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

See every Google ad a company runs from just its website domain: ad previews (image, video, text), first and last shown dates, advertiser name and verification. Bulk domains, country and platform filters, "only new ads" monitoring and a one-row summary mode for lead lists. No proxies or browser.

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

## Pricing

from $1.20 / 1,000 ad results

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

Type a company's website, get every ad it runs on Google. This Actor reads Google's public **Ads Transparency Center** and returns each ad with its preview image, format, the dates it was first and last shown, and the advertiser behind it.

No Google URLs to copy, no browser, no proxies. Just domains in, ads out.

### What you can do with it

- **Spy on competitors' ads:** see which ads a rival runs right now, since when, and in which format.
- **Monitor new ads:** turn on **Only new ads** and schedule the Actor daily or weekly. Each run returns only ads you have not seen yet.
- **Qualify leads:** switch to **Domain summary** to get one row per company: does it advertise on Google, how many ads, which formats, and when the latest one ran. This is a strong buying signal for agencies, SaaS sales teams and AI SDR agents.
- **Protect your brand:** results include *every* advertiser whose ads lead to the domain, not only the brand itself: resellers, agencies, affiliates and impostors. Spot unknown advertisers using your name.
- **Build ad swipe files:** collect preview images of ads in your niche, filtered by country, platform (Search, YouTube, Shopping, Play, Maps) and format.

### Input

| Field | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `domains` | Company websites, e.g. `nike.com` (full URLs are fine). Up to 100 per run. |
| `mode` | `ads` (one record per ad) or `summary` (one record per domain). |
| `max_ads_per_domain` | Up to 120 most recent ads per domain (default 40). |
| `country` | Two-letter code, e.g. `US`. Empty = ads shown anywhere. |
| `platform` | `all`, `google_search`, `youtube`, `google_shopping`, `google_play`, `google_maps`. |
| `format` | `all`, `text`, `image`, `video`. |
| `date_from` / `date_to` | Only ads shown in this date range. |
| `only_new_ads` | Return only ads your earlier runs did not return yet. |

```json
{ "domains": ["nike.com", "adidas.com"], "country": "US", "max_ads_per_domain": 40 }
```

### Output (ads mode)

```json
{
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "advertiser_name": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiser_id": "AR0...",
  "advertiser_verified": true,
  "ad_id": "CR0...",
  "format": "image",
  "first_shown": "2026-09-01T08:00:00Z",
  "last_shown": "2026-10-13T08:00:00Z",
  "days_running": 42,
  "last_shown_days_ago": 1,
  "preview_image_url": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/...",
  "preview_url": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/...",
  "transparency_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR0.../creative/CR0...",
  "country": "US",
  "platform": "all"
}
```

Open `transparency_url` to see the ad as Google shows it. Text and image ads come with a `preview_image_url` (the rendered ad, including its text); some video and HTML ads come with a `preview_url` instead, which is Google's embeddable preview script. Google does not publish spend or impression numbers for commercial ads.

### Output (summary mode)

```json
{
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "runs_google_ads": true,
  "total_ads": 1240,
  "ads_sampled": 40,
  "text_ads": 12, "image_ads": 9, "video_ads": 19,
  "advertisers": ["Nike, Inc."],
  "latest_ad_shown": "2026-10-13T08:00:00Z"
}
```

### Pricing

Pay only for what you get:

- **$0.005 per domain checked** (also when the domain runs no ads: that is an answer too).
- **$0.0015 per ad returned** ($1.50 per 1,000 ads).
- Summary mode is charged per domain only.

The Actor never goes over the maximum cost you set for a run. If Google or our data source fails, you are not charged for that domain.

**Free plan:** try it on your first domain with up to 5 ads, free.

### Use with AI agents, n8n and Make

Call it from the Apify MCP server, n8n's Apify node, Make or the Apify API. Summary mode keeps answers short, so agents can check hundreds of companies without long outputs.

### FAQ

**Why does a domain return no ads?** It does not advertise on Google for the chosen filters, or it advertises under a different domain. Try without country or platform filters.

**How fresh is the data?** Each run reads Google's Ads Transparency Center live.

**Is this legal?** The data is published by Google for transparency. It contains no personal data about people.

# Actor input Schema

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

Company websites, one per line, for example "nike.com". Full URLs are fine too. Up to 100 per run.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

"ads": one record per ad (preview image, dates, links). "summary": one compact record per domain (does it advertise, how many ads, which formats, latest ad), charged per domain only. Summary is ideal for lead lists and AI agents.

## `max_ads_per_domain` (type: `integer`):

Most recent ads to return for each domain (ads mode). Up to 120.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown in this country, as a two-letter code such as US, GB or DE. Leave empty for ads shown anywhere.

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

Only ads shown on this Google platform.

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

Only ads of this format.

## `date_from` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Set together with "Shown until".

## `date_to` (type: `string`):

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

## `only_new_ads` (type: `boolean`):

Return only ads that earlier runs of yours did not return yet, for the same domain and filters. Schedule the Actor daily or weekly to get alerted about new competitor ads. You still pay the per-domain lookup.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "mode": "ads",
  "max_ads_per_domain": 40,
  "platform": "all",
  "format": "all",
  "only_new_ads": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Dataset items: one record per ad, or one per domain in summary mode.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Outcome of the run (COMPLETE, NO_DATA, PARTIAL_SPENDING_LIMIT, FREE_PLAN_LIMITED, ...), domains checked and ads returned.

# 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("hirepulse/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("hirepulse/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 hirepulse/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hirepulse/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/BK8VWeNgdVZNhsSfC/builds/IGI3JO6zTHvXfeQAX/openapi.json