Google Ads Transparency Scraper — Creatives & Run Dates

What is Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

Google Ads Transparency Scraper turns a company domain, an advertiser name or an advertiser page link into one row per ad from the Google Ads Transparency Center. Each row contains the source advertiser and creative IDs, format, and available preview/date fields. Missing fields remain absent. A source page lets you check each creative. Marketers, agencies, competitive-intelligence teams and AI agents use it to see which ads a competitor runs on Google Search, YouTube and display, with no Google account or API key.

Why marketers use it for competitor ad research

• Any competitor, three ways in. Search by domain like hubspot.com, by advertiser name like Coca-Cola, or paste an advertiser page link.
• Reported date ranges. first_shown_date and last_shown_date preserve dates returned by the source. Availability varies by route, region and creative variation; duration alone does not establish performance.
• Format and market filters. Narrow to text, image or video ads, and to a country such as US, GB, DE or ANY.
• Verified advertiser identity. advertiser_name and advertiser_id come from Google's own verification, so related brands stay separate.
• Pay per ad. One charge per ad saved.

How to use it

All recent ads for a competitor's domain in the US:

{
  "searchQuery": "hubspot.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "countryCode": "US",
  "maxResults": 50
}

Image ads by advertiser name, worldwide:

{
  "searchQuery": "Shopify",
  "searchType": "advertiserName",
  "countryCode": "ANY",
  "adFormat": "IMAGE",
  "maxResults": 25
}

Input	What it controls
searchQuery	A domain such as nike.com, or a brand name such as Nike
searchType	domain for a website, advertiserName for a brand name
startUrls	Advertiser page links, such as https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233?region=US
countryCode	Two-letter country code, or ANY for all regions (default US)
adFormat	ALL, TEXT, IMAGE or VIDEO
maxResults	Ads to save (default 50)
enrichDetails	Visit each ad's page for extra detail (default on)

Want the ads running on Google Search right now for a keyword? Continue with Google Ads Scraper linked below.

Output: Google ads data you receive

A real row from a nike.com search in the US:

{
  "advertiser_name": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiser_id": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiser_domain": "nike.com",
  "ad_id": "CR17050812151263920129",
  "ad_format": "TEXT",
  "ad_image_url": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/10633112158864726501",
  "regions_shown": ["US"],
  "first_shown_date": "2022-11-30",
  "last_shown_date": "2026-10-01",
  "is_political_ad": false,
  "scraped_at": "2026-10-01T06:12:34.809Z",
  "source_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR17050812151263920129"
}

Field	What it contains
advertiser_name, advertiser_id	Google-verified advertiser and its ID
advertiser_domain	The domain you searched, in domain mode
ad_id, ad_format	Creative ID and format: TEXT, IMAGE or VIDEO
ad_image_url	Preview image of the ad, when Google provides one
regions_shown	Regions explicitly exposed by the detail page; empty when unavailable. The requested country filter is reported in OUTPUT.countryCode.
first_shown_date, last_shown_date	Valid source-reported dates in YYYY-MM-DD form, when available. Public detail pages may expose only last shown.
is_political_ad	Whether Google lists it as a political ad
source_url, scraped_at	The ad's Transparency Center page and collection time

Preview images are optional. A missing image does not establish that an ad is invalid; text/video creatives and preview-only renderers may not expose a direct image. The browser route associates media only with that creative’s own card. Headline/body copy, landing pages and platform values remain absent unless the source supplies them.

OUTPUT in the default key-value store reports the run outcome, ads saved, the advertiser matched for name searches, and routeServed (which route saved the ads).

How it works

1. Own data route (primary). The Actor asks the Transparency Center for the creatives of the domain or advertiser through the same JSON requests its public website uses, with the country and format filters applied by Google, page by page up to maxResults. Advertiser names are first matched to Google's advertiser ID through the site's own advertiser search. With enrichDetails, each creative's own detail record adds the regions where it was shown. Requests go through Apify Proxy (datacenter first, residential if Google rate-limits the first attempt).
2. Own browser route. Only if the first route is blocked and saved nothing, the Actor opens the Transparency Center page in its own browser and reads the creative cards.
3. Fallback provider. Only if both own routes saved nothing and neither confirmed an empty result, the Actor calls a specialist Ads Transparency Actor on Apify. A real empty result from an own route (no ads for that domain, country and format) ends as VALID_EMPTY without the fallback.

Example workflow: a quarterly competitor ad review

A SaaS marketing team reviews four competitors each quarter. They run each domain with maxResults at 100 and sort by first_shown_date to see which ads have run the longest. They open the long-running source_url pages to read the copy and note the angles that stick. They compare ad_format counts to see who is investing in video. Then they check Google Ads Scraper for their core keywords to see which of those ads appear in live search results.

Pricing

This Actor uses Pay per event plus Apify platform usage. You pay one event per ad saved, plus a start event and the platform usage of the run. The live Pricing tab on this page shows the current price.

• 4 competitors × 25 ads = 100 ad events + platform usage.
• maxResults caps each run, so it doubles as a cost ceiling.
• The own routes add no charges beyond this Actor's events and platform usage.
• Only when the fallback provider is used (see How it works), it runs as a separate Actor in your account with its own small per-ad charge shown in your usage. It bills the source records it retrieves, including records excluded by a format filter; format filters there inspect up to five times the remaining result limit (maximum 1,000 source records per call), and a partial outcome identifies that scan cap. One combined budget bounds those child charges (OUTPUT.providerBudgetUsd); the parent Max charge setting applies to the parent run only. OUTPUT.providerFallbackCalls shows whether it was used.

Ad research with AI agents (MCP)

Connect this Actor to an AI agent through Apify MCP and ask in plain language:

Show me the video ads Salesforce has run in the US, and which ones have been running the longest.

Agent checklist:

1. Use searchType: "domain" for a website, or "advertiserName" for a brand name.
2. Set countryCode and adFormat to match the question; keep maxResults small for quick answers.
3. Read rows with get-dataset-items; sort by first_shown_date for long-running ads.
4. Share source_url so the user can view each ad.

API example

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/khadinakbar~google-ads-transparency-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchQuery": "canva.com", "searchType": "domain", "countryCode": "US", "adFormat": "VIDEO", "maxResults": 20}'

Related ad intelligence tools from the same developer

Your next step	Use	Why
When you then want live search ads for a keyword	Google Ads Scraper	Sponsored results with copy and position
When you research Facebook and Instagram ads	Meta Ad Library Scraper	Meta ad creatives and run dates
When you research TikTok ads	TikTok Ads Scraper	Top TikTok ads with performance signals
When you research Pinterest ads	Pinterest Ads Library Scraper	Pinterest ad creatives and disclosed targeting

Best results

Starting situation	Helpful action	Expected outcome
You know the competitor's website	Use searchType: "domain"	Every ad tied to that domain
A brand with many local entities	Use searchType: "advertiserName"	Ads from the best-matching advertiser and its related accounts
A known advertiser page	Paste it into startUrls	Ads from exactly that advertiser
Researching one market	Set countryCode	Ads shown in that country

Builder's note

I found that the most useful signal in a competitor's ads is how long each one keeps running, so every row carries first_shown_date and last_shown_date. I learned that brand names often map to several verified advertisers, so name searches pick the advertiser with the most ads and keep each advertiser's own name on its rows.

FAQ

Do I need a Google Ads account?

No. The Transparency Center is public, and the Actor needs no login or API key.

Does it show ad text and headlines?

Rows include the ad's preview image when Google provides one, plus a source_url that opens the full ad in the Transparency Center.

Which countries can I filter by?

Any two-letter country code Google supports, such as US, GB, DE, FR or IN, or ANY for all regions.

What happens if an advertiser has no ads?

You get zero rows and an outcome of VALID_EMPTY, at no ad charge.

Can I track a competitor every week?

Yes. Save your input as a task and schedule it; compare ad_id values between runs to spot new ads.

Responsible use

This Actor collects public ad information from the Google Ads Transparency Center. Use it for competitive research and follow Google's terms. Read Apify's guide on whether web scraping is legal for more context. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. This independent Actor is not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by Google. For questions or bugs, open a ticket in the Issues tab.