# Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper (Search, Image & Video) (`keenedigitalstudio/ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Extract active and historical Google Ads from Google Ads Transparency Center via direct RPC API. Filter by advertiser domain, advertiser ID, region, and ad format (TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO). $0.75/1,000 results ($0.00075/item) with $0 start fee. Built by Keene Digital Studio.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/keenedigitalstudio/ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Keene Digital Studio](https://apify.com/keenedigitalstudio) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, SEO tools, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 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 Transparency Center Scraper (Search, Image & Video)

Extract active and historical Google Ads directly from the **Google Ads Transparency Center RPC API** (`SearchService/SearchCreatives` and `SearchService/SearchSuggestions`) without browser overhead.

Built by **Keene Digital Studio**.

***

### Why Choose This Scraper Over Legacy Incumbents?

| Feature | **Keene Digital Studio (`ads-transparency-scraper`)** | `solidcode/ads-transparency-scraper` |
|---|---|---|
| **Pricing** | **$0.75 / 1,000 results** (`$0.00075` / item) | $1.50 / 1,000 results + $1.00 / 1,000 starts |
| **Start Fee** | **$0.00** | $0.001 per start |
| **Architecture** | Direct Google RPC JSON (`anji/_/rpc/SearchService`) + DisplayAds Preview Decoder | Brittle headless browser automation |
| **Input Flexibility** | Advertiser Domains (`shopify.com`), Brand Names (`Grammarly`), or Advertiser IDs (`AR...`) | Rigid URL/ID requirements |
| **Ad Copy & Preview Extraction** | Decodes `displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com` preview scripts for headlines & images | Frequently misses dynamic creative assets |

***

### Key Capabilities

1. **Direct RPC Speed (`<1.5s` per query):** Queries `adstransparency.google.com/anji/_/rpc/SearchService/SearchCreatives` and `SearchSuggestions` directly via lightweight HTTP POST with automatic connection rotation.
2. **Flexible Inputs:**
   - **Advertiser Domains:** e.g., `shopify.com`, `nike.com`, `apple.com`, `grammarly.com`, `monday.com`, `hubspot.com`, `canva.com`, `wix.com`, `semrush.com`.
   - **Brand Names:** e.g., `Shopify`, `Nike`, `Samsung` (automatically resolved via `SearchSuggestions`).
   - **Google Advertiser IDs:** e.g., `AR01625195283841286145`.
3. **Region & Format Filtering:** Filter by 13 major ad delivery markets (`US`, `GB`, `DE`, `CA`, `AU`, `FR`, `IN`, `JP`, `BR`, `ES`, `IT`, `NL`, or `ANY`) and ad format (`ALL`, `TEXT`, `IMAGE`, `VIDEO`).
4. **Rich Creative Metadata:** Returns `advertiserId`, `advertiserName`, `creativeId`, `domain`, `adFormat`, `firstShownAt`, `lastShownAt`, `activeDaysSpan`, `totalActiveDaysReported`, `adHeadline`, `adBodyText`, `previewImageUrl`, `previewScriptUrl`, and `transparencyUrl`.

***

### Input Example

```json
{
  "queries": ["shopify.com", "nike.com"],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
  "enrichPreviewContent": true
}
```

### Output Example

```json
{
  "query": "shopify.com",
  "advertiserId": "AR01625195283841286145",
  "advertiserName": "Shopify Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR15013543342673756161",
  "domain": "shopify.com",
  "adFormat": "TEXT",
  "formatCode": 1,
  "region": "US",
  "regionGeoCode": 2840,
  "firstShownAt": "2022-08-13T07:00:00+00:00",
  "lastShownAt": "2026-10-26T23:47:30+00:00",
  "firstShownUnix": 1660374000,
  "lastShownUnix": 1793060050,
  "activeDaysSpan": 1535.7,
  "totalActiveDaysReported": 1362,
  "adHeadline": "Shopify Inc. (shopify.com) — TEXT Ad Creative",
  "adBodyText": "Verified TEXT creative CR15013543342673756161 by Shopify Inc. (shopify.com)",
  "previewImageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/3459011612371442214",
  "previewScriptUrl": null,
  "transparencyUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR01625195283841286145/creative/CR15013543342673756161?region=US",
  "verifiedAdvertiser": true,
  "sourceEndpoint": "SearchService/SearchCreatives",
  "elapsedMs": 642,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-26T23:55:00+00:00"
}
```

# Actor input Schema

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

List of advertiser domains (e.g., 'shopify.com', 'nike.com'), brand names (e.g., 'Grammarly', 'Canva'), or Google Advertiser IDs (e.g., 'AR01625195283841286145').

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

Target country code for ad delivery filtering in Google Ads Transparency Center.

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

Filter extracted creatives by ad format (ALL, TEXT, IMAGE, or VIDEO).

## `maxItemsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of ad creatives to extract per advertiser domain or query (1 to 200).

## `enrichPreviewContent` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, fetches and decodes Google's displayads-formats preview script for top creatives to extract visible ad headlines, body text, and thumbnail URLs.

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

Optional proxy settings. Not required for standard runs — direct RPC mode works out-of-the-box with automatic connection rotation.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "shopify.com",
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
  "enrichPreviewContent": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Full dataset of extracted Google Ads Transparency Center creatives.

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Tabular overview of advertiser creatives, formats, date ranges, and preview URLs.

# 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": [
        "shopify.com",
        "nike.com"
    ],
    "region": "US",
    "adFormat": "ALL",
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("keenedigitalstudio/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 = {
    "queries": [
        "shopify.com",
        "nike.com",
    ],
    "region": "US",
    "adFormat": "ALL",
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("keenedigitalstudio/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 '{
  "queries": [
    "shopify.com",
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call keenedigitalstudio/ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,keenedigitalstudio/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/06djVfoV2JKP27aoh/builds/izUHTiTF1Dv5N1yEI/openapi.json