🔍 Google Ads Transparency Scraper — No Login Required

What does Google Ads Transparency Scraper do?

Google Ads Transparency Scraper extracts all active and historical ads from Google's Ads Transparency Center — a public database of every ad Google has ever served. Search any competitor's domain or brand name and get structured data on every ad they're running: copy, headlines, formats, landing pages, regions, platforms, and run dates. No Google account, no API key, no login required.

Why use Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

• Competitor ad intelligence — See every ad your competitors are running across Google Search, Display, YouTube, and Maps, updated in real-time.
• Free alternative to AdSpy / BigSpy — Tools like AdSpy, BigSpy, and SpyFu charge $100–500/month for similar data. This actor gives you the same Google-sourced data at a fraction of the cost.
• AI-ready structured output — Returns clean JSON that Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI agents can immediately analyze, summarize, and act on.
• No authentication required — Google's Transparency Center is fully public. No cookies, no sessions, no risk of account bans.

What data can Google Ads Transparency Scraper extract?

Field	Type	Description
advertiser_name	string	Company name as shown in Google's database
advertiser_id	string	Google's unique advertiser ID (e.g. AR12345678)
ad_headline	string	Main headline of the ad creative
ad_text	string	Body copy / description of the ad
ad_format	string	TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO, or SHOPPING
ad_image_url	string	URL of the ad image (for display ads)
ad_video_url	string	YouTube URL (for video ads)
destination_url	string	Landing page users are taken to
regions_shown	array	Countries where this ad is running (e.g. ["US", "GB"])
platforms	array	Google platforms: GOOGLE_SEARCH, YOUTUBE, DISPLAY, MAPS
first_shown_date	string	Date the ad first started running
last_shown_date	string	Date the ad was last seen
is_political_ad	boolean	Whether Google classifies it as a political ad
scraped_at	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of extraction
source_url	string	The Transparency Center URL scraped

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How to Scrape Google Ads Transparency Center

1. Basic competitor research (search by domain)

Enter your competitor's domain in Advertiser Domain or Name, set Search By to "Domain", and click Start.

{
  "searchQuery": "nike.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "countryCode": "US",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxResults": 100
}

2. Find all text ads for a brand

{
  "searchQuery": "amazon.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "countryCode": "US",
  "adFormat": "TEXT",
  "maxResults": 50
}

3. Scrape display/image ads for a specific market

{
  "searchQuery": "booking.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "countryCode": "GB",
  "adFormat": "IMAGE",
  "maxResults": 30
}

4. Use the API (JavaScript example)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('USERNAME/google-ads-transparency-scraper').call({
    searchQuery: 'shopify.com',
    searchType: 'domain',
    countryCode: 'US',
    adFormat: 'ALL',
    maxResults: 200,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Scraped ${items.length} ads`);
items.forEach(ad => {
    console.log(`[${ad.ad_format}] ${ad.ad_headline} → ${ad.destination_url}`);
});

5. Use the API (Python example)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("USERNAME/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "searchQuery": "hubspot.com",
        "searchType": "domain",
        "countryCode": "US",
        "maxResults": 100,
    }
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"[{item['ad_format']}] {item.get('ad_headline')} → {item.get('destination_url')}")

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	No	example.com	Advertiser domain (e.g. nike.com) or brand name (e.g. Nike)
searchType	string	No	domain	How to search: domain or advertiserName
countryCode	string	No	US	ISO 2-letter country code (e.g. US, GB, CA, DE)
adFormat	string	No	ALL	Filter by format: ALL, TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO
maxResults	integer	No	50	Maximum ads to extract (1–1000)
startUrls	array	No	[]	Direct Transparency Center URLs for specific advertisers

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Output Format

Each ad is returned as a JSON object in the default dataset. All fields are always present (missing values use null, not undefined or empty string).

{
    "advertiser_name": "Nike",
    "advertiser_id": "AR15497895950085120",
    "advertiser_domain": "nike.com",
    "ad_id": "CR1234567890",
    "ad_headline": "Nike Running Shoes - Shop Now",
    "ad_text": "Find your perfect pair. Free shipping on orders over $50.",
    "ad_format": "TEXT",
    "ad_image_url": null,
    "ad_video_url": null,
    "destination_url": "https://www.nike.com/running",
    "regions_shown": ["US", "CA"],
    "platforms": ["GOOGLE_SEARCH"],
    "first_shown_date": "2024-01-15",
    "last_shown_date": null,
    "is_political_ad": false,
    "scraped_at": "2026-04-13T10:00:00.000Z",
    "source_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/?domain=nike.com&region=US"
}

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Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.003 per ad scraped.

Ads Scraped	Cost
10 ads	$0.03
50 ads	$0.15
100 ads	$0.30
500 ads	$1.50
1,000 ads	$3.00

Compare that to AdSpy ($149/month), BigSpy ($99/month), or SpyFu ($39/month) — all of which charge fixed monthly fees whether you use them or not. With this actor, you only pay for the data you actually extract.

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Use Cases

Competitive Intelligence

Track every ad your competitors are running before your next campaign launch. Identify their top-performing ad copy patterns, formats, and landing pages. Use the first_shown_date to detect when competitors start new campaigns.

Ad Copy Research

Analyze what messaging is working in your industry. Extract 200+ ads from 10 competitors in minutes and feed the data into Claude or ChatGPT to identify patterns, winning hooks, and untapped angles.

Brand Monitoring

Monitor whether any advertiser is running ads using your brand name or trademarked terms. Set searchQuery to your brand and check ad_headline and ad_text for mentions.

Agency Benchmarking

Before a client pitch, pull their competitor's full ad library and present it alongside your proposed strategy. Takes 30 seconds instead of hours of manual research.

Market Research

Analyze political ad trends, seasonal campaign patterns, or geographic targeting strategies across any industry vertical.

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Works Great With

• Google Maps Scraper — Find businesses in a market, then research their ad strategies with this actor.
• Google Search Results Scraper — See organic rankings alongside this actor's view of what competitors are spending on ads.
• Website Content Crawler — After finding competitor landing pages via this actor, crawl them for full content analysis.

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FAQ

Does this require a Google account or API key? No. Google's Ads Transparency Center is a fully public resource. No login, no cookies, no Google account required.

How current is the data? Google's Transparency Center shows ads that are currently running or were recently running. Data is sourced directly from Google's own database and is as current as what Google exposes publicly.

Why did my run return 0 results? This can happen if: (1) the advertiser hasn't run ads recently, (2) the domain you entered doesn't match Google's records exactly (try adding/removing "www."), or (3) the advertiser uses a different brand domain. Try searchType: "advertiserName" with the brand name instead.

Can I scrape multiple competitors in one run? Currently each run searches one advertiser. For bulk scraping, use the Apify API to trigger multiple runs in parallel — one per competitor.

Will the actor break when Google updates the Transparency Center? The actor uses both API response interception and DOM fallback extraction, making it resilient to UI redesigns. If Google makes significant changes, an update will be published within 48 hours.

Is this legal? Google's Ads Transparency Center is a public, government-mandated transparency tool. Scraping publicly available web data for research and competitive intelligence is generally lawful. Always review the terms of service and applicable laws for your jurisdiction.

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Legal Disclaimer

This actor is intended for lawful data collection from publicly available sources. Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws, terms of service, and data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.). The data extracted comes from Google's own public Ads Transparency Center, which Google operates to provide public accountability for advertising on its platforms.

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Export scraped data, run the scraper via API, schedule and monitor runs, or integrate with other tools.