Short answer
A competitor creative gallery shows real competitor ad examples from Google as a visual grid. Enter a website to see its image, video and text ads from Google's Ads Transparency Center, filter by format, sort by last shown, and open any creative larger with its first and last shown dates and a link to Google's page for it.
How to use the Competitor Creative Gallery
- Enter the competitor's website and run the lookup.
- Filter the grid by format to focus on image, video or text ads.
- Sort by last shown to put their newest creatives first.
- Click any creative to see it larger with its first and last shown dates.
- Use the link in the larger view to open that ad on Google's Transparency Center page.
Where can you find examples of competitor ads?
The most direct source of competitor ad examples is Google itself. Its Ads Transparency Center holds the ads verified advertisers have served on platforms like Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube (Google's ads transparency page).
This gallery pulls one advertiser's creatives from that record and lays them out as a grid, so you can take in their whole visual style at once. Our Ads Transparency Center guide explains Google's own site.
The gallery uses live data fetched through a data provider, which costs money, so free lookups are limited each month and results are cached for a few days.
What should you look for in competitor creatives?
- The offer. Is there a price, a free estimate or a deadline, or no offer at all?
- The main image. Is it a person, a finished job, a product, or text on a block of color?
- Branding. Can you tell whose ad it is without reading the small print?
- The call to action. Book, call, get a quote or shop?
- Consistency. Do the creatives look like one brand, or like many separate tests?
Sort by last shown to see what they run now, then scroll back to see what they dropped. Keep a simple swipe file: one row per creative, with its dates and a line on what works and what does not.
What formats and sizes do Google ads use?
When you make your own versions, build them to Google's specs rather than to the size of a competitor's preview:
| Format | Google's spec |
|---|---|
| Responsive search ad text | 3 to 15 headlines of up to 30 characters; 2 to 4 descriptions of up to 90 |
| Landscape image, 1.91:1 | 1200 x 628 recommended, 600 x 314 minimum |
| Square image, 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 recommended, 300 x 300 minimum |
| Portrait image, 4:5 | 960 x 1200 recommended, 480 x 600 minimum (optional in Performance Max) |
| Image files | JPG or PNG, up to 5 MB |
| Bumper video | Non-skippable, 5 to 6 seconds |
| Skippable in-stream video | Viewers can skip after 5 seconds |
| Non-skippable in-stream video | 60 seconds or shorter |
Sources: Google's pages on responsive search ads, Performance Max specs and video ad formats.
One rule changes how you read what you see: image assets for Search campaigns must have no digitally added text, logos or graphic overlays (Search image assets).
Performance Max allows overlays, though Google recommends at least one image without them for each aspect ratio (Performance Max image assets). So a text-heavy competitor image is not a template for a Search image asset.
Tips for using competitor creatives without copying them
- Borrow the idea, never the asset. Do not reuse their photos, footage or wording, and keep their brand name out of your ad text: Google may restrict a trademark in ad text after the owner complains (trademarks policy).
- Find the pattern, then break it. If every competitor shows a smiling technician, show the finished job.
- Give long runners a closer look. A creative that stayed in use for months is worth more study than one that appeared once.
- Keep the important content in the center 80% of each image, the safe area Google says won't be cut off on different screens.
- Make a full set. Create each image ratio with the Google Ads Image Creator and Resizer, and plan a video with the YouTube Ad Script Generator.
- See every ad with its days shown in the Competitor Ads Finder.
Sources
- Ads transparency (Google Advertising Policies Help)
- About responsive search ads (Google Ads Help)
- Performance Max campaigns specs and format requirements (Google Ads Help)
- About image assets for Performance Max campaigns (Google Ads Help)
- About image assets for Search campaigns (Google Ads Help)
- Image assets format requirements (Google Advertising Policies Help)
- About video ad formats (Google Ads Help)
- Trademarks (Google Advertising Policies Help)
Updated 2 October 2026 by the Paid Pilot team. Google Ads is a trademark of Google LLC; Paid Pilot is an independent agency.