# Google Ads Transparency Scraper: Ad Copy OCR (`kyungminlee/ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

See every ad a competitor runs on Google: search advertisers by name or domain and pull hundreds of ads per run, no browser. Each ad has creative text (OCR for image ads), format, regions, first/last shown dates, video IDs and advertiser details. JSON/CSV export, API, weekly schedules.

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

## Pricing

from $2.10 / 1,000 ads

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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### What does Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper do?

**Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper** answers "what ads is this company running right now?" without a browser: search an advertiser by name or domain (or paste advertiser IDs/URLs) and get every ad Google shows in its public [Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com), including text extracted from image ads by OCR, which the Center itself does not expose as text.

Each ad is one record: `adId`, `advertiserId`, `advertiserName`, `format` (text, image, video), `adText` / `ocrText`, `imageUrl`, `videoId`, `regions`, `firstShown`, `lastShown`, `topic` and `detailUrl`; advertiser records add legal name, verification and domain. Export JSON/CSV, call the API, or schedule weekly runs and pipe new creatives to Slack, Sheets or your ad-intelligence dashboard.

### Why use Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper?

- **Competitor ad intelligence**: see exactly which ads a competitor is running, how long each has been live and where it is shown.
- **Creative research**: collect hundreds of ad headlines and descriptions from your industry to inspire your own copy.
- **Agency reporting**: monitor client and competitor accounts weekly and push new ads into Slack, Sheets or a dashboard.
- **Brand protection and compliance**: detect advertisers using your brand or domain, or audit political ads.
- **Market research and AI training data**: build datasets of ad copy, formats and run lengths across thousands of advertisers.

### How to scrape Google Ads Transparency Center

1. Enter one or more **search queries** (`Nike`, `shopify.com`) or paste **advertiser IDs** (`AR0162519528…`) or Transparency Center URLs.
2. Set **Max ads per advertiser** (default 100) and optionally filter by **format**, **regions** or **date range**.
3. Keep **Extract ad copy** on to get headlines, descriptions, links and video IDs for each ad.
4. Click **Start**. Results appear in the **Dataset** tab; download as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or fetch them via the API.

The best-matching advertiser for each query is chosen automatically (verified advertisers with the most ads first). To scrape several matching companies — for example regional subsidiaries — raise **Max advertisers per query**. For exact control use advertiser IDs.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `searchQueries` | array | `["Shopify"]` | Brand names or domains, like the search box on the site |
| `advertiserIds` | array | – | IDs starting with `AR` |
| `advertiserUrls` | array | – | Transparency Center URLs containing an advertiser ID |
| `domains` | array | – | Website domains (`nike.com`): ads from *any* advertiser linking to that site |
| `maxAdvertisersPerQuery` | integer | `1` | How many matching advertisers to scrape per query |
| `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` | integer | `100` | Newest ads per advertiser |
| `format` | `ALL` / `TEXT` / `IMAGE` / `VIDEO` | `ALL` | Ad format filter |
| `regions` | array | – | ISO country codes, e.g. `["US", "GB"]` |
| `startDate`, `endDate` | `YYYY-MM-DD` | – | Only ads shown in this window |
| `topic` | `ALL` / `POLITICAL` | `ALL` | Political ads only |
| `includeAdText` | boolean | `true` | Extract copy, links, images and video IDs |
| `ocrAdText` | boolean | `true` | Read text ads (published only as screenshots) with OCR |
| `includeAdvertiserInfo` | boolean | `true` | Add one advertiser profile item per advertiser |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Apify Proxy on | Rotating IPs (recommended) |

Example:

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["Shopify", "Samsung Electronics"],
  "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 200,
  "format": "TEXT",
  "regions": ["US"],
  "startDate": "2026-01-01"
}
```

### Output

Each ad is one dataset item:

```json
{
  "type": "ad",
  "advertiserId": "AR01625195283841286145",
  "advertiserName": "Shopify Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR12345678901234567890",
  "format": "TEXT",
  "firstShown": "2026-06-02T14:11:05+00:00",
  "lastShown": "2026-09-12T21:40:19+00:00",
  "daysShown": 103,
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/1234567890",
  "adText": "Start Your Online Store - Try Shopify Free for 3 Days. Sell everywhere, all in one place.",
  "adLinks": ["https://www.shopify.com/free-trial"],
  "adImages": [],
  "youtubeVideoIds": [],
  "regions": [{ "geoId": 2840, "region": "US", "lastShownDate": 20260912 }],
  "url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR01625195283841286145/creative/CR12345678901234567890?region=anywhere"
}
```

Video ads include `youtubeVideoIds`, `youtubeUrls` and `videoThumbnailUrl`. Advertiser items (`"type": "advertiser"`) contain `advertiserName`, `legalName`, `region`, `headquartersRegion` and the profile URL.

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

### Data fields

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `advertiserId`, `advertiserName` | Verified advertiser identity from Google |
| `creativeId`, `url` | Unique ad ID and its public Transparency Center page |
| `format` | `TEXT`, `IMAGE` or `VIDEO` |
| `firstShown`, `lastShown`, `daysShown` | When the ad ran and for how long |
| `imageUrl` | Archived screenshot of the ad (text and image ads) |
| `adText`, `adTextSource` | Ad copy. Google publishes Search text ads only as screenshots, so they are read with OCR (`adTextSource: "ocr"`); HTML display ads are parsed directly (`"preview"`) |
| `adLinks`, `adImages` | Landing-page links and creative images found in HTML previews |
| `youtubeVideoIds`, `youtubeUrls`, `videoThumbnailUrl` | The YouTube video behind a video ad |
| `regions` | Countries where the ad was shown (when available) |

### How much does it cost to scrape Google Ads Transparency Center?

Pricing is **pay per event**: a small fee per ad, per extracted ad copy and per advertiser profile — no subscription. Scraping 1,000 ads with ad copy typically takes 2–4 minutes. Use **Max ads per advertiser**, the format filter and the date range to control cost; the Actor stops as soon as your run's maximum charge is reached.

### Tips

- Search by **domain** (`brand.com`) when a brand name is ambiguous; the domain suggestions are logged for every query.
- Large advertisers (tens of thousands of ads) are returned newest first, so a small `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` gives you their current campaigns.
- Schedule a weekly run with `startDate` set to last week to track only new ads.
- Google shows a CAPTCHA wall after a few dozen requests from one IP. Apify Proxy is on by default and IPs are rotated automatically.

### FAQ and disclaimers

**Which ads are included?** Everything Google publishes in its Transparency Center: ads from verified advertisers shown on Google services, typically since mid‑2023, kept for the period Google defines.

**Can I get impressions or spend?** Google only publishes spend and impression ranges for political ads; those fields are not available for regular ads.

**Is it legal?** The Actor collects data that Google makes publicly available to everyone without login. You are responsible for how you use it and for complying with applicable laws and Google's terms. This is an unofficial tool and is not affiliated with Google.

**Something is missing or broken?** Google occasionally changes the Transparency Center. Please open an issue in the **Issues** tab with your input and we will fix it quickly. Custom features (e.g. keyword search across all advertisers, alerts) are available on request.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Free-text searches, exactly like the search box on adstransparency.google.com. Brand names (`Nike`) or domains (`nike.com`). The best-matching advertisers are scraped (see *Max advertisers per query*).

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

Advertiser IDs starting with `AR` (from Ads Transparency URLs like `/advertiser/AR12345678901234567890`). Scraped in addition to search results.

## `advertiserUrls` (type: `array`):

Full URLs copied from adstransparency.google.com, e.g. `https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR.../?region=US`.

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

Website domains, e.g. `nike.com`. Returns ads from ANY advertiser that link to this domain (Google's 'search by website' view). Uses *Max ads per advertiser* as the limit per domain.

## `maxAdvertisersPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

How many matching advertisers to scrape for each search query (best matches first).

## `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of ads (creatives) to collect per advertiser, newest first. 40 ads per page.

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

Only return ads of this format.

## `regions` (type: `array`):

Only ads shown in these countries, as ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes (`US`, `GB`, `DE`, `KR`...). Empty = anywhere.

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

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

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

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

## `topic` (type: `string`):

`POLITICAL` restricts to election/political ads (where Google provides that view).

## `includeAdText` (type: `boolean`):

Extract the ad copy for each ad. Text ads are published by Google only as screenshots, so their text is read with OCR (see next option); video ads yield the YouTube video ID and thumbnail. One or two extra requests per ad, charged as a separate event only when something is extracted.

## `ocrAdText` (type: `boolean`):

Read the text of ads that Google publishes only as rendered screenshots (most Search text ads) with Tesseract OCR. Adds ~1 s per ad.

## `includeAdvertiserInfo` (type: `boolean`):

Push one `type: "advertiser"` item per advertiser with name, ID, legal name, region and approximate ad count.

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

Google shows a CAPTCHA wall after ~20 requests from one IP, so Apify Proxy (rotating datacenter IPs) is enabled by default. Keep it on unless you run very small jobs.

## `debug` (type: `boolean`):

Log raw responses for troubleshooting. Leave off.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "Shopify"
  ],
  "maxAdvertisersPerQuery": 1,
  "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
  "format": "ALL",
  "topic": "ALL",
  "includeAdText": true,
  "ocrAdText": true,
  "includeAdvertiserInfo": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "debug": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "Shopify"
    ],
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("kyungminlee/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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["Shopify"],
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("kyungminlee/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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "Shopify"
  ],
  "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call kyungminlee/ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,kyungminlee/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/o9WtweGyqISq4tKkg/builds/WcP1Qay07H6mu2FV7/openapi.json