# Google Ads Transparency Scraper: Competitor Ads by Domain (`datadesk-io/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Get every Google ad a competitor runs, from the Google Ads Transparency Center: search by domain, advertiser name or ID. Image, text and video creatives, regions, first and last shown dates, days running, advertiser name. Filter by country and format. No login, no proxy. $1 per 1,000 ads.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datadesk-io/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [DataDesk](https://apify.com/datadesk-io) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, Lead generation
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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: Competitor Ads by Domain or Advertiser

Get **every Google ad a competitor is running** (Search, Display, YouTube) from the public [Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com/). Type a **domain** (`nike.com`), an **advertiser name** (`Shopify`) or an **advertiser ID** (`AR1673...`) and get a clean table of ads with creatives, countries and dates. No login, no proxy, no browser. **$1 per 1,000 ads.**

### What you get for each ad

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| advertiserName, advertiserId | Nike, Inc. · AR16735076323512287233 |
| domain | nike.com |
| format | text / image / video |
| imageUrl / previewUrl | creative image or Google preview link |
| firstShown, lastShown | 2022-01-28 → 2026-11-04 |
| daysShown | 1690 (how long the ad has been running) |
| regions, regionsLastShown | US, MX, ES with last shown date per country |
| variationCount, variations | all creative variants of the ad |
| adUrl | link to the ad in the Transparency Center |

### Sources and coverage

| Source | Coverage | Data |
|---|---|---|
| **Google Ads Transparency Center** | All regions Google lists (US, EU, LatAm, APAC...) | advertiser, creative ID, format, first/last shown, regions, preview URLs, variations |

### How to use it

1. Click **Try for free** (or **Start**): the prefilled input runs a quick test.
2. Fill in the input fields (see the examples below). Every field is optional.
3. Click **Start** and wait a few seconds to minutes, depending on how many ads you ask for.
4. Open the **Output** tab and export as **JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML**, or read the results via API.

### Input examples

**One domain (default):**

```json
{"searchTerms": ["nike.com"], "maxAdsPerSearch": 20}
```

**Competitors in the US, video only:**

```json
{"searchTerms": ["hubspot.com", "salesforce.com"], "region": "US", "format": "video", "maxAdsPerSearch": 100}
```

**Advertiser ID:**

```json
{"searchTerms": ["AR01234567890123456789"], "maxAdsPerSearch": 50}
```

**Weekly new-ads monitor:**

```json
{"searchTerms": ["shopify.com"], "onlyNewAds": true, "alertsKey": "shopify-ads"}
```

#### Input fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `searchTerms` | array | e.g. nike.com, Shopify, AR16735076323512287233 or a Transparency Center advertiser URL. One search per line. |
| `region` | string | Only ads shown in this country. Empty = all countries. |
| `format` | string | Only ads of this format (you pay only for matching ads). |
| `maxAdsPerSearch` | integer | Stop after this many ads for each search term. |
| `includeRegionDetails` | boolean | Adds the list of countries each ad ran in (with last shown date per country) and all creative variations. Slightly slower. |
| `onlyNewAds` | boolean | Return only ads not seen in your previous runs. Schedule it daily to get alerted when a competitor launches new ads. |
| `alertsKey` | string | Separate memory per monitor, e.g. 'competitor-a'. |

### Output example

One row per item. Values below are **example values** from a real test run (long text shortened):

```json
{
  "advertiserId": "AR18378488041124659201",
  "creativeId": "CR09661134053058805761",
  "advertiserName": "Nike Retail BV",
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "format": "text",
  "previewUrl": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?client=ads-integrity-transparency&obfuscatedCustomerId=8417033297&cr…",
  "firstShown": "2025-10-24T11:45:08+00:00",
  "lastShown": "2026-11-04T16:39:09+00:00",
  "daysShown": 318,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR18378488041124659201/creative/CR09661134053058805761",
  "regions": ["CZ", "HU", "…"],
  "regionsLastShown": {"CZ": "2026-11-03", "HU": "2026-11-04", "IT": "2026-11-03", "2703": "2026-11-04", "2705": "2026-11-03"},
  "variationCount": 1,
  "variations": ["{…}"],
  "searchTerm": "nike.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "regionFilter": "anywhere",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-11-04T18:06:06.603877+00:00"
  "…": "more fields below"
}
```

Fields a source does not publish are `null`.

#### Output fields

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `advertiserId` | Advertiser / employer ID on the source site |
| `creativeId` | Ad creative ID in the Google Ads Transparency Center |
| `advertiserName` | Verified advertiser name |
| `domain` | Domain of the outbound link |
| `format` | Image format (png/jpeg) |
| `imageUrl` | Largest image URL (original size when available) |
| `previewUrl` | Image or preview URL of the ad creative |
| `firstShown` | Date the ad was first shown (ISO 8601) |
| `lastShown` | Date the ad was last shown (ISO 8601) |
| `daysShown` | Number of days between first and last shown |
| `adUrl` | Link to the ad in the Google Ads Transparency Center |
| `regions` | Regions where the ad was shown |
| `regionsLastShown` | Last shown date per region |
| `variationCount` | Number of creative variations |
| `variations` | Creative variations (text, image or video URLs) |
| `searchTerm` | Domain or advertiser searched |
| `searchType` | Whether the search term was a domain or an advertiser |
| `regionFilter` | Region filter used for the search |
| `scrapedAt` | Scrape time (ISO, UTC) |
| `isNew` | True if no earlier run with the same state key returned this job |

The Output tab has a **Ads** view.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: you pay only for results delivered, no monthly fee.

- **Ad** (`ad`): **$1.00 per 1,000** ($0.001 each)
- **Actor start:** $0.005 per run

| Run | Ads | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Quick test | 20 | $0.025 |
| Small run | 100 | $0.105 |
| Regular run | 1,000 | $1.005 |
| Large run | 10,000 | $10.005 |

Rows that are not delivered are never charged. Apify's free plan includes monthly credit, and you can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

### Use cases

- **Competitor ad spy / ad intelligence**: see which creatives a competitor keeps running (long-running ads = winning ads).
- **Agencies & media buyers**: audit a prospect's Google Ads before a pitch.
- **Lead generation**: find companies actively spending on Google Ads in a country.
- **Ad monitoring**: schedule daily with *Only new ads* to get alerted when a competitor launches new ads.

### Integrations and API

- Export results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML from the Output tab.
- **Schedule** runs (daily, hourly) and send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n, Airbyte or webhooks.
- Call it from code with the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2):

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/datadesk-io~google-ads-transparency-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchTerms": ["nike.com"], "maxAdsPerSearch": 20}'
```

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("datadesk-io/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input={'searchTerms': ['nike.com'], 'maxAdsPerSearch': 20})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item.get('advertiserName'), item.get('domain'))
```

### FAQ

**Is it legal?** The Transparency Center is a public Google transparency tool; this Actor reads only public ad data, no personal data.
**Why fewer ads than Google's estimate?** Google shows an approximate total; use a higher max or a country filter.
**Text ads?** Text ads come with a preview link (the Transparency Center renders their headline inside that preview).

**Do I need a login, API key or proxies?** No. It uses publicly available data only, so no account on the source site is needed.

**How fresh is the data?** Live: every run reads the source at that moment. Schedule it to keep a dataset up to date.

**Why did I get fewer ads than the maximum?** The source had fewer matching ads, or duplicates were removed. You only pay for ads delivered.

### Limitations

- Ad text for text ads is often shown as an image preview by Google.
- Spend and impressions are not published by Google for most regions.
- Google may rate-limit large runs; the Actor slows down automatically.

### Support

Found a bug, or need a new field, source or filter? Open an issue in the **Issues** tab; we usually answer within 24 hours. Custom data work: datadesk.io@proton.me.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

e.g. nike.com, Shopify, AR16735076323512287233 or a Transparency Center advertiser URL. One search per line.

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

Only ads shown in this country. Empty = all countries.

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

Only ads of this format (you pay only for matching ads).

## `maxAdsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many ads for each search term.

## `includeRegionDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Adds the list of countries each ad ran in (with last shown date per country) and all creative variations. Slightly slower.

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

Return only ads not seen in your previous runs. Schedule it daily to get alerted when a competitor launches new ads.

## `alertsKey` (type: `string`):

Separate memory per monitor, e.g. 'competitor-a'.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "",
  "format": "all",
  "maxAdsPerSearch": 20,
  "includeRegionDetails": true,
  "onlyNewAds": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "nike.com"
    ],
    "maxAdsPerSearch": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datadesk-io/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 = {
    "searchTerms": ["nike.com"],
    "maxAdsPerSearch": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datadesk-io/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 '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "maxAdsPerSearch": 20
}' |
apify call datadesk-io/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,datadesk-io/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/3BaSJhp49fMYtfVEg/builds/NM2NYne5K2gxEkTLr/openapi.json