Guide
How to check if a business is running Google or Facebook ads.
Whether a business is running ads, and whether its competitors are, tells an agency a lot before the first call: who has budget, who is losing customers to paid placements, and who has never tried. Both Meta and Google publish this for free.
By Josh Gabbay, Co-founder & COO at Lexir · Updated · 5 min read
Facebook and Instagram ads: the Meta Ad Library
- 1Open the Meta Ad Library and choose “All ads” and the country.
- 2Search the business’s name or its Facebook page.
- 3See whether ads are active, when each started, and what they say.
- 4Repeat for the competitors that rank above it locally.
Google ads: the Ads Transparency Center
- 1Open Google’s Ads Transparency Center.
- 2Search the advertiser name or the business’s website domain.
- 3Filter by region and date to see recent search, display and YouTube ads.
- 4Search the main service on Google from the business’s area and note who appears in the sponsored spots.
What it tells you
- No ads while competitors advertise: the business is ceding the top of the page
- Ads running but a weak profile or website: they are paying for traffic that does not convert
- Ads that stopped recently: a budget that may be looking for a better partner
- Long-running ads: a business already used to spending on marketing
Checking a whole list at once
Lexir checks Meta ads and Google ads for every business it audits, alongside its map position, reviews and AI visibility, so the ads picture sits next to the gaps it explains.
Questions
Can you see how much a business spends on Google Ads?
Not exactly. The Ads Transparency Center shows which ads ran and where, not the spend. Third-party tools estimate spend from keywords and positions.
Is it legal to look at a competitor’s ads?
Yes. Meta and Google publish these libraries so anyone can see the ads an advertiser runs.
See Lexir on your list.
Book a demo and we'll audit your own prospects, or run a free audit on one business now.