# Google Ads Scraper - Ads Transparency Center (`convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-scraper`) Actor

Google Ads Transparency Center scraper - extract competitor text, image and video ads by keyword, domain or advertiser ID: creatives, formats, regions and run dates. Spy on competitor ad strategy. No API key. Export CSV or JSON.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Hasnain Nisar](https://apify.com/convertfleetdotonline) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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 Scraper — Ads Transparency Center

Extract **text, image and video ads** from the [Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com/) — Google's official, public library of every ad shown by verified advertisers. Spy on competitor campaigns, monitor brand activity, and collect ad creatives at scale, with no login and no browser automation.

### What it does

Give it a **keyword** (`nike`), a **website domain** (`nike.com`), or a Google **advertiser ID** (`AR16735076323512287233`) and it returns every matching ad, including:

- 🏷️ Advertiser name, verified legal name, domain and advertiser ID
- 🖼️ Ad format (text / image / video) and creative preview URLs
- 📅 First-shown and last-shown dates for each ad
- 🌍 Per-region serving stats (which countries the ad ran in, with dates)
- 🔗 Direct link to the ad's page in the Transparency Center
- 🧩 All creative variations of each ad

Keywords are resolved to matching advertisers automatically — one query can fan out to several advertisers (configurable).

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["nike.com", "adidas", "AR16735076323512287233"],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxAdsPerQuery": 100,
  "includeDetails": true
}
```

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `queries` | Keywords, domains, or `AR...` advertiser IDs |
| `region` | Two-letter country code (`US`, `GB`, `DE`, …) or `ANYWHERE` |
| `adFormat` | `ALL`, `TEXT`, `IMAGE`, or `VIDEO` |
| `maxAdsPerQuery` | Up to 5,000 ads per query |
| `maxAdvertisersPerKeyword` | How many advertisers a keyword may expand to (default 3) |
| `includeDetails` | Fetch per-ad variations + region stats (one extra request per ad) |

### Output example

```json
{
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiserDomain": "nike.com",
  "creativeId": "CR13364026518028681217",
  "format": "IMAGE",
  "firstShown": "2022-11-30",
  "lastShown": "2026-07-20",
  "creativePageUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR13364026518028681217?region=US",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/14464828722655146423",
  "regionStats": [{ "regionCode": "US", "lastShown": "2026-07-20" }],
  "variations": [{ "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/14464828722655146423" }],
  "query": "nike.com",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-20T18:00:00Z"
}
```

### Why scrape the Google Ads Transparency Center?

- **Competitive intelligence** — see every ad your competitors are running, in which countries, and for how long.
- **Creative research** — collect image and video creatives for inspiration and trend analysis.
- **Brand safety & compliance** — monitor who advertises on your brand terms.
- **Longest-running ads = winning ads** — sort by `firstShown` to find the evergreen creatives that keep earning their spend.

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** The Ads Transparency Center is a public dataset Google publishes for exactly this purpose — transparency. The actor only collects publicly available data.

**Do I need proxies?** The actor uses the Apify Proxy by default and automatically falls back to a direct connection if the proxy cannot reach Google.

**Text ad copy?** Text ads return a `previewUrl` that renders the full ad; the raw headline/description strings are embedded in Google's renderer and are not extracted in this version.

**How fast is it?** Listing runs at roughly 400 ads per minute; with `includeDetails` enabled expect ~150–250 ads per minute depending on concurrency.

# Actor input Schema

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

What to scrape ads for. Each entry can be a <b>keyword</b> (e.g. 'nike'), a <b>website domain</b> (e.g. 'nike.com'), or a Google <b>advertiser ID</b> (e.g. 'AR16735076323512287233'). Keywords are resolved to matching advertisers automatically.

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

Two-letter country code the ads were shown in (e.g. 'US', 'GB', 'DE'), or 'ANYWHERE' for all regions.

## `adFormat` (type: `string`):

Only return ads of this creative format.

## `maxAdsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of ads to collect for each query (1-5000).

## `maxAdvertisersPerKeyword` (type: `integer`):

When a query is a keyword (not a domain or advertiser ID), scrape ads from up to this many matching advertisers.

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

Fetch per-ad details: all creative variations and per-region first/last shown dates. One extra request per ad.

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

Proxy to route requests through. The actor probes the proxy at startup and automatically falls back to a direct connection if the proxy cannot reach Google.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxAdsPerQuery": 100,
  "maxAdvertisersPerKeyword": 3,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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.com"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-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.com"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-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.com"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,convertfleetdotonline/google-ads-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/QukE65K31AYSUxWib/builds/X04McNmj4MXVs2Mau/openapi.json