Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google both publish public libraries of the ads running on their platforms. Anyone can look up a company and see its ads.
For each main competitor we record:
- Every active Facebook and Instagram ad: when it started, the offer, the call to action and where it sends people
- Google ads on record and where they ran
- The landing pages the ads point to
- The tracking code on their websites, which shows whether they measure and retarget visitors
- When they launched ads, often in the days right after a storm
If a competitor launched six new ads this week offering $500 off a new roof, the homeowners in your area are seeing that offer right now, and you're competing against it whether you advertise or not.
Ads also reveal strategy. A competitor running an ad aimed at people who already got an estimate ("Your estimate is still waiting") is following up on leads, and you can see exactly how.
You don't have to match their spending. Often the better answer is to win the free search results and the map, and answer every call. But knowing what they offer lets you decide your own response with your eyes open, and we watch for new ads every week.
The honest limit
These public records show the ads, not the money behind them. How much a competitor spends and how many jobs the ads bring in are private, and nobody outside that company can see them. Anyone who claims to know a competitor's exact ad budget is guessing.
Sources: Meta Ad Library; Google Ads Transparency Center.
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