If your New Year’s Resolution was to look inward, to focus on your own dealership and to let go of the urge to check up on what your competitors are doing, then this article may not be for you.
If you’re like most dealers, however, you’re always in the market to make sure you’re beating the competition. It comes with the territory. In that case, Google AdWords allows you to do that with a feature they call Auction Insights.
Auction Insights is a report within AdWords that can be used to compare how a dealer stacks up against their competitors across a whole host of digital metrics. When you have a clearer understanding of your competitive landscape when it comes to paid search, you’ll be better equipped to adjust your strategy accordingly– and ensure that your dealership consistently comes out on top.
What does Auction Insights cover?
There are many different things to be learned from a deep dive into your Auction Insights report. Here’s an overview of each of them:
- Impression Share – This represents the percentage of times your dealership’s ads showed up in an AdWords auction.
- Average Position – This will tell you the average rank of a specific ad.
- Overlap Rate – This metric shows you how often another dealer’s ad received an impression in the same action that your ad also received an impression.
- Position Above Rate – This tells you how often another dealer’s ad within the same auction ranks in a higher position than yours, when both of your ads were shown at once.
- Top of Page Rate – This shows how often your dealership’s ad was shown at the top of a page within search results.
- Outranking Share – This metric showcases how often your dealership’s ad ranked higher within a given auction than another dealer’s ad– or if your ad showed up when their ad didn’t at all.
While you can’t tell Auction Insights which competitors you’d like to view, it will display data for the websites that it determines to be your “top competitors.” You might be surprised at who you’re competing with when it comes to search. You may feel certain that the dealership one town over is your number one competitor, but they may not even be on the list, according to Google’s data. This means that you can also use Auction Insights to get a better idea of who you’re competing against.
How can I apply this information?
Auction Insights doesn’t promise to give you a transparent look at everything your competitors are doing when it comes to digital marketing. You’ll have to utilize the information it does provide to make inferences.
By examining your impression share alongside that of one of your competitors, you can estimate how much more or less they’re spending than you and then adjust your spending accordingly.
You’ll also be able to learn things like which competitor is dominating impression share across all of your campaigns, who is competing for impression share for each campaign and ad group, as well as who is moving in on impression share on your top-performing keywords.
You’ll be able to determine which dealers are competing on your keyword terms, how often you’re outranking your competitors, and overall, how your impression share stacks up.
An example: You might look at your Auction Insights report and notice that while your impression share is higher than that of a specific competing dealership, their average position is still higher than yours. You can determine from this that they’re simply outbidding you. Knowing that, you can choose to raise your bids or strategically lower them, depending on your goals.
How do I access Auction Insights?
Your paid search provider or digital marketing agency will be able to walk you through the report, but here’s a quick look at how you can access it:
- First, select the level of data you want to review. You can view your Auction Insights report at the campaign, ad group or keyword level.
- Next, click the “Details” drop-down menu and select the “Auction Insights” option.
- You can adjust your date range to view a different time period, or even segment by device.
Google’s aim is to give you the data you need in order to make smarter, better informed decisions about your digital marketing. Take a look at the Auction Insights report and see what you can learn. It will help you ensure your campaigns are optimized to dominate the competition within your market.
