Ad transparency rules mean every major platform now publishes every ad it runs. Spying on competitor ads is not a growth hack, it is reading public records. The skill is extraction: turning a wall of creative into three decisions about your own ads.
Where the records live
- Meta Ad Library. Every active Facebook and Instagram ad, searchable by advertiser and keyword. The richest of the three, covered in depth in our Ad Library guide.
- Google Ads Transparency Center. Search ads by advertiser. Pay attention to which keywords their ads answer, that is their money keyword list, published.
- TikTok Creative Center. Top-performing ads by category and country, with engagement numbers attached.
Reading commitment, not creativity
The amateur reads the copy. The analyst reads the spend signals: how long has this ad run, and how many versions of it exist? A 120-day ad with three variants is a proven structure. A beautiful ad launched last Tuesday is a guess and copying guesses imports someone else's risk.
From findings to your own ads
- Borrow the structure, never the words. Hook shape, proof placement, CTA position. Rewrite everything in your product's specifics.
- Match the format that survives. If everything long-lived in your category is talking-head video, a static image is a bet against the market's evidence.
- Steal the objection handling. Long-running ads answer the objection that kills conversions in your category. Note which objection they lead with, then answer it better with your own numbers.
One rule keeps this honest: every ad you write should trace to a specific proven ad you can point at, with its days-live count. If you cannot name the receipt, you are guessing in a category where the answers are published.
found does this work as a product.
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