# Ways to use competitor ad research

Source: https://www.ppcadeditor.com/knowledge-base/adscanner/use-cases/
Last verified: 2026-10-31

Here are six jobs you can do with AdScanner, with the screens and steps for each.

## See what a competitor runs on Google right now

The job is a quick read of a competitor before a pitch or a planning call. On the AdScanner home page, type the competitor's domain in **Advertiser domain or Transparency Center ID** and click **Capture ads**. Open the job. The **All formats** tile shows how many ads the scan captured, and the **Search**, **Display** and **YouTube** tiles split them by format. You get the advertiser's ads with their dates in one place, up to 5 per job on Lite and up to 50 on Pro. No domain to hand? Click one of the Try examples under the search box to see a scan first.

## Find the competitor ads that have lasted

The job is to spot the ads a competitor keeps running. On the AdScanner job page, every group lists the longest-running ads first, and each card shows **Live N d**. Each tile shows the average days live, and a line beside the search box can say which format runs longest. Use **Search ad text…** to find ads that mention an offer or a word. You get a shortlist of long-running ads to study.

## Put a competitor's ads in a PPC Ad Editor preview

The job is to show a client or teammate a competitor's ads as ads. Pick the ads on the AdScanner job page, choose a dashboard in **Selected ads**, and click **Send N to Studio**. Click **Open the preview**. You get a new preview in PPC Ad Editor, one campaign named after the advertiser, with an ad group per format.

## Hand over competitor copy as a spreadsheet

The job is to get competitor search ads into a file. Pick search ads on the AdScanner job page and click **Download N as .xlsx**. You get **PPC Ads Editor.xlsx**, the PPC Ad Editor bulk-upload spreadsheet, with headlines, descriptions, final URL and last-shown date for each ad. Import it into PPC Ad Editor when you want to work on it there.

## Check which channels a competitor advertises on

The job is to see where on Google a competitor chooses to advertise, and in which formats. On the AdScanner home page, pick one or more under **Channel**: **Search**, **Youtube**, **Shopping**, **Maps** or **Play**. Leave every channel unselected to scan them all. You can also pick a format, **All**, **Text**, **Image** or **Video**, before you click **Capture ads**. Run another scan with a different channel to compare. Each scan lands in AdScanner job history, so you can come back to it. You get a view of a competitor's ads channel by channel.

## Study a competitor's image and video ads

The job is to see a competitor's display and video creative, and how long it ran. On the AdScanner home page, pick **Image** or **Video** before you click **Capture ads**. AdScanner says that image and video creatives carry no headline or description, so they are captured for research: the advertiser, the dates and how long each ran. They cannot be sent into a PPC Ad Editor preview or downloaded as a spreadsheet. For ads you want to edit as a preview, scan **Text** or **All**.