Meta Ads Library search: a step-by-step guide

What is the Meta Ad Library?

The Meta Ad Library is Meta's public, searchable database of ads running across its apps. Meta's Ad Library tools page says people can search all active ads running across Meta products, plus extra detail for political and EU-delivered ads.

For a brand, it is the fastest free way to see which angles, formats and offers other advertisers in your category are running today. This guide uses it for one job: finding ads that have run for a long time, and turning what you learn into a brief.

How do you search the Meta Ads Library?

Choose a country and an ad category, then type an advertiser name or keyword. These steps follow Meta's help article (What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?). That article loads its text with JavaScript; the steps were read from a Filipino-language copy of the same article and translated, so check the wording on the live page.

1. Open the Ad Library.
2. Choose a country. Pick the market you sell in, because results differ by country.
3. Choose an ad category: All ads, Issues, elections or politics, or Housing. For product research, choose All ads.
4. Type a Page name or a keyword. A brand name shows that advertiser's ads; a keyword such as a product type or an offer phrase shows ads from many advertisers.
5. Use the filters. Jon Loomer's Ad Library guide lists language, advertiser, platforms, media type, active status and impressions by date.
6. Open See ad details on any ad to see the full copy, the creative and the landing page link.

Search tips:

• Search a category term rather than one brand to see the range of angles in your market.
• Set media type to video if you are planning video ads.
• Keep the country fixed while you compare, so the date and status data line up.

How do you find long-running ads?

Look at the start date on each ad card and keep the ads that are still active and started long ago. Meta's help article lists the start date, the platforms and a link to the ad for each result, and Loomer's guide shows the status and started-running date on the card.

A repeatable method:

1. Search your category keyword with All ads, your country and media type set to video.
2. Filter active status to active ads.
3. Scan the started-running dates. Note ads that began months ago and are still active.
4. Open See ad details. If the card shows several versions, note that too: Loomer's guide says EU ad cards can show multiple versions and the number of ads using the same creative and text.
5. Log each ad in a sheet (columns below).
6. Repeat each week. An ordinary ad that disappears has most likely stopped running, because the library only keeps active ads for most categories.

Read run time with care. Meta does not publish results for these ads. A long-running ad may be profitable, or it may be an ad nobody turned off. The signal gets stronger when the same angle shows up across several advertisers, or when one advertiser keeps making new versions of it.

What does the Meta Ad Library show?

It shows every active ad, plus extra detail for two groups: ads about social issues, elections or politics, and ads delivered in the EU. The table below combines Meta's Ad Library tools page, Meta's help article and Loomer's guide.

The Ad Library API can filter by active, inactive or all ads and by delivery dates. Its reference says ads that did not reach any EU location are returned only if they are about social issues, elections or politics, so the API is mainly a tool for political and EU research.

What doesn't the Meta Ad Library show?

It does not show spend, reach, impressions or results for ordinary commercial ads outside the EU. Meta's tools page lists spend and reach only for social issue, election and political ads, with extra data for EU delivery.

Not shown for an ordinary ad in a non-EU country:

• Spend, even as a range.
• Impressions or reach.
• Click-through rate, conversions, cost per result or return on ad spend.
• Targeting settings.
• Inactive ads (once an ad stops, it drops out).

Meta's Ad Library help pages also say ads can be removed in limited cases, such as serious Community Standards violations or valid government requests. So the library is a view of what is running, not a full archive.

How do you turn a found angle into a brief?

Write down the angle and the format, not the ad. Then brief your own version with your product, your proof and your claims, and test it against your current ads.

Steps from log to brief:

1. Group by angle. Put similar ads from your log together. Three advertisers leading with the same reason to buy is a stronger signal than one long-running ad.
2. State the angle in one sentence. For example: "Busy parents want a version that takes two minutes."
3. Check you can prove it. Only brief claims your brand can legally make and support.
4. Choose formats. Plan the same angle in two or three formats, such as talking-head UGC, a podcast clip and a short drama.
5. Write three or more hooks. Base them on your product, not the ad you found; see ad hooks for hook types.
6. Fill in a brief. Use the free creative brief builder or copy the ad creative brief template.
7. Decide the test. Note what each new ad tests (angle, format or hook), using a creative testing framework.

A minimal brief built from an Ad Library finding:

Product: [product name]
Angle: [one sentence: the reason to buy]
Seen in market: [category], [number] advertisers running this angle, oldest active since [date]
Our proof: [claim we can support] + [source or test]
Formats: [format 1], [format 2], [format 3]
Hooks: 1) [hook] 2) [hook] 3) [hook]
Must show: [product moment]
Call to action: [action]
Do not use: other brands' footage, wording, logos or claims
Compliance notes: [claims to avoid], [AI disclosure if needed]

What not to do with Ad Library findings:

• Don't copy another brand's script, footage or on-screen text.
• Don't reuse a competitor's claims; they may be backed by data you don't have.
• Don't treat one ad's run time as a result.

If you would rather not run this research yourself, Anglr for brands can run a full analysis of your brand and write the briefs. Brands that already have winning ads start from their own winners, and AI creators remake each script in every format.

What is the TikTok Creative Center Top Ads?

Top Ads is a section of TikTok's Creative Center that TikTok describes as a collection of high-performing creatives. According to TikTok's About Top Ads help page, every ad in it has been authorized by its advertiser in TikTok Ads Manager, so it is not a complete library of TikTok ads.

What you can do in it, per TikTok's Top Ads Dashboard guide:

• Search by product or keyword.
• Filter by region, industry, campaign objective, likes and time frame; desktop adds ad language and ad format.
• Sort by reach, CTR, 2-second view rate and 6-second view rate; desktop adds CVR and likes.
• Open See Analytics for a second-by-second graph that marks the most engaging moment.

Visitors who are not logged in see only five ads, so sign in with a TikTok for Business account. Use the second-by-second graph for hook research: it shows where viewers dropped and where they stayed.

The difference from Meta: Meta's library shows every active ad with no performance data, while Top Ads shows a selected set chosen with performance in mind.

What is the Google Ads Transparency Center?

The Google Ads Transparency Center is Google's searchable hub of ads from verified advertisers across Search, YouTube and Display. Google announced it on 29 Mar 2023.

What it shows, per Google's launch post:

• Search by advertiser name or website, and filter by region and date.
• For each ad, the last date it ran and its format.
• In some regions, targeting information, the number of people who received each ad and a subject label.

Google's advertiser verification page says verified advertisers appear with their legal or trademark name and location. That page was read from the search engine's indexed copy.

For video research, filter to YouTube and note the last-shown dates. For a brand that also runs Search ads, the text ads show which offers and phrases an advertiser keeps live.

Which ad library should you use for what?

Use Meta's library for breadth on Facebook and Instagram, TikTok Top Ads for hook timing, and Google's center for YouTube and Search. Each tool answers a different question.

None of the three shows another advertiser's spend or return for ordinary ads in most countries. Treat them as research for briefs, and let your own tests decide.