Paid keyword research

See what your competitors pay for.

Enter a competitor’s domain or a keyword and see the paid terms, the ads that show for them and an estimate of the monthly spend behind them. Start every campaign from what the market already proves, not from guesses.

Ask Brigham.aiWhat keywords does Competitor A bid on that acme-plumbing.com doesn’t, and which of them are cheap enough to test?

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Your competitors already ran the expensive experiments.

Look up by: Domain or keyword
You see: Keywords, ads, est. spend
Engine: ROI.me, built in
Export: CSV or keyword list

Every advertiser who has stayed on a keyword for months is telling you something: that term probably pays for itself. Every ad they keep running has survived their own testing. Paid keyword research turns that public evidence into a starting list for your own campaigns.

Instead of opening a blank keyword planner, you see the terms a rival bids on, the position their ad usually holds, the copy they use and an estimate of what they spend. You can spot the profitable core of their account, the edges they skip and the keywords you should avoid because the cost is out of reach.

Competitor keywords

Every paid term, with the numbers beside it.

A domain lookup lists the keywords that trigger its ads, sorted by estimated traffic. Click any row to see the ad copy and the other advertisers on that term.

Keyword	Ad pos.	CPC	Est. clicks/mo	Est. spend/mo
emergency plumber	1	$38.40	410	$15,700
water heater repair	2	$24.10	260	$6,300
drain cleaning near me	1	$17.80	330	$5,900
sewer line replacement	3	$41.20	90	$3,700
leak detection	2	$12.60	140	$1,800

Example data

Ad position

The average spot their ad holds, so you know how hard they push each term.

Estimated spend

A modeled figure from CPC and clicks. Use it to compare, not as an invoice.

Intent

Each keyword carries an intent label so you can separate buyers from researchers.

Ad copy

Read the ads they kept, and the ones they dropped.

Check the same keywords over a few months and you see how a competitor’s message changes. A headline that ran for six months is a likely winner. One that disappeared after a week probably lost its test.

Use the pattern to write your own ads: which offers repeat, which prices appear in headlines and which calls to action they settle on.

1
Mar
“Fast, Reliable Plumbers”
Generic, ran 3 weeks
2
Apr
“Plumber Near You | 24/7”
Added urgency
3
Jun
“Upfront Pricing, No Fees”
Price-led copy
4
Sep
“Emergency Plumber Tonight”
Still running

Competitor A · “emergency plumber”Example data

Who owns the auction

Share of paid visibility for a keyword set.

Group your target keywords and see who shows ads most often across the set. One dominant advertiser means high costs. A crowded field with no leader can mean room to win on better copy.

By keyword group
Compare advertisers across a cluster, not one term at a time.
Recheck anytime
Run it again to see whether a new advertiser has entered and costs are rising.

Example data

How to use it

From a competitor’s account to your first campaign.

Emergency

emergency plumber24 hour plumberplumber open now

Water heaters

water heater repairtankless installno hot water

Drains

drain cleaningclogged drainhydro jetting

Sewer

sewer line repairsewer camera inspectiontrenchless sewer

01
Look up two or three rivals
Pull their paid keywords and merge them into one list.
02
Group by theme
Cluster the list so each group becomes an ad group with one message.
03
Price it
Send the list to the CPC planner to forecast cost and clicks.
04
Write from evidence
Draft ads in the creative studio, informed by the copy that lasted.

Spend estimates

How much the category spends, and who spends it.

Estimated monthly spend per advertiser gives you a sense of scale before you set a budget. If the leader spends twenty times what you can, compete on the narrower terms they underfund.

Est. monthly search spend

Competitor A33,400$
Competitor B18,900$
Competitor C7,200$
acme-plumbing.comYOU4,100$

Example data

Definitions

What each number means.

CPC: The typical cost per click for the keyword, from licensed data.
Ad position: The average slot an advertiser’s ad holds for the keyword.
Est. clicks: Modeled monthly paid clicks, based on volume, position and typical click rates.
Est. spend: Estimated clicks multiplied by CPC. A directional figure, not the advertiser’s bill.

Ask Brigham

Find the gaps in a competitor’s account.

Which paid keywords should acme-plumbing.com test first, based on what competitors bid on?

Brigham.ai· example answer

Competitor A and B both bid on 41 terms you don’t. Most are expensive emergency terms. Nine are cheaper drain and water heater terms with high buyer intent, where neither rival holds the top ad spot consistently.

Ask this yourself

Recommended fixes

Sorted by impact

1
Test the nine mid-cost terms
1 hr
Average CPC is $14, about a third of “emergency plumber”. Start with a small daily budget.
2
Lead with price in headlines
30 min
Both rivals moved to upfront-price copy this year and kept it. Your ads don’t mention price.
3
Skip “sewer line replacement” for now
None
CPC is over $40 and the top ad has been held by one advertiser for months.

Before you launch

A quick research checklist.

Keywords

3 checks

Merge two or three competitors’ terms
Remove terms you already rank top three for
Label intent and drop research queries

Ads

3 checks

Note offers that keep reappearing
Save headlines that ran longest
Check which landing pages they use

Budget

3 checks

Forecast cost in the CPC planner
Compare against the leader’s spend
Start narrow, then expand

Questions

Frequently asked.

Still unsure? Ask the team.

Where does the paid keyword data come from?

Live search results fetched when you ask, plus licensed keyword and ad data from enterprise data providers. Spend and click figures are modeled estimates, so treat them as directional.

Can I see a competitor’s exact budget?

No tool outside their ad account can. You see an estimate built from the keywords they appear for, typical CPCs and modeled clicks, which is enough to compare advertisers and size a market.

Do I need to run ads to use this?

No. Paid keyword data is also useful for SEO, because the terms advertisers keep paying for are usually the ones with buyers behind them.

How many credits does a lookup use?

Simple lookups cost a few credits. The $20 plan includes 1,500 credits a month, and one credit is one cent.

Keep exploring

CPCCPC plannerCost and click forecasts by keyword.CRECreative studioGenerate and test ad variants.GAPKeyword gapKeywords your rivals rank for and you don't.ADSAds overviewPaid search research, optimization and attribution.

Start from what already works.

Look up a competitor and see their paid keywords, ads and estimated spend in under a minute. The 7-day trial includes credits.

Show me the paid keywords, ad copy and estimated spend for my top three competitors.

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