Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Search/YouTube/Display Ad Spy

Google Ads Transparency Scraper extracts every Google Search, YouTube and Display ad an advertiser has run, straight from the official Google Ad Transparency Center (DSA-mandated public data). Search by keyword (auto-resolved to advertisers) or by advertiser ID. No login, no API key, no Chromium — pure HTTP, fast and cheap.

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What can Google Ads Transparency Scraper do?

• 🔍 Search ads by keyword — type a brand name, get top matching advertisers and their creatives
• 🎯 Search ads by advertiser ID — pull all ads from a specific advertiser (AR... ID from the Ad Transparency URL)
• 🌍 Filter by region — 13 countries supported (US, FR, GB, DE, IT, ES, CA, JP, BR, AU, MX, NL + numeric override for any)
• 🎬 All formats covered — Search ads, Display ads, YouTube video ads, plus image and text creatives
• 📅 Dates included — first shown / last shown timestamps per creative
• 🖼️ Creative URLs — embedded HTML, image URLs, video URLs (where present)
• ⚡ Pure HTTP — no browser, no Chromium, no proxy required by default. ~5s for 50 ads.

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What data can you extract from Google Ads Transparency Center?

Field	Description
advertiser_name	Verified advertiser name
advertiser_id	Google's internal advertiser ID (AR...)
creative_id	Unique creative ID (CR...)
format	text, image, video
format_code	Google's numeric format code (1=text, 2=image, 3/6=video)
html	Embedded creative HTML snippet
image_url	Extracted image URL (when applicable)
video_url	Video URL (when applicable)
first_shown	ISO timestamp the creative first ran
last_shown	ISO timestamp the creative last ran
region	ISO country where the creative was shown
region_id	Google's internal region code
variant_count	Number of variants per creative
creative_url	Direct link to view the creative on the Ad Transparency Center

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How to spy on Google ads

1. Create a free Apify account — no credit card required
2. Open Google Ads Transparency Scraper in Apify Store
3. Enter a keyword (e.g. nike, salesforce, shopify) — or paste advertiser IDs directly
4. Pick a region (default US)
5. Click Start — creatives stream into the dataset within seconds
6. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel

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How much does it cost to spy on Google ads?

$0.001 per ad creative ($1 per 1,000 ads). No surprise compute or proxy charges — the scraper is HTTP only and runs at 512 MB without any proxy.

Run size	Creatives	Apify cost	Time
Quick test	10	~$0.01	~5s
Standard	50	~$0.05	~5s
Per advertiser	100	~$0.10	~10s
Full sweep (5 brands × 100)	500	~$0.50	~30s

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Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
queries	array	❌*	—	Brand names to search via the autocomplete (e.g. ["nike","adidas"])
advertiserIds	array	❌*	—	Direct advertiser IDs (e.g. ["AR02981058906626719745"])
region	string	❌	US	ISO country code (US, FR, GB, DE, …) or ANYWHERE
regionId	integer	❌	—	Advanced: override with Google's internal region ID
topAdvertisersPerQuery	integer	❌	3	Top N advertisers to scrape per keyword (autocomplete returns up to 10)
maxResultsPerAdvertiser	integer	❌	50	Cap on creatives per advertiser (Google's API caps at 100 per call)
useResidentialProxy	boolean	❌	false	Enable only if you hit rate limits on large runs

*Provide at least one of queries or advertiserIds.

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Output example

{
  "advertiser_id": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiser_name": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creative_id": "CR10068536946902171649",
  "format": "image",
  "format_code": 2,
  "html": "<img src=\"https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/14056061733995238543\" height=\"511\" width=\"724\">",
  "image_url": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/14056061733995238543",
  "video_url": null,
  "first_shown": "2025-08-12T00:00:00Z",
  "last_shown": "2025-12-05T00:00:00Z",
  "region": "US",
  "region_id": 2250,
  "variant_count": 2,
  "creative_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR10068536946902171649"
}

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Use cases

• Competitor ad spy — see every Google ad a brand has run in the last year
• Agency reporting — track competitor creatives across Search, YouTube, Display in one feed
• Dropshipping research — find winning creatives by searching product / brand keywords
• DSA compliance research — pull the official transparency record for any advertiser
• AI training data — collect labeled creatives (format, advertiser, region) at scale

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Use the actor via API

Python:

import requests

run = requests.post(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dltik~google-ads-transparency/runs",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"},
    json={
        "queries": ["nike", "adidas"],
        "region": "US",
        "topAdvertisersPerQuery": 3,
        "maxResultsPerAdvertiser": 50
    }
).json()
print("Run started:", run["data"]["id"])

curl:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dltik~google-ads-transparency/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"queries":["nike"],"region":"US","maxResultsPerAdvertiser":50}'

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FAQ

Do I need a Google account or API key? No. The Ad Transparency Center is a public DSA transparency tool. The scraper hits its internal RPC directly — no login, no cookies, no token.

Why does the scraper return at most 100 ads per advertiser? That's the Google Ad Transparency API's per-call cap. The public cursor isn't exposed, so to cover larger advertisers run queries by additional regions or date filters.

Can I find an advertiser ID without the autocomplete? Yes — open the advertiser on https://adstransparency.google.com and copy the AR... ID from the URL into advertiserIds.

Does the scraper need a proxy? No. The endpoint is public and accepts cold requests from Apify datacenter IPs. The residential-proxy toggle is provided only for very large or repeated runs.

What's the difference vs Google's official Ad Transparency search? This actor returns the same data the official search shows, but in machine-readable JSON ready for spreadsheets, CRMs, BI tools, or AI pipelines.

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Connect with Make, Zapier & n8n

This actor integrates with any automation platform via the Apify API.

Make (Integromat)

1. Add an Apify module in your Make scenario
2. Select Run Actor → choose this actor
3. Configure the input (paste your JSON)
4. Add a Get Dataset Items module to retrieve results
5. Send creatives to Google Sheets, HubSpot, Slack, or any downstream app

Zapier

1. Use the Apify integration on Zapier
2. Trigger: Actor Run Finished
3. Action: Get Dataset Items
4. Pipe results into your CRM, email tool, or spreadsheet

n8n

1. Add an HTTP Request node to call the Apify API
2. POST to https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dltik~google-ads-transparency/runs
3. Wait for completion, then fetch dataset items
4. Route results into any n8n node

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