# Google Ads Transparency Scraper – Competitor Ads by Domain (`musclenerd/google-ads-transparency`) Actor

Get the ads a company runs on Google, from the public Ads Transparency Center. Search by domain, advertiser ID or name, filter by country and dates. Several queries per run.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/musclenerd/google-ads-transparency.md
- **Developed by:** [andrei franc](https://apify.com/musclenerd) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 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.

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

Get the ads a company runs on Google, straight from the public [Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com). Give the Actor one or many domains, advertiser IDs or names and it returns one clean dataset row per ad: advertiser, creative ID, format, first and last shown dates, and links to the ad and its image or preview.

This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google. It reads only information that Google shows publicly for any visitor of the Transparency Center.

### What you can do with it

- **Competitor analysis**: see how many ads a competitor runs, since when, and in which format.
- **Agency reporting**: pull the ads of many clients or prospects in one run, with a stable output you can feed into a spreadsheet or BI tool.
- **Advertising research**: track how long creatives stay live (`approxDaysShown`) to spot what works.
- **Brand monitoring**: check which advertisers use your brand domain in their ads.

### Input

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `queries` | List of domains (`nike.com`), advertiser IDs (`AR…`) or advertiser names. A name uses the first advertiser the Transparency Center suggests. |
| `region` | Only ads shown in one country (US, GB, IT, DE, FR, ES, NL, CA, AU, BR, IN, JP, MX, PL) or `anywhere`. |
| `dateFrom` | Keep ads last shown on or after this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). |
| `dateTo` | Keep ads first shown on or before this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). |
| `maxAdsPerQuery` | Cap per query, default 100, maximum 10,000. You are charged only for ads returned. |

Example:

```json
{
  "queries": ["nike.com", "AR04545223091738902529"],
  "region": "IT",
  "dateFrom": "2026-01-01",
  "maxAdsPerQuery": 200
}
```

### Output

One item per ad:

```json
{
  "query": "nike.com",
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR03701567364479844353",
  "adFormat": "text",
  "firstShown": "2023-11-17",
  "lastShown": "2026-10-28",
  "approxDaysShown": 1076,
  "domain": "nike.com",
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR03701567364479844353",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/10943100069817939881",
  "previewUrl": null
}
```

`advertiserName` is the advertiser's public name as Google shows it in the Transparency Center. `adFormat` is `text`, `image` or `video` as classified by the Transparency Center. `imageUrl` is filled when the creative is an image, `previewUrl` when Google renders it. A `SUMMARY` record in the key-value store lists ads and errors per query.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.001 per ad** ($1 per 1,000 ads). No charge for ads you do not receive, and no start fee beyond the standard Apify one. Platform usage is tiny: about 300 ads cost roughly $0.002 of compute.

### Limits and honest notes

- Data is shown as the Transparency Center provides it. Completeness is not guaranteed, and Google may change its internal interface at any time; if the interface changes, the Actor fails clearly.
- A domain query returns ads linked to that domain, which can belong to several advertisers. Use an advertiser ID for one exact advertiser.
- The date filters are applied to the ads returned; the country filter is applied by Google. There is no platform (Search, YouTube, Maps…) filter in this version.
- The Actor makes about one request per second and does not use proxies, logins or any workaround for blocks. If the site answers 403 or a captcha, the Actor stops asking for more: the run can still end as SUCCEEDED with partial results, and the `SUMMARY` record shows which queries were blocked (`blocked`). You are charged only for the ads actually returned.
- No personal data is collected: only advertiser names and ad creatives that Google publishes.

### Use responsibly

You are responsible for how you use the data. Respect Google's terms and the law of your country. Questions or a broken run? Open an issue on this Actor; it is maintained by an AI agent, which will say so in its replies.

### More Actors by the same developer

- `musclenerd/pdf-tables-extractor` – extract tables from PDF files.
- `musclenerd/ocr-text-extractor` – text from images and scanned PDFs.

# Actor input Schema

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

One or more of: a domain (nike.com), an advertiser ID (AR followed by digits) or an advertiser name. A domain returns the ads that point to it; a name uses the first advertiser suggested by the Transparency Center.

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

Only ads shown in this country. 'anywhere' = no filter.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Keeps ads whose last shown date is on or after this day.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

YYYY-MM-DD. Keeps ads whose first shown date is on or before this day.

## `maxAdsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on ads returned (and charged) for each query.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "region": "anywhere",
  "maxAdsPerQuery": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `ads` (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 = {
    "queries": [
        "apify.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("musclenerd/google-ads-transparency").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": ["apify.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("musclenerd/google-ads-transparency").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": [
    "apify.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call musclenerd/google-ads-transparency --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,musclenerd/google-ads-transparency"
        }
    }
}
```

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/rDseo0rkB3WYmWNVb/builds/gI3uH0o7rkefFI8py/openapi.json