last number "not outranked by you": the share of the auctions you both entered in which you did not outrank them.

Illustrative data: four competitors from one Shopping campaign. Power score = (impression share + overlap rate + not outranked by you) ÷ 3.

| Competitor | Impression share | Overlap rate | Your outranking share | Not outranked by you | Power score |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| A | 62% | 55% | 30% | 70% | 62.3% |
| B | 35% | 70% | 65% | 35% | 46.7% |
| C | 80% | 12% | 45% | 55% | 49.0% |
| D | 20% | 25% | 85% | 15% | 20.0% |

Competitor A leads: it meets you often and you outrank it in only 30% of shared auctions. Competitor C ranks second with 12% overlap, because its impression share is high. That share is measured against the auctions C was eligible for, not yours, so read the score next to overlap rate. The median overlap of the four is 40%, so the threat map puts A and B on the high-overlap side, and of those two only A on the losing side.

## Part 4: Act on auction insights with break-even ROAS as the floor

Act on Auction Insights only where the campaign's return clears its break-even ROAS. More impression share for a campaign that loses money on each sale loses more money. These six steps take you from the report to a decision per product.

**From the report to a product decision in six steps**

1. **Find the competitors you meet most.** Sort by overlap rate. A competitor at 5% overlap rarely matters. The tool counts a competitor as high overlap when it sits above the median of your file.
2. **Check who wins those auctions.** An outranking share below 50% means you outranked that competitor in fewer than half of the auctions you both entered.
3. **Separate budget from rank.** Auction Insights doesn't say why you lose. The campaign columns Search lost IS (budget) and Search lost IS (rank) show whether you lost impressions to budget or to Ad Rank.
4. **Put break-even ROAS next to the campaign's ROAS.** Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ contribution margin. More impression share is only worth buying where the return clears it.
5. **Go to product level.** In a contested campaign, check price position and product data first. Lower priority for low-margin products you keep losing, and increase priority for high-margin products that clear break-even.
6. **Change one thing, then read the report again.** Give it a conversion cycle and compare the same campaign over a period of the same length. Save the ranking each month: a competitor whose power score keeps rising matters more than one that is high and flat.

### Separate budget from rank

Auction Insights names the competitor, not the reason you lose. Two campaign columns get closer. Search lost IS (budget) is the share of time your ads weren't shown because the budget ran out, and Search lost IS (rank) the share lost to Ad Rank. Google reports both for Shopping campaigns ([Get impression share data](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103314)).

A campaign that loses share to budget needs a budget decision. A campaign that loses to rank against a high-overlap competitor needs a look at price and product data first, starting with [Google Shopping feed optimisation](https://www.productmetrics.io/google-shopping-feed/optimization).

### Break-even ROAS sets the floor

Impression share says how much of the available demand a campaign reached. It doesn't say whether reaching more is worth it, and break-even ROAS does. Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ [contribution margin](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/contribution-margin "Contribution margin is the revenue from a sale minus its variable costs, such as product cost, shipping, payment fees and returns."): a product with a 15% contribution margin needs a [ROAS](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/roas) of 6.67 to cover its costs, and one with a 45% margin needs 2.22. The profit equivalent is [POAS](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/poas), where break-even is 1.0 ([POAS vs ROAS](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/poas-vs-roas)).

Replace the numbers in this widget with your own campaign's, or use the [break-even ROAS calculator](https://www.productmetrics.io/break-even-roas-calculator). The preset is campaign C from the example below.

**Break-even verdict calculator.** Enter the price excl. VAT, cost of goods, other variable costs per order and your current ROAS to see whether ads pay for themselves.

- Contribution margin = (price − cost of goods − other variable costs) ÷ price
- Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ contribution margin
- POAS = ROAS × contribution margin (1.00 is break-even)
- Left per €100 of revenue after ads = 100 × contribution margin − 100 ÷ ROAS
- Target ROAS (%) = 100 ÷ (contribution margin − profit kept), using fractions for margin and profit kept

Example (illustrative data):

| Input or result | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Price excl. VAT | €100.00 |
| Cost of goods | €70.00 |
| Other variable costs per order | €15.00 |
| Contribution per order | €15.00 |
| Contribution margin | 15.0% |
| Break-even ROAS | 6.67 |
| Current ROAS | 4 |
| POAS | 0.60 |
| Left per €100 of revenue after ads | -€10.00 |
| Target ROAS to keep 0% of revenue as profit | 666.67% |

Verdict: Below break-even: ROAS 4 is under the 6.67 you need. After ads you lose €10.00 of every €100 of revenue. With no profit kept, target ROAS is 666.67%, equivalent to the break-even ROAS. A bidding target does not guarantee break-even; compare achieved return on the same revenue and cost basis.

_Illustrative data: campaign C, a 15% contribution margin at a ROAS of 4_

Try your own numbers in the [break-even ROAS calculator](https://www.productmetrics.io/break-even-roas-calculator).

### A worked example in euros

Take a shop with three Shopping campaigns split by margin band. The month's figures are invented to show the pattern.

Illustrative data: one month for three Shopping campaigns. Revenue is what the ads generated. Profit after ads is revenue × contribution margin − ad spend, so it deducts product and variable costs and the ad spend, but not fixed costs. All amounts are excl. VAT.

| Campaign | Contribution margin | Break-even ROAS | ROAS | Impression share | Ad spend | Revenue | Profit after ads |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| A | 45% | 2.22 | 5.00 | 38% | €3,000 | €15,000 | €3,750 |
| B | 25% | 4.00 | 4.40 | 62% | €5,000 | €22,000 | €500 |
| C | 15% | 6.67 | 4.00 | 71% | €4,000 | €16,000 | −€1,600 |
| Account | | | 4.42 | | €12,000 | €53,000 | €2,650 |

**Figure: Impression share by campaign, three margin bands.** Illustrative data: the low-margin campaign has the highest impression share, 71%, and the high-margin campaign the lowest, 38%. Impression share alone points at the wrong campaign to grow.

| Campaign | Impression share |
| --- | --- |
| A: 45% margin | 38% |
| B: 25% margin | 62% |
| C: 15% margin | 71% |

_Source: Illustrative data_

The account ROAS of 4.42 looks healthy, and campaign C has the best impression share. Yet C loses €1,600 after ad spend, because each €1 of spend returns €4.00 of revenue and only €0.60 of contribution. Campaign A is the opposite: each €1 returns €5.00 of revenue and €2.25 of contribution, so it adds €1.25 of profit after ads per euro spent.

**Figure: ROAS against break-even ROAS, by campaign.** Illustrative data: campaign A earns a ROAS of 5.00 against 2.22 needed to break even. Campaign C earns 4.00 against 6.67 needed, so every sale it wins loses money after ad spend.

| Campaign | ROAS | Break-even ROAS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A: 45% margin | 5.00 | 2.22 |
| B: 25% margin | 4.40 | 4.00 |
| C: 15% margin | 4.00 | 6.67 |

_Source: Illustrative data; break-even ROAS calculated as 1 ÷ contribution margin_

The reading is to increase priority for campaign A, where an impression share of 38% leaves room, and lower priority for campaign C, where winning more auctions loses more money. Those are upper bounds. The next impression can cost more than the average one, so move in steps and read the report again ([target ROAS pacing](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/target-roas-from-margin)).

### Check price when a competitor outranks you

When a competitor has high overlap and you win little of it, check price, product data and priority for the products involved. Auction Insights points at the competitor, and price is the one you can measure from outside Google Ads.

Google's price benchmark in Merchant Center covers products with a valid GTIN and describes the benchmark as the average price that typically leads to more successful ad auctions ([Google Merchant Center Help](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9626903)). Own-brand products often have no shared GTIN, which is why [Competitor Prices](https://www.productmetrics.io/competitor-prices) matches them by style, colour and dimensions you approve instead.

It then gives each product a price position next to its POAS, margin and stock. Illustrative data from the Competitor Prices example: a Nike Pegasus 42 at €139.99 sits €10.01 above a matched median of €129.98, a price ratio of 1.08, comparing list prices without shipping costs. Price position can become a Merchant Center label, so campaigns built on labels carry it. Your team decides every price.

Auction Insights tells you who. Price position tells you, product by product, what they charge. Our guide to [tracking competitor prices for Google Shopping](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/how-to-track-competitor-prices-google-shopping) shows how to compare them.

### Decision grid: impression share, return and price position

This grid combines the three signals for one campaign. It is our rule of thumb and assumes the ROAS is read after the conversions have arrived.

| Impression share | Return against break-even | Price position | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Above | At or below the median | Increase priority, and check whether budget limits it. |
| Low | Above | Above the median | Check price and product data before spending more. |
| High | Above | Any | Hold. Watch competitors whose overlap is growing. |
| High | Below | Any | Lower priority. Fix margin or price before you buy more reach. |

[Product Segmentation](https://www.productmetrics.io/product-segmentation) segments each product by advertising clicks and ROAS, or POAS once you connect margins, and writes the segment to a Merchant Center label. Campaigns built on those [custom labels](https://www.productmetrics.io/glossary/custom-labels) make each Auction Insights report a read on one kind of product. The [Performance Max page](https://www.productmetrics.io/performance-max) shows how that looks.

### Where to start

Open Auction Insights for your largest Shopping or Performance Max campaign, and write down its impression share and the competitor with the highest overlap. Then work out that campaign's break-even ROAS from its products' margins, with the calculator or [break-even ROAS per product](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/break-even-roas-per-product). If the return clears break-even, the impression share gap is worth closing. If it doesn't, the report has told you where not to grow.

For the wider picture, [how to optimise Google Shopping ads](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/optimize-google-shopping-ads) covers the feed and the review routine, and [Google Shopping management](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/google-shopping-management) covers when software helps.

## Search volume for auction insights in the US and the Netherlands

People search for this report by its name far more than with questions about it. In the US, "google ads auction insights" gets 2,900 searches a month, and seven ways of writing the name get 7,900 between them.

**Figure: US monthly searches for Auction Insights keywords.** Seven ways of writing the report's name get 7,900 US searches a month between them. The first question-style terms, such as "auction insights limitations", get 80.

| Keyword | Monthly searches |
| --- | --- |
| google ads auction insights | 2,900 |
| auction insights | 1,600 |
| google adwords auction insights | 1,500 |
| auction insights google ads | 600 |
| adwords auction insights | 450 |
| google auction insights | 450 |
| auction insights in google ads | 400 |
| auction insights limitations | 80 |
| google ads auction insights report | 80 |

_Source: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US, 16 October 2026_

In the Netherlands, Ahrefs shows 10 searches a month for three terms ("google ads auction insights", "auction insights google ads" and "auction insights") and 0 for the other 51 Dutch rows. The file also gives each term's global volume: 3,300 a month for "google ads auction insights".

## Free Auction Insights tool: rank your Shopping competitors

Drop your Auction Insights CSV here to get the competitor power ranking, the threat map, a trend chart when the export has a time segment, and a table you can download. The file is read in your browser and isn't uploaded or stored.

**Auction insights competitor tool.** Load a Google Ads Auction insights export (CSV or tab-separated, UTF-16 is fine) and the tool ranks every competitor by competitor power, places it on a threat map, shows the trend for the top three and lets you download the table as CSV. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.

- Not outranked by you = 1 − your outranking share against that competitor
- Competitor power = (impression share + overlap rate + not outranked by you) ÷ 3
- Threat map: high or low overlap, split at the median overlap rate of the competitors in view; you lose when they are not outranked by you in more than 50% of shared auctions
- Domains of one shop are merged (www.shop.nl and shop.be become "shop"); competitors seen in fewer than 3 periods are flagged
- Competitor power is our composite, not a Google metric

Illustrative data:

| # | Competitor | Power | Impression share | Overlap | Not outranked by you | Periods | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | runnersplanet (runnersplanet.example) | 53.6% | 45.7% | 50.1% | 65.1% | 13 | You meet often and mostly don't rank above them. Check price and product data first. |
| 2 | trailshop (trailshop.example) | 41.8% | 41.9% | 44.5% | 38.9% | 13 | You meet often and mostly rank above them. Check whether the return justifies more share. |
| 3 | sportdepot (www.sportdepot.example, shop.sportdepot.example) | 40.9% | 36.5% | 32.1% | 54.1% | 13 | You meet often and mostly don't rank above them. Check price and product data first. |
| 4 | pacegear (pacegear.example) | 30.1% | 22.1% | 18.1% | 50.1% | 2 | Seen in few periods; treat as noise. A small overlap you lose. Look only if the products matter. |
| 5 | marathonmarket (marathonmarket.example) | 27.9% | < 10% | 12.5% | 61.3% | 13 | A small overlap you lose. Look only if the products matter. |
| 6 | kidsrun (kidsrun.example) | 18.0% | 15.5% | 9.5% | 28.9% | 13 | Rarely meets you. Low priority. |

Load your own export in the [Auction insights competitor tool](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/google-ads-auction-insights#tool).

## Sources

- [Use auction insights to compare performance](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2579754), Google Ads Help
- [About impression share](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2497703), Google Ads Help
- [Get impression share data](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103314) and [Improve your impression share](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103386), Google Ads Help
- [Create, save, and schedule reports from your statistics tables](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2404176) and [Use segments in your tables](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2454072), Google Ads Help
- [Manage a Performance Max campaign with listing groups](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11596074), Google Ads Help
- [Performance Max feature compatibility](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14924934) and [About Target ROAS bidding](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6268637), Google Ads Help
- [About Pricing in Merchant Center Analytics](https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9626903), Google Merchant Center Help
- Keyword volumes: Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US and NL, 16 October 2026
- Search results and page types: Ahrefs SERP overview for "google ads auction insights", US, 15 October 2026

## Frequently asked questions

### What is Google Ads auction insights?

Google Ads auction insights is a report that compares your performance with the other advertisers in the same auctions. Google says it can help with decisions about bidding and budgeting. It is available for Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns that meet a minimum threshold of activity.

### Is Google AdWords Auction Insights a different report?

No. Google AdWords Auction Insights and Google Ads Auction Insights are the same report: Google renamed AdWords to Google Ads in 2018. Today Google Ads Help documents it as 'Use auction insights to compare performance'.

### Which Auction Insights metrics are available for Shopping campaigns?

Auction Insights shows three statistics for Shopping campaigns: impression share, overlap rate and outranking share. Position above rate, top of page rate and absolute top of page rate are for Search campaigns only. Shopping data comes only from the Search Network and is available from October 2014.

### Why is my auction insights report empty?

Google Ads Help gives two reasons. The report shows no insights when your impression share is below 10%, and a campaign or ad group needs a minimum threshold of activity for the time period you selected. Google does not publish that threshold. A longer date range, or the campaign instead of one ad group, gives the report more auctions to work with.

### Can I see competitors' bids in Auction Insights?

No. Google Ads Help lists six statistics for the report, three of them for Shopping, and all of them describe how often ads showed and ranked against each other. Help describes no column for a competitor's bid, budget or ad, so the report tells you who you compete with and how often you win, not what they pay.

### Can I see Auction Insights for Performance Max?

Yes, at campaign and account level. Google Ads Help says the Performance Max report covers Search and Shopping ads served on the Search Network, segmented by Search and Shopping, and is also available in Report Editor. Google does not list which statistics it shows for Performance Max, so check the columns in your account.

### Can I see Auction Insights per product?

Google Ads Help describes no per-product Auction Insights. It documents the Shopping report at ad group and campaign level, with segments for time and device, and none by product. The Product Groups tab shows your own impression share for product groups with enough volume, but not competitors. To read competitors for a set of products, put those products in their own campaign.

### What is a good impression share?

There is no good impression share on its own. A product that returns more than its break-even ROAS is worth more impression share, and one that returns less is not. Read impression share next to break-even ROAS, which is 1 ÷ contribution margin.

## Keep reading.

- [Google Shopping Category Explained for Retailers](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/google-shopping-category)
- [How Google Shopping ads work, from feed to sale](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/how-google-shopping-ads-work)
- [Customer Match for Google Shopping: A Practical Guide (2026)](https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/customer-match-google-shopping)

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Written by Berend Vrakking, founder of Product Metrics. Last updated 2026-10-16.

HTML version: https://www.productmetrics.io/blog/google-ads-auction-insights