Tactic one: bidding on competitor brand terms
Legal, common, and effective in considered-purchase categories where buyers are comparing. Someone searching a competitor by name is in-market by definition.
The costs: clicks are expensive because relevance is low, conversion rates are worse than on your own terms, and it frequently triggers the competitor to bid on yours — which raises both your costs permanently.
Run it when you have a genuine, statable advantage and budget beyond your own core terms. Do not run it as a growth strategy at a small budget.
Defend your own name first
Before any of that, make sure you are bidding on your own business name. It is cheap, it converts better than anything else in the account, and if you do not hold it a competitor will.
Businesses that skip this while bidding on competitors have the strategy exactly backwards.
Tactic two: targeting competitor locations
Reaching devices that visited a competitor’s premises in the last thirty days. Works for dealerships, gyms, clinics, and retail — places people physically visit while deciding.
Does not work for categories where nobody visits anyone. There is no useful fence around a plumber.
The message problem
Competitor-targeted ads that attack do badly. What works is a specific contrast — pricing published, same-day availability, a warranty, a rating — stated plainly and without naming anyone.
Naming a competitor in creative is usually against platform policy and always makes you look smaller than them.
The honest assessment
Competitive tactics are a supplement, not a plan. They cost more per outcome than your own terms and they invite escalation.
Fund your own demand capture fully first. If there is money left and a real advantage to state, then compete directly.