Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper & API

Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper

Scrape Google Ads Transparency Center by domain, keyword, or advertiser ID — get every ad an advertiser is running across Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps, and Play as clean, structured data instead of manually paging through Google's ad library.

Search by domain, brand keyword, or advertiser ID and get advertiser identity, creative ID, ad format, first/last shown dates, and direct ad links for every matching creative — filterable by region and date range.

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Copy this block into ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or any LLM to start using this actor.

parsebird/google-ads-transparency-scraper on Apify. Call: ApifyClient("TOKEN").actor("parsebird/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input={...}), then client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items for results. Key inputs: searchQuery (string, default "nike.com" — a domain like "nike.com", a free-text keyword/brand name like "cloud hosting", or an advertiser ID like "AR16735076323512287233"; type is auto-detected), maxResults (integer, default 100, 0=unlimited), platform (string, default "All", one of "All"/"Google Search"/"YouTube"/"Google Shopping"/"Google Maps"/"Google Play" — Maps/Play are accepted but not enforced, see FAQ), region (string, default "Worldwide", 190+ countries), dateFrom/dateTo (string, "YYYY-MM-DD", empty = no bound). Output fields: advertiserId, advertiserName, creativeId, adFormat ("image"/"video"/"text"), firstShown, lastShown (ISO 8601 UTC), approxDaysShown, adUrl, imageUrl, previewUrl. Full actor spec: fetch build via GET https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parsebird~google-ads-transparency-scraper (Bearer TOKEN). Get token: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations

What does Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper do?

This Actor scrapes Google Ads Transparency Center, Google's public ad library, by calling its internal search API directly — no browser rendering, no manual clicking through result pages.

• 🔎 Three search modes, auto-detected — enter a domain (nike.com) to find every ad linking to that site, a keyword or brand name (cloud hosting) for a free-text advertiser search, or a Google Ads Transparency advertiser ID (AR16735076323512287233) to go straight to one advertiser's full ad history
• 🌍 Region filter — narrow results to any of 190+ countries, or leave it worldwide
• 📅 Date range filter — only include ads that were active within a dateFrom/dateTo window
• 🖼️ Format detection — every ad is classified as image, video, or text based on its actual rendered content, not a guessed label
• ⏱️ Scheduling — run this Actor daily or weekly via Apify Scheduler to monitor a competitor's ad activity over time
• 🔌 API access — trigger runs and pull results programmatically via the Apify API or client libraries
• 📊 Flexible export — download results as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or query them via API

What data can you extract from Google Ads Transparency Center?

Field	Description
advertiserId / advertiserName	The advertiser's Google Ads Transparency ID and display name
creativeId	Unique ID for this specific ad creative
adFormat	image, video, or text
firstShown / lastShown	When the ad first and most recently appeared, ISO 8601 UTC
approxDaysShown	Approximate number of days the ad has been running
adUrl	Direct link to the ad's page on Google Ads Transparency Center
imageUrl	Direct image/creative preview URL, for image-format ads
previewUrl	Video playback URL, for video-format ads

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	No	nike.com	A domain, keyword/brand name, or advertiser ID. Type is auto-detected
maxResults	integer	No	100	Maximum ads to return. 0 = unlimited (bounded by a safety cap)
platform	string	No	All	All, Google Search, YouTube, Google Shopping, Google Maps, or Google Play
region	string	No	Worldwide	Restrict to ads that ran in a specific country (190+ options)
dateFrom	string	No	(none)	Only include ads shown on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
dateTo	string	No	(none)	Only include ads shown on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Residential proxy	Apify Proxy settings. Residential proxies are recommended since Google applies bot-detection to unusual traffic

Output example

{
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR10593697579030020097",
  "adFormat": "video",
  "firstShown": "2026-07-13T15:36:24.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-08-03T11:50:48.000Z",
  "approxDaysShown": 21,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR10593697579030020097?region=anywhere",
  "imageUrl": null,
  "previewUrl": "https://r4---sn-uphxqvujvh-2xo6.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?..."
}

{
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR05453620898319826945",
  "adFormat": "image",
  "firstShown": "2025-12-30T20:09:23.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-08-03T11:50:52.000Z",
  "approxDaysShown": 216,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR05453620898319826945?region=anywhere",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/193901290632874964",
  "previewUrl": null
}

Download results in JSON, CSV, or Excel directly from the Apify Console, or pull them programmatically via the API.

Use cases

• Competitor ad monitoring — track which ads a competitor is running, on which platforms, and for how long
• Creative research — pull real, currently-running ad creatives for a brand or category before building your own campaigns
• Ad longevity analysis — use approxDaysShown and firstShown/lastShown to see which creatives a competitor keeps running (a signal they're performing well)
• Market surveillance — schedule recurring runs against a list of competitor domains to catch new campaigns as they launch
• Agency reporting — build client-facing competitive ad reports without manually browsing Google's ad library

How to scrape Google Ads Transparency Center with this Actor

1. Go to the Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper page on Apify Store
2. Click Try for free — new users get a free trial to test the Actor before paying
3. Enter a domain, keyword/brand name, or advertiser ID in searchQuery
4. Optionally set a region, date range, and platform filter
5. Set maxResults to cap the run size (or 0 for unlimited)
6. Click Start — the Actor searches Google Ads Transparency Center and normalizes every matching ad
7. When the run finishes, download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or fetch it via the API

Use with the Apify API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("parsebird/google-ads-transparency-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQuery": "nike.com",
    "maxResults": 100,
    "region": "United States",
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['advertiserName']} - {item['adFormat']} - {item['lastShown']}")

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

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

const run = await client.actor('parsebird/google-ads-transparency-scraper').call({
    searchQuery: 'nike.com',
    maxResults: 100,
    region: 'United States',
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.log(`${item.advertiserName} - ${item.adFormat} - ${item.lastShown}`);
});

See the Apify API documentation for full reference, or the Actor's API tab for ready-to-run request snippets in more languages.

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

This Actor uses Pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for ads actually returned, with no separate platform rental fee.

Plan	Price per event	Price per 1,000
Free	$0.00149	$1.49
Bronze	$0.00099	$0.99
Silver	$0.00089	$0.89
Gold	$0.00079	$0.79

One ad-scraped event is charged for each ad successfully normalized and pushed to the dataset. A 1,000-ad run costs about $1.49 on the Free plan or $0.79 on Gold. Start with the free trial and a low maxResults to preview results before scaling up.

FAQ

How does searchQuery auto-detection work? Advertiser IDs match Google's own AR + digits format and go straight to that advertiser's ad history. Anything shaped like a domain (contains a dot, no spaces) runs a domain search — every ad linking to that site, which can span multiple related advertiser accounts. Anything else runs a free-text search that resolves to the best-matching advertiser or domain.

Why does a domain search sometimes return more than one advertiserId? Google's own domain search matches every advertiser account whose ads link to that domain, not a single canonical account — this can include resellers, regional entities, or affiliated accounts. This is Google's own search behavior, not a bug.

Why aren't Google Maps and Google Play platform filters enforced? Google Ads Transparency Center's public API exposes no reliable signal to distinguish Maps or Play placements from Search/Display in the data it returns. Selecting either option is accepted but currently returns unfiltered results with a logged warning, rather than silently guessing. Google Search, YouTube, and Google Shopping are enforced using evidence-based classification (confirmed video playback URLs, product-catalog asset patterns, and static image markers).

Why is imageUrl or previewUrl sometimes null? Only one of the two is populated per ad, based on adFormat: imageUrl for image ads, previewUrl for video ads. Text-format ads have neither.

Can I schedule recurring runs? Yes. Use Apify's Scheduler to run this Actor daily or weekly and catch new competitor campaigns as they launch.

Is it legal to scrape Google Ads Transparency Center? Google Ads Transparency Center is a public ad-transparency tool — its data is published by Google specifically so anyone can look up an advertiser's active ads without logging in. You're responsible for complying with Google's Terms of Service for your specific use case. See Apify's blog post on the legality of web scraping for general background.

Can I access results via API? Yes. Every run's dataset is available through the Apify API and client libraries (Python, JavaScript) — see the Actor's API tab for ready-made snippets.

Something not working? Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab in Apify Console — the ParseBird team monitors it directly.

Related Actors

Other lead-gen and competitive-intelligence Actors from ParseBird:

• Shopify Store Leads Scraper — find and qualify Shopify stores as sales leads
• Website Contact Finder — extract emails, phone numbers, and social links from any website
• Product Hunt Scraper — track new product launches and competitor activity