# Google Ads Transparency Scraper 💰$0.80/1k ads (`flyingnimbus/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Get competitors' Google ads (Search, YouTube, Display) from the Ads Transparency Center by domain, advertiser ID or name. Text, image, video, first/last shown, regions. Fast HTTP, no browser, $0.80 per 1,000 ads.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Rakshit Solanki](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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

Pull ads from the **Google Ads Transparency Center** (adstransparency.google.com): Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping and Maps ads from any advertiser. Track competitors' creatives, see when ads started and stopped running, and where they ran.

### Why this one

- **Fast and cheap:** uses the Transparency Center's own JSON endpoints. No headless browser, so runs finish in seconds and cost very little.
- **Reliable:** retries with a fresh proxy session, never crashes the whole run, and failed targets are reported as rows (not charged).
- **Four ways to search:** domain (`nike.com`), advertiser ID (`AR...`), advertiser name, or a Transparency Center URL.
- **Filters:** region (country), format (text / image / video), last-shown date.
- **Optional details:** ad text (headline, description, display URL), all image links, YouTube video links, and every region the ad ran in, with last-shown date per region.

### Input example

```json
{
  "domains": ["nike.com"],
  "searchTerms": ["Adidas"],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "all",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 200,
  "includeAdDetails": true
}
```

### Output (one row per ad)

```json
{
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR07396437088238829569",
  "format": "IMAGE",
  "firstShown": "2024-04-05T19:34:32+00:00",
  "lastShown": "2026-10-02T23:31:25+00:00",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/6050699815843337416",
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR07396437088238829569?region=US",
  "region": "US",
  "estimatedTotalAds": "500-600",
  "adTextLines": ["Nike", "nike.com", "The Official Nike Site", "..."],
  "youtubeUrls": [],
  "regionsShown": [{"region": "US", "lastShown": "2026-10-02"}]
}
```

`adTextLines`, `imageUrls`, `youtubeUrls`, `regionsShown` and `variantCount` appear only with **Include ad details**.

### Pricing

Pay per event:

- **Ad** — $0.0008 per ad saved.
- **Ad details** — $0.0004 extra per ad, only when *Include ad details* is on and the details were fetched.
- No start fee. Targets with no ads and failed targets are free.

### Notes and limits

- Data is what Google publishes in the Transparency Center. Google does not publish spend or impressions for most ads outside political ads in some regions.
- `estimatedTotalAds` is Google's own range estimate for the whole query.
- Ad text comes from Google's ad preview and may contain template placeholders such as `<Rating (Reviews)>` for local ads.
- Region codes: 2-letter ISO country codes for ~65 major countries, or `anywhere`.

### More actors by flyingnimbus

All pay-per-event and fast. Failed or empty runs are free:

- [Google Trends](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-trends-scraper)
- [Google Flights](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-flights-scraper)
- [Google Hotels](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-hotels-scraper)
- [AI Search Visibility Tracker](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/ai-search-visibility-tracker)
- [Google Jobs](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-jobs-scraper)
- [Google Shopping](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/google-shopping-scraper)
- [Career Site Jobs](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/career-site-jobs-scraper)
- [YouTube Search](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/youtube-search-intelligence-scraper)
- [Hacker News](https://apify.com/flyingnimbus/hackernews-intelligence-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

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

Advertiser websites, e.g. nike.com. Returns ads that point to this domain.

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

Transparency Center advertiser IDs (start with AR), e.g. AR16735076323512287233.

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

Advertiser names, e.g. 'Nike, Inc.'. The best match (exact name first, then most ads) is used.

## `advertisersPerSearchTerm` (type: `integer`):

How many matching advertisers to scrape for each name search.

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

URLs like https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR...?region=US or ...?domain=nike.com. Region and format in the URL are respected.

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

2-letter country code (US, CA, GB, DE...) or 'anywhere'.

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

Only return ads of this format.

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

Stop after this many ads for each domain/advertiser.

## `lastShownAfter` (type: `string`):

Skip ads whose last-shown date is before this date. Leave empty for all.

## `includeAdDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also fetch ad text (headlines, descriptions), all image and YouTube video links, and every region the ad ran in. Charged as an extra 'ad-details' event.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel targets.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries per request with a fresh proxy session.

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

Apify datacenter proxy works fine.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "advertisersPerSearchTerm": 1,
  "region": "anywhere",
  "adFormat": "all",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 100,
  "includeAdDetails": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "maxRetries": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per ad creative.

## `overview` (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 = {
    "domains": [
        "nike.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("flyingnimbus/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 = { "domains": ["nike.com"] }

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

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,flyingnimbus/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/eJxaWBkibCMbmNyzI/builds/c932tVbVagWhMQNeg/openapi.json