Auction Insights is one of the most information-dense reports in Google Ads and one of the least used. It shows how your ads perform in auctions against other advertisers competing for the same searches. The data is not individual competitor intelligence — you cannot see exact competitor bids or Quality Scores — but the aggregate metrics are actionable in ways most advertisers overlook.
Impression Share is the percentage of eligible auctions where your ad appeared. An impression share of 60% means your ad showed in 60% of the auctions it was eligible for. The other 40% were lost either to insufficient budget (Lost IS: Budget) or insufficient rank (Lost IS: Rank). These are shown as separate columns. Conflating the two causes incorrect diagnoses — raising bids when the problem is budget just raises CPCs without increasing impression share.
Overlap Rate is the percentage of auctions where a competitor's ad also appeared when yours did. A competitor with a 75% Overlap Rate is showing ads in the same auctions as you three-quarters of the time. High overlap combined with a low Position Above Rate suggests their Quality Score or bids are consistently stronger for the shared query set.
Position Above Rate is the percentage of auctions where the competitor's ad appeared in a higher position than yours when both ads appeared. This is the most direct competitive comparison metric. A competitor with a 70% Position Above Rate is appearing above your ad in 70% of shared auctions. You can only respond by improving your own Ad Rank — via better ad copy, landing page experience, or bid adjustment.
Top of Page Rate shows what percentage of an advertiser's impressions appeared at the top of the search results page. Compare your Top of Page Rate against competitors'. A significant gap means a competitor is consistently dominating premium placements for shared queries.
Absolute Top of Page Rate is the percentage of impressions that appeared as the very first ad — position 1 of the page. This generates the highest CTR. Advertisers with high Absolute Top rates are paying more or have significantly higher Quality Scores for shared queries.
Outranking Share is the percentage of auctions where your ad appeared in a higher position than a specific competitor's, or where your ad appeared and theirs did not. This is the broadest competitive win rate metric. Track changes over time — a declining trend indicates their account is improving relative to yours.
How to use Auction Insights for bidding decisions. When you see a competitor with persistently high Position Above Rate, they are outranking you on Ad Rank. The Quality Score route is more efficient long-term: improving Expected CTR and Ad Relevance lets you achieve the same Ad Rank at lower CPCs. The bid route wins short-term but creates a cost spiral if the competitor matches your increases.
Seasonal Auction Insights changes. Competitor behavior changes seasonally. New entrants appear during high-volume periods. Track Auction Insights month-over-month during high-competition periods to identify when competitors enter your auctions and when existing ones pull back. Competitors who pull back in off-peak periods create impression share opportunities at lower CPCs.
Auction Insights and Quality Score diagnosis. If your Overlap Rate with a specific competitor is high but your Position Above Rate is low, you are bidding in the same auctions but losing on Ad Rank. A persistent low Position Above Rate is a signal to audit your Quality Score components — particularly Expected CTR and Ad Relevance. Digital Face surfaces your Auction Insights data in a clean competitive overview, tracks changes in competitor presence week-over-week, and flags keywords where you are consistently losing impression share to the same domains. Free plan at digital-face.nl, no credit card required.