Blog
The Meta Ad Library, competitor ad analysis and creative research. Every article is written as concrete steps you can take on screen.
Publishing rhythm: once every two weeks. We are not promising a pace we cannot keep — a stale blog is worse than a sparse one.
- Video or image ads? Measuring which format lasts longer in your category
"Video always wins" is a common belief, not a measurement of your category. How to compare how long video and image ads stay live in the Meta Ad Library, and read how fast each format wears out from your competitors' data.
- Tracking competitor ads every week with Ad Library search links
Looking at a competitor's ads once gives you a snapshot; the real information is what changes from week to week. How to build one Meta Ad Library search link per competitor and keep the weekly check short and identical.
- How to see a competitor's Instagram ads
The Meta Ad Library is enough to see which ads a competitor runs on Instagram; the real work is narrowing the search to Instagram and reading the cards that come back. How to pick the platform, automate the scan and read the list with filter presets.
- How to see all of a competitor's ads in the Meta Ad Library
How many ads does a competitor run, which ones are new and which have been live for months? How to load an advertiser's list in the Meta Ad Library to the very end, tell when it has really ended and keep only that brand's ads.
- Is this product saturated? Measuring saturation in the Ad Library
Saying a product is "saturated" is easy; measuring it is harder. How to look at saturation in numbers in the Meta Ad Library by reading how many brands sell the same product, with which copy and on which store platform.
- Before you pick a niche: comparing niches in the Meta Ad Library
When you choose between several niches, looking at each one separately is misleading. How to scan niches in the Meta Ad Library with the same settings, put the same signals side by side and read the differences correctly.
- Filtering the Meta Ad Library: six filter presets and when to use each one
Every Ad Library research session starts with the same few questions: which ads are videos, which are new, which have been running for a long time? Six presets that ask those questions in one click, when to use each one, and how to save your own.
- Is a competitor's Facebook ad working? The signals you can read, and their limits
The Meta Ad Library does not tell you whether an ad brings in sales. Still, running time, active status, variations, the button and the landing address read together make a strong estimate. What each signal tells you, and what it does not.
- How to find long-running ads in the Meta Ad Library
The ads a competitor has kept running the longest are the ones they trust most. The library shows a start date on every ad but leaves the counting to you. How to bring the long-running ones to the top, and how to read them.
- Comparing Facebook ads across countries
The same product, or the same brand, is sold with different ads in different countries. How to set up country-by-country searches in the Meta Ad Library, compare the results fairly and read prices without falling into the currency trap.
- Facebook ad copy research: reading the words, buttons and offers competitors repeat
One good ad copy example tells you little. Seeing which words, buttons and offers repeat across a category tells you a lot. How to read ad copy in the Meta Ad Library in bulk instead of one ad at a time.
- Dropshipping product research in the Meta Ad Library: a checklist before you order stock
One viral ad is not a winning product. Before you order stock, check who is still paying to advertise it, how many stores sell it and at what price. A checklist you can run in the Ad Library.
- Creative refresh rate: how often competitors launch new ads, and what it tells you
How often should you refresh ad creatives? Your competitors have already answered for their category. How to measure how fast they launch new ads in the Meta Ad Library, and how to read the result.
- Is a competitor scaling an ad? Reading variations
The library does not tell you which ad a competitor is pouring money into, but it does show how many ads use the same creative. How to find the creative being scaled by reading variation count, time running and newly opened ads together.
- Competitor price research from Facebook ads: reading price points and offers
You do not need to open store after store to see what competitors charge; many of them already write the price in the ad copy. How to read a category's price range, its median and the offers attached to the price in the Meta Ad Library.
- Where do competitor ads send traffic? Collecting their landing pages in one list
The visible face of an ad is the creative; the sale happens on the page that opens after the click. How to find the landing addresses of competitor ads in the Meta Ad Library, separate product and collection pages, and collect them all in a single list.
- How to build a competitor creative swipe file you will actually use
Most swipe files are folders of screenshots nobody opens again. A usable one records the context behind each creative: brand, button, days running, landing page. How to build it from the Meta Ad Library, fast.
- A monthly competitor ad report for clients: template and workflow for agencies
Clients do not want a gallery of competitor ads. They want to know what changed and what to do about it. A report template built from what the Meta Ad Library can actually show, and a workflow you can repeat every month.
- Carousel ad research: finding multi-card ads in the Ad Library
Carousel ads tell a different story from single-image ads, but the Meta Ad Library has no direct way to separate them. How to pull multi-card ads out with a card filter, flip through their cards quickly and build an archive.
- Black Friday ad research: reading last season's offers before you plan yours
When you prepare for a sale season, the most useful source is the ads competitors actually ran last season. How to find ended discount ads in the Meta Ad Library, read their offers and prices, and compare them with what is live today.
- The competitor ad audit that wins a pitch: a one-session method for agencies
The most convincing way to tell a prospect "we did our homework" is to show them their own category from an angle they cannot see. A competitor ad audit built from the Meta Ad Library in one session, and how it fits into a pitch.
- An ad research database in Google Sheets
Ads you find in the Ad Library disappear when a tab closes. How to send the ads you save, row by row, to your own Google spreadsheet and build a research database that grows week after week.
- Exact phrase or keyword? Choosing the search type in the Meta Ad Library
In the Meta Ad Library, the same term can bring back very different lists with the two search types. The difference between Keyword (any order) and Exact Phrase, when to pick which, and how to test in the panel whether the result is really what you were looking for.
- Creative fatigue: how to spot a dead ad in someone else's library
Creative fatigue shows up late in your own account. In a competitor's library it shows up early — because an ad being switched off is a measurable event.
- How to use the Meta Ad Library (and why most people use it wrong)
The Meta Ad Library is public and free. Most marketers still stall on the first screen. From the search box to the filters, step by step.
- Competitor ad analysis: the difference between looking and measuring
Looking at competitor ads tells you nothing. The information lives in the difference between two lists taken on two different dates. A method you can actually run.