# Google Ads Transparency Scraper with Ad Text (`billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Extract Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps and Play ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center by brand, domain or advertiser ID. Ad text included at no extra cost.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Limberg Herbas Soliz](https://apify.com/billy_turambar) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 ads

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Ads Transparency Scraper (with Ad Text)

Extract competitors' **Google ads** from the [Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com/): Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps and Play. Search by **brand name, domain or advertiser ID** and get every ad with its **headline and description text included**, image, video link, first and last shown dates, and the regions where it ran.

No login, no cookies, no Google account needed.

### Why this scraper?

- **Ad text included at no extra cost.** Google renders Search text ads as images. This Actor reads them with OCR, so you get the headline, display URL and description as plain text you can analyze, not just a screenshot.
- **Search by brand, domain or advertiser.** Type `Nike`, `hubspot.com` or paste a Transparency Center URL.
- **Filter like the official UI:** region, platform (Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps, Play), format (text, image, video) and date range.
- **Monitoring mode.** Turn on *Only new ads* and schedule the Actor daily to get only the ads your competitors launched since the last run.
- **YouTube links for video ads**, so you can watch or download the creative.
- **A/B variations and regions** for every ad with *Include creative details*.

### Use cases

- **Competitor research:** see every ad message, offer and landing page your competitors are running.
- **Ad copy inspiration:** collect hundreds of winning headlines in your niche and feed them to your LLM.
- **Agency reporting:** track when competitors start or stop campaigns in each country.
- **Brand protection:** detect advertisers bidding on your brand or impersonating it.

### Input example

```json
{
  "queries": ["Nike"],
  "domains": ["hubspot.com"],
  "region": "US",
  "platform": "SEARCH",
  "format": "ANY",
  "dateFrom": "2026-10-01",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 200,
  "extractAdText": true
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR17386092038717440001?region=US",
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR17386092038717440001",
  "format": "TEXT",
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "firstShown": "2022-12-01T01:53:07.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-10-30T18:30:47.000Z",
  "daysShown": 935,
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/13129148827524209124",
  "videoUrl": null,
  "adText": "www.nike.com/\nNike® Men's HIIT Trainers - Engineered For Every Rep\nNike® training shoes are available in a wide range of styles for every workout.",
  "adTextSource": "ocr",
  "searchTarget": "domain:nike.com",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-30T18:55:47.409Z"
}
```

You can download the data as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or get it through the Apify API, Make, Zapier, n8n and the Apify MCP server.

### Pricing

Pay only for what you get:

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Ad (text extraction included) | $1.50 per 1,000 ads |
| Creative details (optional) | $1.50 per 1,000 ads |
| Run start | $0.005 per GB of memory ($0.02 per run with the default 4 GB) |

### Tips

- Use **domains** to catch every advertiser promoting a site, including resellers and affiliates.
- For non-English text ads, set **OCR languages**, e.g. `eng+deu+fra`.
- Reach and audience data are only published by Google for ads shown in the EU.
- Google shows only ads from the last few years; date filters before that return nothing.

### Is it legal?

This Actor only collects data that Google publishes in its public Ads Transparency Center. It does not extract personal data. Always check that your use complies with local regulations.

### Feedback

Found a bug or need a feature? Open an issue in the **Issues** tab and we usually reply within 24 hours.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Brand or advertiser names to search, e.g. "Nike". Each query is resolved to the best matching advertisers. Values that look like a domain (nike.com) are searched as domains.

## `domains` (type: `array`):

Website domains whose ads you want, e.g. hubspot.com. Returns ads from every advertiser promoting that domain.

## `advertiserIds` (type: `array`):

Advertiser IDs from the Transparency Center (they start with AR).

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Advertiser or creative URLs copied from adstransparency.google.com.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code (US, DE, GB...) or "anywhere" for all regions.

## `platform` (type: `string`):

Only return ads shown on this platform.

## `format` (type: `string`):

Only return ads of this format.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).

## `maxAdsPerTarget` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of ads returned for each query, domain, advertiser or URL.

## `maxAdvertisersPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

How many matching advertisers to scrape for each brand query.

## `extractAdText` (type: `boolean`):

Read the headline and description of each ad. Search text ads are rendered as images, so their text is read with OCR. Included at no extra cost.

## `ocrLanguages` (type: `string`):

Tesseract language codes used to read text ads, joined with + (e.g. eng+deu+spa).

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch all A/B variations and the list of regions where each ad was shown. Billed per ad.

## `onlyNewAds` (type: `boolean`):

Skip ads returned by previous runs with the same monitoring key. Ideal for scheduled runs that track competitors.

## `monitoringKey` (type: `string`):

Name of the list of already seen ads. Use different keys for different monitoring jobs.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxies used for the requests. Apify datacenter proxies are usually enough.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "Nike"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "platform": "ANY",
  "format": "ANY",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
  "maxAdvertisersPerQuery": 1,
  "extractAdText": true,
  "ocrLanguages": "eng",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "onlyNewAds": false,
  "monitoringKey": "default",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `ads` (type: `string`):

One item per ad with advertiser, format, ad text, image or video link, first and last shown dates, and the Transparency Center URL.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "Nike"
    ],
    "region": "US",
    "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
    "maxAdvertisersPerQuery": 1,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "queries": ["Nike"],
    "region": "US",
    "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
    "maxAdvertisersPerQuery": 1,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "Nike"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
  "maxAdvertisersPerQuery": 1,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,billy_turambar/google-ads-transparency-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hLH1zdbJGtchTCKMq/builds/xzDUU0yeWIuUCoKFm/openapi.json