Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper

Get the ads any company runs on Google Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping and Maps straight from the public Google Ads Transparency Center. For every ad you get the actual ad text (headline, description, call to action, display URL), the creative URLs (image, screenshot, video), first and last shown dates, and a link to the ad in the Transparency Center.

Track new ads from competitors: turn on Monitor changes, schedule the Actor, and each run gives you only the ads that are new or have stopped since the last run, with a summary per competitor.

A second mode bulk-checks which domains or advertisers run Google ads, one row per target with an approximate ad count, the advertiser names behind the ads and how recently they ran. Targets with no ads cost nothing.

No login, no cookies and no proxy needed.

What you can use it for

• Competitor research: see every headline and offer your competitors are testing right now, by country and format.
• Ad creative swipe files: collect image, video and search ads with their copy for inspiration or AI analysis.
• Lead generation for agencies: paste a list of prospect domains in Check mode and find out which ones advertise on Google (and which don't yet).
• Brand protection: spot other advertisers whose ads point to your domain.
• Competitor monitoring: schedule a daily or weekly run in Monitor changes mode to track new ads, and ads that stop running, for every competitor (see Monitor competitors).

Modes

Mode	What you get	Charged per
Ads (default)	One row per ad: copy, creatives, dates, link	ad saved
Check	One row per target: runs ads yes/no, ad count range, advertisers, latest dates	target that runs ads (no-ads, not-found and errors are free)
Ads + Monitor changes	Only new and stopped ads since the last run, plus one summary row per target	new or stopped ad saved (summary rows are free)

How to scrape ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center

Field	Description
mode	ads or check
targets	Domains (nike.com), advertiser names (HubSpot), advertiser IDs (AR13611357312189988865) or Transparency Center URLs
region	2-letter country code (US, GB, DE...) or anywhere
adFormat	all, text, image or video
dateFrom / dateTo	Only ads shown in this period
maxResults	Hard cap on ads saved (and charged) in the run
maxAdsPerTarget	Optional cap per target; by default maxResults is shared evenly, then leftovers are filled
includeAdText	Read headline, description, CTA and landing page (default on)
ocrImageAds	Also read text printed inside image ads (default off)
ocrLanguage	Language for reading text-ad screenshots (default: English + the chosen country's language)
includeRegions	Add the countries each ad ran in, with dates per country
monitorChanges	Output only changes since the last run (see below). Default off
monitorStoreName	Key-value store that remembers seen ads (default google-ads-monitor)
reportStopped	Also output ads that stopped running (default on)
stoppedAfterDays	Days without being shown before an ad counts as stopped (default 3)
baselineOutput	First run: all (current ads as new) or summary (just set the baseline)
monitorMaxAdsScanned	Most recently shown ads checked per target in each run (default 3,000)

Input example

{
  "mode": "ads",
  "targets": ["hubspot.com", "Shopify", "AR13611357312189988865"],
  "region": "US",
  "adFormat": "all",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Check mode:

{
  "mode": "check",
  "targets": ["notion.so", "canva.com", "hubspot.com", "my-prospect-shop.com"],
  "region": "US"
}

Output example (ads mode)

{
  "advertiserName": "Hubspot, Inc.",
  "advertiserId": "AR10072600183532683265",
  "domain": "hubspot.com",
  "format": "text",
  "headline": "HubSpot Free CRM - HubSpot Smart CRM",
  "description": "See how HubSpot Smart CRM can help you overcome your unique business challenges. Generate leads, close deals and create better customer experiences. No CC Required.",
  "displayUrl": "www.hubspot.com/",
  "sitelinks": ["HubSpot Pricing", "Get a Free HubSpot Demo", "Sign Up for Free"],
  "adText": "HubSpot\nHubSpot Free CRM - HubSpot Smart CRM\nSee how HubSpot Smart CRM can help you ...",
  "adTextSource": "ocr",
  "imageUrls": ["https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/4210016606399054755"],
  "snapshotImageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/4210016606399054755",
  "firstShown": "2023-03-01T08:12:44.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-10-19T16:41:25.000Z",
  "daysShown": 1270,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR10072600183532683265/creative/CR01996839078842073089?region=US",
  "input": "hubspot.com",
  "region": "US"
}

Video and Demand Gen ads also return longHeadline, callToAction, destinationUrl, videoUrl (YouTube or MP4) and videoTitle.

Output example (check mode)

{
  "input": "hubspot.com",
  "runsAds": true,
  "adCountMin": 1000,
  "adCountMax": 2000,
  "advertisers": [{ "id": "AR10072600183532683265", "name": "Hubspot, Inc.", "adsInSample": 29 }],
  "formatsInSample": { "text": 29, "video": 10, "image": 1 },
  "latestAdLastShown": "2026-10-19T17:00:32.000Z",
  "transparencyUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/?domain=hubspot.com&region=US",
  "status": "ok"
}

Monitor competitors: track new Google ads every day

Turn on Monitor changes (monitorChanges: true) to track new ads. The Actor remembers every ad it has seen for each target in a key-value store in your own Apify account (monitorStoreName), and each run outputs only what changed:

• New ads (changeType: "new"): ads that weren't there at the last check, with the full ad text, creatives and dates.
• Stopped ads (changeType: "stopped"): ads that were running at the last check and haven't been shown for stoppedAfterDays days. The row includes lastShown, lastSeenActiveAt and the headline we saved when the ad was new.
• One summary row per target (changeType: "summary"): counts of new, stopped, active and tracked ads, and whether this run set the baseline. Summary rows are free.

The first run sets the baseline. By default it outputs the currently running ads as "new" (up to maxResults). Set baselineOutput to summary to only record the baseline, with no ad rows and no ad charges. Either way, every running ad goes into the baseline, so the next run shows only real changes.

How to schedule it

1. Fill in your competitors' domains or advertiser names, turn on Monitor changes and pick a country if you only care about one market.
2. Click Save to save the input as a task, then create a Schedule (Apify Console → Schedules → Create) that runs this task daily or weekly.
3. Optional: add an integration (email, Slack, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make or a webhook) to the task so new ads are sent to you after each run. The Changes view of the dataset lists only new and stopped ads.

{
  "mode": "ads",
  "targets": ["competitor-one.com", "Competitor Two", "competitor-three.com"],
  "region": "US",
  "monitorChanges": true,
  "monitorStoreName": "my-competitors",
  "baselineOutput": "summary",
  "maxResults": 200
}

Example rows:

{ "changeType": "new", "advertiserName": "Example Software Inc.", "format": "text", "headline": "Example CRM - Free for Small Teams", "firstShown": "2026-03-07T04:41:57.000Z", "lastShown": "2026-10-19T01:33:26.000Z", "isActive": true, "detectedAt": "2026-10-20T06:00:04.000Z", "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR.../creative/CR...", "input": "example.com" }
{ "changeType": "summary", "input": "example.com", "isBaseline": false, "newAds": 1, "stoppedAds": 1, "activeAds": 2, "adsTracked": 3, "previousCheckAt": "2026-10-19T06:00:03.000Z" }

Good to know:

• Keep the same targets, country and format between runs. Each combination has its own baseline (key ads-<target>-<hash> in the store). Use a different monitorStoreName for each separate watchlist.
• Each run checks every ad shown since the last run (up to monitorMaxAdsScanned per target), so weekly schedules don't miss short campaigns.
• If a run hits maxResults or your maximum cost per run, the remaining new ads aren't marked as seen. They show up in the next run, so nothing is lost.
• Google updates "last shown" with about a day of delay, so a stopped ad is reported a few days after it stops (stoppedAfterDays).

Where the ad text comes from (adTextSource)

• ad-data: the structured fields of Google's ad preview (YouTube, Demand Gen, Discovery ads). Exact text.
• rendered-ad: the text of the rendered ad preview (search, Shopping and Maps ads). Exact text.
• ocr: Google keeps many search text ads only as a screenshot. The Actor reads it with on-board OCR (Tesseract). Very accurate on clean text ads, less so when the ad has product images next to the text. The screenshot URL is always included so you can check.
• video-title: video ads with no text overlay get the YouTube video title.

Some old or removed ads cannot be previewed by Google itself; those rows say so in note and still include the ad link.

How much does it cost?

Pay per event, no usage costs on top:

• $0.005 per run start
• $1.50 per 1,000 ads ($0.0015 per ad) in ads mode
• $1.50 per 1,000 targets that run ads in check mode; targets with no ads, not found or failed are free
• In monitor mode, the same $0.0015 per new or stopped ad saved. Summary rows and runs with no changes cost only the run start

You are never charged more than maxResults ads, and the run stops cleanly at your "Maximum cost per run" limit. Empty results are never charged.

Tips

• Domain searches return every ad that points to that domain. That usually means the brand itself, but it can include resellers, agencies or sites hosted on that domain. The advertiserName field shows who paid for each ad. Use the advertiser name or ID to get only one advertiser's ads.
• An advertiser name can match several Google advertiser accounts (HubSpot has three). The Actor uses all accounts whose name matches.
• Ad counts in check mode are the ranges Google shows (for example 1,000 to 2,000).

Speed

Setting	Typical speed (default 1 GB memory)
includeAdText: false	about 1,000 ads in 15–20 seconds (dates, formats, advertiser, creative/screenshot and preview URLs)
includeAdText: true (default)	about 40–50 ads per minute, so 1,000 ads take about 20 minutes

Reading the text is slower because Google stores many search ads only as a screenshot, which the Actor reads with OCR. The default timeout is 1 hour, which is enough for about 2,500 ads with text. For bigger runs, raise the timeout or turn includeAdText off. More memory gives OCR more CPU and makes it faster, but the start fee is charged per GB of memory.

Use with AI agents, MCP, Make, Zapier, n8n and the API

AI agents and the Apify MCP server

Your AI agent can run this Actor as a tool through the Apify MCP server. In Claude, Cursor, VS Code or any other MCP client, add this server URL to load only this Actor:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=northloop-labs/google-ads-transparency-library

You sign in to Apify on first connection. Agents that use the default server can also find the Actor with search-actors and run it with call-actor. Pass maxTotalChargeUsd in callOptions to cap what one run may cost. The Actor uses pay-per-event pricing, so it also works with Apify's agentic payments.

Example prompt: "Show me the Google search ads HubSpot is running in the US right now, with their headlines and landing pages."

Make, Zapier and n8n

Apify has official integrations for Make, Zapier and n8n. Use "Run Actor", pick northloop-labs/google-ads-transparency-library, paste your input as JSON, and send the dataset items on to Google Sheets, Slack, a CRM or email. Inside Apify you can also connect Google Sheets or Slack, or add a webhook that fires when a run finishes.

API

Run it and get the results in one call (this endpoint waits up to 5 minutes, which suits small and medium runs):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/northloop-labs~google-ads-transparency-library/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"targets": ["hubspot.com"], "region": "US", "maxResults": 50}'

Or with the Python client (pip install apify-client). The JavaScript client works the same way:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("northloop-labs/google-ads-transparency-library").call(run_input={"targets": ["hubspot.com"], "region": "US", "maxResults": 50})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Data & privacy

• The Actor reads only the public Google Ads Transparency Center, which Google publishes so anyone can see who advertises and what their ads say. It collects ad creatives, ad text, advertiser (business) names and IDs, domains and dates.
• It collects no personal data about people who saw or clicked ads, no targeting or audience data, and no account data. It does not log in anywhere.
• Some advertisers are individuals who registered under their own name. That name is shown publicly by Google as the verified advertiser, and the Actor returns it only as the advertiser of the ad.
• Results are written only to the run's default Apify dataset in your account. In monitor mode, the list of seen ad IDs and dates is also kept in a key-value store in your account (monitorStoreName), which you can delete at any time. The Actor uses no external storage or webhooks, sends the data nowhere else and keeps no copy. OCR runs inside the Actor; no image is sent to any third-party service. The RUN_SUMMARY record holds only per-target counts and errors.

Is it legal to scrape the Google Ads Transparency Center?

The Transparency Center is a public library that Google created for this kind of research, and the Actor reads it the same way your browser does, at a moderate pace. Ad creatives can be protected by the advertiser's copyright and trademarks, so use them for research and analysis, not to republish them as your own. This is not legal advice; check the rules that apply to your use.

FAQ

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

$0.0015 per ad saved plus $0.005 per run start (charged per GB of memory; the default 1 GB counts as one), with platform usage included. 100 ads cost about $0.16 and 1,000 ads about $1.51. In check mode you pay $0.0015 only for targets that run ads. Apify's free plan includes monthly usage credit you can spend on this Actor.

How do I track new ads from my competitors?

Turn on Monitor changes (monitorChanges: true). The first run sets a baseline, and every run after that outputs only new ads, ads that stopped running and one free summary row per competitor. You pay only for the new and stopped ads, so a run with no changes costs just the run start. See Monitor competitors above.

How do I run it every day or every week?

Save your input as a task, then create a schedule in Apify (Schedules → Create) that runs the task daily or weekly. With Monitor changes on, each run checks every ad shown since the previous run, so weekly runs don't miss short campaigns. Add the Slack, email or Google Sheets integration, or Make, Zapier or n8n, to get the changes delivered.

Which ad formats and Google platforms are covered?

Text (Search), image (Display) and video (YouTube) ads, plus Shopping, Maps and Demand Gen ads that Google lists in the Transparency Center. Filter with adFormat and limit results to one country with region (a 2-letter code like US, GB or DE).

How many ads can I get in one run?

Up to 50,000 (maxResults), and maxAdsPerTarget caps each target. With ad text on, the Actor reads about 40–50 ads per minute, so the default 1-hour timeout fits about 2,500 ads. With includeAdText off, 1,000 ads take 15–20 seconds.

Where does the data come from, and is it allowed?

From the Google Ads Transparency Center, the public library Google publishes so anyone can see who advertises and what their ads say. No data about people who saw or clicked ads is collected. See Is it legal to scrape the Google Ads Transparency Center? above.

Does it cover Meta, TikTok or LinkedIn ads?

No, only Google ads. Ask for other ad libraries in the Issues tab.

Which export formats can I use?

Results land in an Apify dataset. Download them as JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML or RSS from the run page, or read them through the API, Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets.

How this Actor was made

This Actor was made with AI. An AI agent wrote and tested the code, this README and the store listing, and a human owns and maintains the Actor.

More Actors from Northloop Labs

• Luma, Eventbrite & Meetup Events Scraper: tech, AI and startup events from Luma, Eventbrite and Meetup.
• Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby & Workable Jobs Scraper: open jobs from company career pages.
• Podcast Transcriber for RSS & Apple Podcasts: podcast transcripts with timestamps and SRT subtitles.
• EU TED & UK Find a Tender Scraper: UK and EU public tenders with daily alerts.

Feedback

Want Meta, TikTok or LinkedIn ad libraries, or a field that's missing? Open an issue in the Issues tab.