How to Find Companies Running Google Ads (and What to Pitch Them)

To find companies running Google Ads, search the keywords their customers type, as someone in the city you care about, and note the advertisers in the sponsored results at the top and bottom of the page. To check whether a company you already know is advertising, look it up by name or website in Google's Ads Transparency Center. Advertisers make strong leads for agencies and SaaS because a running ad proves two things a directory listing can't: they spend money on marketing, and they want more customers now.

Why advertisers make better leads

A listing tells you a company exists. A running ad tells you much more:

• Budget. They pay for every click, so marketing money is already allocated. You're discussing where it goes, not whether it exists.
• Intent. They're trying to grow, now. A company buying clicks on "emergency plumber" wants the phone to ring this week.
• A funnel you can see. An ad leads to a landing page, a phone number or a form. Each of these can be looked at and improved, which gives you something concrete to talk about.
• Someone who decides on marketing. Someone chose the keywords and approved the spend: the owner, a marketing manager or an agency.
• Timing. You know they were active when you searched, which is more than any database record can tell you.

The honest limits: an ad doesn't tell you how much they spend or whether it's working. National brands and franchise head offices show up next to local businesses and are rarely a fit. Some advertisers are comparison sites or lead-generation marketplaces rather than businesses that do the work. And a company that's happy with its agency may have no reason to switch. Advertisers are better leads, not guaranteed ones.

Who should prospect advertisers

If you run an agency and want to weigh this channel against referrals, content and partnerships, lead generation for marketing agencies compares them.

Keywords that surface advertisers

Advertisers bid on searches that signal someone is ready to buy. To find them, search what their customers type when they need the service now, not what they type while researching:

Informational searches ("how to unclog a drain") tend to show fewer ads, or none. The method isn't limited to local services, either: if you sell to software companies, search the categories they compete in ("payroll software", "field service software") and you'll see who's buying clicks there.

Method 1: Search the keyword in the city

1. Search as someone in that city. Advertisers choose where their ads appear. Google Ads can target people who are in a location or who have shown interest in it, for example by naming the place in their search. So "emergency plumber Denver" typed from anywhere shows many Denver advertisers, but not the ones that target only people physically in the area. For those, use method 2.
2. Record, don't click. Note the advertiser's name, the domain shown in the ad, the headline and offer, and when you saw it. Don't click the ads: any click can be charged to the advertiser, and Google counts manual clicks that increase an advertiser's costs as invalid. Type the advertiser's domain into your browser instead.
3. Repeat at different times. Advertisers set daily budgets and schedules, so the ads at 8 a.m. can differ from those at 8 p.m. Google itself notes that an ad may stop appearing in its previews once a campaign reaches its average daily budget. Searching the same keyword at different times of day, and on mobile as well as desktop, shows you more of the market.
4. Filter as you go. Skip national brands, marketplaces and comparison sites unless they're who you sell to.

A layout for recording what you see (the row is a fictional example):

By hand, one keyword in five cities at three times of day is already 15 searches. That's fine for a test and slow for a whole market.

Method 2: Preview ads for any location in Google Ads

If you have a Google Ads account, its Ad preview and diagnosis tool (under Tools, then Troubleshooting) shows the results page for a search as it would appear in a location, language and device you choose. Google notes that previewing this way doesn't accumulate ad impressions the way a normal search does, so your research doesn't add noise to anyone's statistics.

It's the cleanest manual way to see what locals see in a city you're not in, one keyword at a time.

Method 3: Check a company in the Ads Transparency Center

Google's Ads Transparency Center lets you search by advertiser name or website and filter by region and date. For each advertiser it shows the ads they've run and, for advertisers who completed Google's verification, their legal name and location (Google's explanation).

It's excellent for qualifying a company you already have:

• Are they advertising, and recently? Filter by your region and a recent date range.
• What do they push? Their ads show which services they want more of, and that's where your pitch should go.
• Who exactly is paying? The verified legal name helps when the brand name and the company name differ.

What it isn't: a way to find advertisers by keyword. You search by who, not by what they bid on, and it doesn't show what a commercial advertiser spends.

There's also a shortcut from the results page: the menu next to an ad (the three dots) opens a panel that names the advertiser who paid for it and links to more of their ads in the Transparency Center.

Method 4: Collect advertisers at scale

Method 1 by hand is fine for a few keywords in a few cities. Ten keywords across fifteen cities is 150 searches, each of which needs the right location. At that point you want a tool that reads the ads for you.

Glintscout's Google Ads advertisers source does exactly that: for each keyword and city pair, it reads the ads on the first page of Google results and keeps the advertisers. Because only advertisers count, a search returns fewer companies than a Google Maps search would, but every one of them was advertising when you searched. You see the price of each step before it runs (pricing).

Turn advertisers into a contact list

1. Reduce each advertiser to its own domain, and drop marketplaces, comparison sites and national brands you won't sell to.
2. Deduplicate. The same company often advertises on several keywords and in several cities. Note every keyword and city you saw it on: that's useful context for the pitch.
3. Find an email on the advertiser's own domain. How to find a company's email address covers the methods.
4. Verify every address and keep only the valid ones.
5. Keep the observation that made you choose the company: the keyword, the city, the offer, when you saw the ad. That's your first line.

What to pitch advertisers

The best first email to an advertiser is built on something you observed, not on a claim about their results. You don't know their budget, their cost per lead or their margins, and pretending to will end the conversation.

The structure: one observation, why it matters to them, one small offer. Three fictional examples:

From a web design studio to a plumber

Subject: Your "24/7" ad

Hi Dana, I saw your ad for "emergency plumber Denver" on Tuesday at 8:40 p.m. The ad says 24/7, but your Google listing says you close at 6 p.m. Someone comparing the two at night might call the next plumber instead.

Want me to send screenshots of both? It's a five-minute fix.

It works because it's specific (the keyword, the time), it's about their customers rather than your service, and the ask is tiny.

From a PPC agency to a dental practice

Subject: Your ad for "dental implants" in Leeds

Hi Dr. Patel, your practice's ad came up when I searched "dental implants Leeds" this week, next to two other practices. Yours leads with price; both of theirs lead with a free consultation.

If it helps, I can send you a one-page comparison of the ads on that search, with two headlines I'd test. No call needed.

It works because it compares them with competitors they already watch, using only what anyone can see on the results page.

From a call-tracking tool to a law firm

Subject: Which of your ads make the phone ring?

Hi Maria, your firm is advertising on both "car accident attorney Phoenix" and "truck accident lawyer Phoenix", and both ads show the same phone number as your website. If most new cases start with a call, a separate number per campaign would show which of those searches bring them in.

Worth a 15-minute look?

It works because it connects something visible (one number everywhere) to a question the owner can't answer today.

What not to write:

• "You're wasting money on ads." You don't know that, and it insults whoever set them up.
• Invented numbers, such as promising to cut their cost per click by a percentage you can't know.
• Fake inquiries. Posing as a customer to test their response and then pitching them burns trust at once.
• Anything that suggests you clicked their ads to research them.

For more openers by offer, see cold email templates for local businesses.

Common mistakes

• Researching only from your own location. You'll miss advertisers who target only people in the area.
• Searching each keyword once. Budgets and schedules change who shows up during the day.
• Treating marketplaces and national brands as local leads. They're different buyers with different problems.
• Pitching an old find. Check recent activity in the Transparency Center before you send.

FAQ

Can I see how much a company spends on Google Ads?

Not from Google. Search results and the Ads Transparency Center show which ads ran, and where, but not what a commercial advertiser spends. Competitive research tools estimate spend from sampled data; treat their figures as rough estimates.

Why do I see different ads than someone else in the same city?

Ads depend on location, device, time of day, the advertiser's budget and schedule, and the person searching. Two people searching the same keyword in the same city can see different advertisers. For a neutral view, use the Ad preview and diagnosis tool with the location set.

Is it OK to click on a prospect's ads to research them?

No. Your click can be charged to the advertiser, and Google treats manual clicks that increase an advertiser's costs as invalid. Visit their website directly instead.

Are Google Ads advertisers only local businesses?

No. Any keyword can have advertisers, from local plumbers to software companies. Pick the keywords your buyers' customers use, and filter out the advertisers that aren't a fit.