How to spy on your real estate competitors (to improve your ads)

BY JOSH RIES

Published in Inman News, OCT 22, 2025

Every agent has that one competitor whose ads seem to be everywhere on Google, Facebook and every scroll in between. The natural instinct is to wonder, “What are they doing that I’m not?”

The good news: You don’t have to guess. Google and Meta have built public tools that allow anyone to see what ads are running in their market. It’s not hacking. It’s smart research. And when used correctly, it can help you create real estate ads that stand out instead of blending into the noise.

But before we go any further, let’s be clear: This isn’t about copying what other agents are doing. It’s about understanding your local ad landscape, the tone, the visuals, the hooks, so you can build campaigns that look, sound and feel different.

Why spying on competitors matters more than ever

The truth is, most real estate ads look the same. Between third-party lead vendors and franchise marketing templates, a lot of paid ads are built from identical playbooks. Same colors. Same wording. Same stock photos of families holding keys.

When every ad in your market looks the same, consumers tune out. That’s where competitive research changes the game. By studying what’s already flooding your local market, you can design creative/ad copy that cuts through the clutter instead of adding to it.

Step 1: Use Google’s Ad Transparency Center

If you haven’t explored Google’s Ad Transparency Center, it’s a goldmine. The tool lets you search any advertiser’s domain and instantly see the active and past ads they’ve run.

Here’s how it works:

1. Visit the Ad Transparency Center.
2. Type in the domain of the advertiser, say, Zillow.com or a local competitor’s website.
3. You’ll see every ad that domain has run recently, from images to ad copy.

You can filter by region, date and format. And while you won’t see performance data like click-through rates, you will start to notice patterns: which headlines repeat, what visuals dominate and how competitors position their message.

That insight helps you identify the “norm” in your market so you can intentionally break it. If everyone is using templated language like “Find Your Dream Home,” go with something more local and specific: “See Every Home for Sale in Rapid City Under $500K.”

Step 2: Explore the Meta Ad Library

Meta offers a similar tool, the Meta Ad Library, that lets you see every active ad running across Facebook and Instagram.

Once inside, choose the Housing category, then search by keyword, advertiser name or location. Within seconds, you can see every ad other real estate agents, teams or brokerages are running in your area.

Here’s the real advantage: If you filter by “active since,” you can see which ads have been running the longest. Longevity usually signals performance; nobody keeps paying for an ad that doesn’t convert (Most of the time).

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But again, the point isn’t to steal content. It’s to understand tone and structure. Maybe every ad in your market is pushing “Free Home Valuations.” That’s your cue to differentiate, highlight the why behind your valuation or focus your targeting on a different intent stage like equity reviews or neighborhood trend reports.

Step 3: Use what you learn to stand out

When you start studying ads, you’ll notice three things:

1. Most local real estate ads rely on generic stock imagery.
2. Headlines tend to repeat across platforms.
3. There’s very little localized value.

That’s your opportunity. Instead of copying, create contrast. Use photos of real neighborhoods, add your local insight into the ad copy or highlight hyper-specific pain points in your market (“Struggling to sell in a slow season? Here’s how to price right”).

If every ad in your city is shouting, “We’ll sell your home fast,” whisper something different: “Here’s how we helped a seller get $18K over asking in 14 days.” The contrast earns attention, and that’s the first battle in digital marketing.

Step 4: Track what’s working (and what’s overdone)

Once you know what everyone’s running, start logging it. Keep a spreadsheet of your local market ads with notes like:

• Date started
• Message theme (price, speed, lifestyle, etc.)
• Call to action
• Visual format

Over time, you’ll see cycles emerge. When a message or visual starts appearing everywhere, it’s time to pivot. Staying ahead means identifying fatigue before the audience does.

Step 5: Remember, these tools are public for a reason

Google and Meta built these transparency tools to comply with advertising regulations, but they’re also invaluable for agents who want to become smarter marketers.

Used correctly, they’ll help you:

• Benchmark your creative against competitors.
• Avoid wasting money on overused hooks.
• Discover content gaps in your market.

And most importantly, they’ll help you keep your message original.

Standing out in a sea of sameness

If you take one thing from this, let it be this: Visibility doesn’t equal originality. You don’t win in digital marketing by being louder. You win by being distinct.

The agents dominating paid advertising in 2025 aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets; they’re the ones who understand their audience, study their market and use tools like these to say something that actually sounds different.

So, go ahead and spy on your competition. Not to copy them, but to learn what not to do.

Josh Ries is a real estate broker and a lead generation consultant. You can connect with him on TikTok and Instagram.