---
title: "The Google hack: This is how you find your competition's"
description: "Find your competitors’ lead magnets with one simple Google hack."
url: "https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets"
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alternates:
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  en: "https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets"
  fr: "https://compleadly.com/fr/blog/le-hack-google-comment-trouver-les-aimants-a-prospects-de-tes-concurrents"
  es: "https://compleadly.com/es/blog/el-truco-de-google-asi-encuentras-los-lead-magnets-de-tu-competencia"
  it: "https://compleadly.com/it/blog/l-hack-di-google-come-trovare-i-lead-magnet-dei-tuoi-concorrenti"
  pt: "https://compleadly.com/pt/blog/o-hack-do-google-como-encontrar-as-iscas-digitais-dos-seus-concorrentes"
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---

[Blog](https://compleadly.com/blog)

[Lead Generation & Outreach](https://compleadly.com/blog/category/lead-generation-outreach)

# The Google hack: This is how you find your competition's lead magnets! 🕵️

February 2, 20261 min read

![Sebastian Andes, Philipp Krapp & CompLeadly Team](https://media.compleadly.de/media/8b720e679e2f2b08cc017d1938d026c62e625a21790c6df1284c2d4075cb3582-2.webp)Sebastian Andes, Philipp Krapp & CompLeadly Team

Last updated on September 28, 2026

![A smiling bald man with glasses and a beard in a blazer in front of a dark graphic with glowing PDF documents, a search bar, a padlock and server icons](https://media.compleadly.de/media/c39f82534db6fd5046dd51d2629c2fc5f47516d7ee4c1e61821a733cd54ec149.png)

---

Table of contents

[1 ️ The command:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#1-the-command)[2 ️ The combination:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#2-the-combination)[3 ️ The analysis:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#3-the-analysis)[Why does that work?](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#why-does-that-work)[The hack for recruiting and job hunting](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#the-hack-for-recruiting-and-job-hunting)[Pro tip for advanced users:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#pro-tip-for-advanced-users)

// contents

[1 ️ The command:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#1-the-command)[2 ️ The combination:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#2-the-combination)[3 ️ The analysis:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#3-the-analysis)[Why does that work?](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#why-does-that-work)[The hack for recruiting and job hunting](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#the-hack-for-recruiting-and-job-hunting)[Pro tip for advanced users:](https://compleadly.com/blog/google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets#pro-tip-for-advanced-users)

Do you want to know which strategies, checklists, or white papers your competition is using to win their customers? And without having to laboriously log in everywhere with your email address?

There is a simple “secret code” for Google search that most marketers completely overlook. Here's the 3-step hack for your knowledge advantage:

## 1 ️ The command:

Google usually only shows us web pages. With the filetype:pdf operator, you force the search engine to only display documents.

## 2 ️ The combination:

Enter into Google: filetype:pdf leadmagnet \[your industry\] (e.g. “real estate” or “fitness”).

## 3 ️ The analysis:

Google now lists PDFs that are located directly on your competitors' servers.

## Why does that work?

It's simple: Many companies upload their valuable content but forget to technically hide it from Google. They are publicly indexed, but can only be found using this targeted command.

## The hack for recruiting and job hunting

The same operator works when you aren’t after customers. Recruiters search for filetype:pdf careers \[industry\] and find other employers’ career brochures and benefits overviews, so they know what the competition for the same people is promising. Job seekers search for filetype:pdf \[company\] and turn up annual reports or presentations from the employer they want, then walk into the interview knowing the business. Don’t use it to dig up other people’s CVs: those are personal data. After the research comes the outreach, and CompLeadly can take that over. It visits profiles from your Recruiter, Sales Navigator or people search, sends the connection request and, once it’s accepted, your opener. Recruiter searches need a Recruiter licence. Recruiters can read how that works on [our recruiting use case](https://compleadly.com/use-cases/recruiters), job seekers in [our job-hunting guide](https://compleadly.com/blog/10-common-linkedin-mistakes-when-job-hunting-and-how-to-avoid-them).

## Pro tip for advanced users:

Search by file type:pdf “Price List” \[Industry\]. You'll be surprised how much internal information you'll find for your market analysis that should actually be “secret.”

Use this hack to learn how the best in your industry build their leads. Inspiration is the first step to market leadership! 🚀

👇 Which search term will you test first? Write it to me

#MarketingHack #SEO #GoogleSuche #Wettbewerbsanalyse #Leadgen #ContentStrategy

The full guide with every search operator is in the knowledge base article [The Google hack in seconds](https://compleadly.com/knowledge/the-google-hack-find-your-competitors-lead-magnets-in-seconds).

---

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![Sebastian Andes](https://media.compleadly.de/media/8b720e679e2f2b08cc017d1938d026c62e625a21790c6df1284c2d4075cb3582-2.webp)

[Sebastian Andes](https://compleadly.com/blog/author/sebastian-andes)

Managing Director · CEO

Marketing coach & business consultant. An experienced entrepreneur and marketing strategist, he has been co-building CompLeadly since 2019.

[LinkedIn – Sebastian Andes](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-andes/)

![Philipp Krapp](https://media.compleadly.de/media/5f21a7708967b449194687bb2101d4f657472eae4f1382d605d6904a027aab22-2.webp)

[Philipp Krapp](https://compleadly.com/blog/author/philipp-krapp)

Managing Director · CTO

Software engineer & app developer. An innovative software developer, he has been co-building CompLeadly since 2019.

[LinkedIn – Philipp Krapp](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipp-krapp/)

![CompLeadly Team](https://media.compleadly.de/media/9109d0d881666addb60c3164d0302e5f499991f811381c2c8d17b8fb37e2f9e9-2.svg)

[CompLeadly Team](https://compleadly.com/blog/author/compleadly-team)

We build CompLeadly so LinkedIn outreach stops being a matter of luck. Our content team writes up what actually works in real campaigns.

// keep reading

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## Ready for answers instead of cold lists?

[Try free for 10 days](https://compleadly.com/download)

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