Ad libraries compared: Google, Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok
·4 min read
Google, Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok each run a public ad library, and anyone can search them without an ad account. Google's covers search and YouTube, Meta's lists live Facebook and Instagram ads, and LinkedIn's keeps a year of B2B ads. TikTok's only covers ads shown in Europe, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey. None of them show spend for ordinary commercial ads, and the best targeting data in all four comes from ads that ran in the EU.
Ad library comparison table
| Google Ads Transparency Center | Meta Ad Library | LinkedIn Ad Library | TikTok Commercial Content Library | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address | adstransparency.google.com | facebook.com/ads/library | linkedin.com/ad-library | library.tiktok.com |
| Covers | Ads on Google platforms such as Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Threads, Audience Network | LinkedIn ads since June 1, 2023 | TikTok ads shown in the EEA, UK, Switzerland and Turkey |
| Search by | Advertiser or website | Page name or keyword | Company, payer or keyword | Advertiser name or keyword |
| Filters | Region, date, platform, format | Country, ad category, language, platform, media type, status, dates | Country, date range, plus impressions and targeting for EU ads | Country, ad type, status, age, gender, date, reach |
| History kept | Not stated on Google's help page | Live ads only, political ads 7 years, EU and UK ads 1 year | 1 year after last impression | 1 year after last shown |
| Spend shown | Election ads only, as ranges | Political and issue ads only, as ranges | Never | Not listed in its FAQ |
| Targeting shown | In some regions, plus recipients | EU and UK ads | EU-targeted ads | EEA ads |
| API | For ads served in the EEA | Yes, political ads plus EU and UK ads | Linked from its help page | Yes |
Sources are Google's ads transparency help page, the Meta Ad Library and its API page, LinkedIn's Ad Library help page and the FAQ inside the TikTok library.
Only Google searches by domain, which suits competitor research because you know the site, not the account name. And if a competitor sells in Europe, set the country to an EU market on every platform first. That one choice adds more data than any filter.
Which ad library to use for which question
"What does this site say in search ads?" Use Google, searched by domain. A domain search catches ads from regional accounts and agencies that an advertiser search misses. The Google Ads Transparency Center guide covers the filters and the extra fields on EU ad pages.
"What is this brand running on social right now?" Use Meta. It lists every live Facebook and Instagram ad, wherever it runs. The Meta Ad Library guide walks through the search.
"Which job titles and companies is a B2B rival targeting?" Use LinkedIn and pick an EU country. EU-targeted ads list the job, company and matched audience targeting. The LinkedIn Ad Library guide covers reading it.
"Who else advertises on this topic?" Run a keyword search in Meta or TikTok. Both match ad text, and the results list advertisers you never knew you were up against.
"How long has this ad been running?" Meta shows a start date on every ad. TikTok shows first and last shown dates, and Google and LinkedIn add run dates on EU ads. A long run is the best stand-in for performance any of them offers.
The TikTok ads library
The TikTok ads library, officially the Commercial Content Library, only lists ads shown in the European Economic Area, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey. A brand that advertises on TikTok only in the US will not appear. You need no TikTok account to search it.
To search, open the Ad Library tab, choose one or more ad target countries, then type an advertiser name or a keyword. TikTok's FAQ says a search without quotation marks matches the ad title, advertiser name, "paid by" name and caption text. Then filter by ad type, status, age, gender, date and unique reach.
Ads stay for one year after they were last shown, and new ones appear within about 24 hours of the campaign starting. EEA ads carry the most detail. Each record shows first and last shown dates, the estimated unique users who saw it by country and a targeting summary covering age, gender, location, interests, audiences and creator interactions. Ads that ran only in the UK, Switzerland or Turkey show the content, start date and advertiser.
TikTok doesn't allow political ads, so that category is empty. A second tab, Other commercial content, lists creator videos marked as paid promotions, searchable by creator country, which is how you find a brand's influencer deals.
What no ad library tells you
No library shows clicks, conversions, cost per result or the keywords a Google advertiser bids on. Spend appears only for political ads on Google and Meta. Any third-party "competitor ad spend" figure is an estimate, so ask how it was made.
Pull a competitor's ads into one report
Our Competitor Google Ads tool takes a competitor's website and reads its ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center. It lists up to 100 of the most recently shown ads with each one's format, advertiser account, first and last shown dates and days running, and reads the headlines, descriptions and landing pages of up to 10 text ads, longest-running first. It cannot show spend or the keywords bid on, because Google publishes neither. A run costs 15 credits, and a run that finds no ads is refunded.
For social, the Meta Ad Finder returns up to 30 active ads for a Facebook page or keyword, and the LinkedIn Ad Finder returns up to 24 ads for a company. Each costs 5 credits. We have no TikTok tool, so use the library directly for that one.