Before you start
- Familiarity with the 6-step PPC competitor analysis process
- Willingness to read three full worked examples rather than skim a generic framework
- Your own top PPC keywords on hand to map the examples back to your category
- 45 minutes to walk through all three examples
The playbook
7 steps
Example 1, B2B SaaS: pick the keyword and the example competitor
Walking the analysis on a real category: project-management SaaS bidding on 'project management software'. The example anchors on a hypothetical mid-market PM tool versus three live competitors visible in Auction Insights - Asana, Monday, and ClickUp. The keyword has $40+ CPC and well-funded bidders, which is exactly the category where PPC competitor analysis pays off.
Expected outcome
A defined example setup: one keyword, three named competitors, a known competitive context to track through every subsequent step.
Example 1 walk-through: what the audit surfaced for B2B SaaS
Auction Insights showed Monday at 38% impression share, Asana at 31%, ClickUp at 22%. SpyFu pulled 18 months of ad copy: all three rotate between 'free trial' headlines and 'see a demo' headlines, but Monday consistently runs price-led copy ('$8/seat') while Asana never mentions price. Landing pages: Asana and Monday both lead with video; ClickUp leads with a feature grid. The example output - a 1-page action sheet - recommended testing price-led ad copy (the gap in our hypothetical brand's portfolio) and adding video to the landing page.
TipNotice the action sheet has 2 specific tests, not 12. PPC competitor analysis examples that produce 12-item lists rarely ship; examples that produce 2-3 ranked tests do.Expected outcome
A B2B SaaS example showing how the analysis converts to two specific, shippable tests.
Example 2, ecommerce: pick the keyword and the example competitor
Second example: a mid-size DTC running on 'wireless earbuds' against Apple, Bose, and a fast-rising DTC competitor. The keyword behaves differently from B2B - lower CPC ($2-4) but extreme creative variance and aggressive promotional cycling. Ecommerce PPC competitor analysis examples need to capture seasonality and promo cadence, not just static ad copy.
Expected outcome
An ecommerce example setup that exposes the promo-cycle dimension B2B examples don't have.
Example 2 walk-through: what the audit surfaced for ecommerce
The hypothetical DTC bidder found via Auction Insights that the rising DTC competitor was running 8 simultaneous price points across geos - $79, $89, $99, $129 - testing elasticity in real time. Apple ran 2 static headlines for 6 months. Bose rotated weekly. Landing pages: the DTC competitor had geo-specific landing pages with localized social proof; Apple and Bose used a single global page. The example action sheet recommended: (1) test 3 geo-specific landing pages, (2) introduce weekly headline rotation, (3) match the DTC competitor's $89 price point in a controlled test.
Expected outcome
An ecommerce example showing how PPC competitor analysis surfaces operational gaps (geo testing, rotation cadence) not just creative gaps.
Example 3, local services: pick the keyword and the example competitor
Third example: a regional HVAC business bidding on 'AC repair [city]' against 4 local competitors and 2 national aggregators (HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack). Local-services PPC competitor analysis examples have a unique constraint: the competitive set is hyper-local, so national tool data is thin. Auction Insights and manual SERP checks dominate; SpyFu and SEMrush are secondary.
Expected outcome
A local-services example that demonstrates when the tool-heavy workflow gives way to a SERP-heavy workflow.
Example 3 walk-through: what the audit surfaced for local services
Manual SERP review showed all 4 local competitors leading with phone number prominence and '24/7' messaging. The aggregators (HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack) led with 'multiple quotes in minutes'. Landing pages: 3 of 4 locals had no above-fold form (phone CTA only); the aggregators had aggressive form capture. The example action sheet recommended: (1) test phone-first vs form-first landing pages, (2) match competitors' 24/7 messaging in headline H1, (3) bid on aggregator-modified keywords like 'AC repair near me reviews' where aggregators rank but locals don't.
TipLocal-services PPC competitor analysis examples almost always surface a phone-vs-form decision. The pattern is so consistent it's the first hypothesis to test in the category.Expected outcome
A local-services example showing how the audit surfaces a phone-vs-form decision plus a category-specific keyword expansion.
Compare what the three examples have in common (and what they don't)
Across all three examples: the audit converted to 2-3 specific shippable tests, not a 20-item report. The audit surfaced a category-specific dimension the analyst hadn't been measuring (price-led copy in B2B, promo cycling in ecom, phone-vs-form in local). The action sheet was a 1-page output. The differences: B2B examples emphasize ad copy and landing-page video; ecom examples emphasize promo cadence and geo testing; local examples emphasize phone CTA and SERP-level intel. Use these patterns as templates for your own category's example.
Expected outcome
A meta-pattern across PPC competitor analysis examples that tells you which dimensions to prioritize for your own category.
Shuttergen
Examples show the gap. Shuttergen fills it.
When a worked example surfaces a creative gap - price-led copy you don't run, video landing pages you lack - Shuttergen generates the missing variants matched to your category's winning patterns.
Pitfalls
What goes wrong
Reading examples without mapping them to your category
B2B SaaS examples don't translate to local services 1:1. Read the example for the workflow, then ask what your category's equivalent of 'price-led copy' or 'phone vs form' is.
Producing the example output without doing the example work
It's tempting to copy the action sheet from a published example and call it your audit. The audit's value is the work, not the output format - skipping the work produces an empty deliverable.
Choosing example competitors based on brand affinity, not Auction Insights
The examples here anchor on Auction Insights data. If your example competitor isn't in your Auction Insights report, the audit will produce insights about a competitor you don't actually compete with.
Treating the example walkthrough as the only output you need
These examples show the process. Running the process on your own keywords and competitors is the actual work. Examples accelerate learning; they don't replace the audit.
Limits
When this playbook won't work
- Your category is so niche that no published examples are close enough to learn from - run the process from first principles
- You're audit-curious but not actually planning to ship changes - examples don't substitute for execution capacity
- You expect the example to predict your specific competitive moves - examples show patterns, not predictions
- Your team doesn't have anyone who can run a 1-hour analysis - the examples assume baseline PPC fluency
Why worked examples beat abstract frameworks
Most PPC competitor analysis content stops at the framework: 'identify competitors, audit ad copy, analyze landing pages'. That's correct but useless without specifics. The framework tells you what to do; examples tell you what doing it looks like.
The B2B SaaS example surfaced a price-led copy gap. The framework alone would have said 'audit ad copy'. The example shows that the audit's actual output was 'Monday runs price-led copy, we don't, that's the test'. The specificity is where the value lives.
The ecommerce example surfaced operational gaps, not creative gaps. Geo-specific landing pages, weekly rotation cadence - these aren't 'ad copy improvements'. They're operational disciplines competitors evidenced. Without working through the example, the audit would have stayed at the creative layer.
The local-services example surfaced a SERP-level intel approach that tool-heavy workflows miss. When the tools' data is thin (hyper-local categories), the example shows the workflow shifts to manual SERP review and phone-vs-form testing.
Internal: ppc-competitor-analysis, competitor-ppc-analysis, competitive-ppc-analysis.
Examples show the gap. Shuttergen fills it. When a worked example surfaces a creative gap - price-led copy you don't run, video landing pages you lack - Shuttergen generates the missing variants matched to your category's winning patterns.
How to build your own example as you run the audit
Pick one keyword, one competitor, document the full audit on that pair. Don't try to audit 20 keywords across 8 competitors as your first example - the cognitive load swamps the learning. One keyword, one competitor, end-to-end.
Capture the audit as you run it, not after. Take screenshots of the Auction Insights view, the SpyFu ad-copy archive, the landing page, the action sheet. The captured workflow becomes your team's onboarding example for the next analyst.
Share the example with the broader marketing team. The audit's downstream value depends on whether bidding, creative, and landing-page teams actually act on it. The worked example - not the abstract framework - is what gets them to act.
FAQ
Frequently asked
Where can I find PPC competitor analysis examples?
What does a good PPC competitor analysis example look like?
Can I use a PPC competitor analysis example as my actual audit?
How do PPC competitor analysis examples differ by industry?
How long should a PPC competitor analysis example take?
What's the most common mistake teams make after reading examples?
Should I share my PPC competitor analysis examples internally?
Related
Keep reading
Resource
Ppc competitor analysis
The 6-step process behind the examples.
Resource
Ppc competitor analysis template
The template the examples populate.
Resource
Competitor ppc analysis
Sister keyword variant.
Resource
Ppc marketing competitor analysis
Marketing-team angle on the same workflow.
Research
Anatomy Of Good Meta Ad Library
Adjacent paid-social audit framework.
Examples show the gap. Shuttergen fills it.
When a worked example surfaces a creative gap - price-led copy you don't run, video landing pages you lack - Shuttergen generates the missing variants matched to your category's winning patterns.