How to see competitors' Facebook ads in six steps

How to see competitors' Facebook ads, in short: search a rival's page name in Meta's free Ad Library, or run the same name through the seogeoaeo.ai Meta Ad Finder to get a report of every active ad with the longest-running ones first. The steps below take about five minutes per competitor and leave you with notes you can act on.

Step 1: Write down the exact page names

Ad searches match the name a brand uses on Facebook, not its website. "Semrush" will find the page; "semrush.com" may not. Open each rival's Facebook page once and copy the name as it appears. Keep the list next to your other competitor notes so you reuse it every month.

If you do not know who your rivals are on Facebook, skip to step 4 and search by keyword first.

Step 2: Pick the market

Brands often run different ads in different countries. Decide whether you care about one market, such as the United States or Germany, or all of them. The Meta Ad Finder lets you choose one country or every country.

Step 3: Run the page search

The free way. Open the Meta Ad Library and type the page name. Meta lists all active ads running across its products, so Instagram ads appear alongside Facebook ones. Click into the ads you want to study.

The faster way. Open the Meta Ad Finder on seogeoaeo.ai, choose "Facebook page name", enter the name and the country, and run it for 5 credits. The report lists each active ad's text, headline, button, landing page, format, placements and the number of days it has been live, with the oldest ads first.

Step 4: Search by keyword to find who else is advertising

Switch the search to a keyword your market uses, such as "project management" or "dog food". The results show active ads that mention it, and the Meta Ad Finder report also names the pages behind them. This is how you discover the rivals you did not know were spending on Facebook.

Step 5: Read the ads in the right order

Start with the oldest ads. New ads are tests; old ads are the ones that survived.

Step 6: Repeat on a schedule

One look is a snapshot. Running the same searches every few weeks shows you when a rival changes its offer, enters a new country or drops an angle. Keep each report so you can compare them side by side.

What this method will not show

Neither route shows what a commercial advertiser spends; Meta publishes spend and reach only for political and social issue ads. The Meta Ad Finder lists active ads only and links to the library for images and videos, so open Meta's library directly when you need the creative or an ad that has ended.

FAQ

Is it free to see competitors' Facebook ads? Yes. The Meta Ad Library is free. The Meta Ad Finder costs 5 credits per run and saves the copying and sorting.

Can I see a competitor's Instagram ads the same way? Yes. Both routes cover ads that show on Instagram, and the report lists each ad's placements.

Can I see how much a competitor spends on Facebook ads? No, not for ordinary commercial ads. Meta shows spend only for ads about social issues, elections or politics.