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How to see what your competitors count as a Google Ads conversion

By Nurkan Kirkan, growth & analytics consultant · Updated 2026-11-04

Short answer

Find the competitor's container ID (GTM-XXXXXXX) in their page source, then open https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-XXXXXXX. The file lists every tag. Google Ads conversion tags appear as __awct with a conversionId and conversionLabel; the trigger rules show which event fires each one. That tells you which actions they report to Google, and so roughly what they bid on.

Step by step

  1. Find the ID. View source on their homepage and search for GTM-. Sites without GTM often load gtag/js?id=G-… or AW-…; those files are public too.
  2. Open the container. https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-XXXXXXX. It's minified JavaScript with a JSON object inside: "resource":{"macros":[…],"tags":[…],"predicates":[…],"rules":[…]}.
  3. Find the Ads conversions. Search for "__awct". Each one has vtp_conversionId, vtp_conversionLabel and sometimes vtp_conversionValue.
  4. Map tags to triggers. rules entries look like [["if",3,7],["add",12]]: predicates 3 and 7 must match to fire tag 12. The predicates hold the event names or URL patterns, like demo_booked or /thank-you.
  5. Read GA4 key events. In a gtag/js?id=G-… file, the conversion-marking rules list the GA4 events marked as key events.

What you learn

  • Where their funnel ends for Google. Do they count signups, booked meetings, qualified leads (CRM stages pushed back) or payments?
  • Whether they pass values. A hardcoded value or a revenue variable means value-based bidding.
  • Their stack. Meta, LinkedIn, Reddit, X pixels, product analytics, server-side GTM.

What you can't learn

  • Which actions are primary (set inside their Google Ads account).
  • Their bids, budgets or conversion rates.
  • Events sent only server-side.

Is it allowed?

You are reading a file their site sends to every visitor's browser. Don't go further: no fake signups, no form submissions, no logging in, no evading bot protection.

Doing this by hand for six competitors takes an afternoon. A Fireshift Teardown does it in about ten minutes and lines everyone up stage by stage.

FAQ

Do all sites use GTM?

No. Many load the Google tag (gtag.js) directly, or use Segment. Both are public too, and live network hits show what actually fires.

Can I see competitor conversion values?

Only when they are hardcoded in the tag or set by a visible variable. Most sites pass none.

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