# Google Ads Transparency & Ad Library Scraper – Competitor Ads (`rowfeed/google-ads-transparency`) Actor

Every ad a domain or advertiser runs on Google, YouTube, Play, Maps and Shopping, from the Google Ads Transparency Center: advertiser, format, preview image, first and last shown. Find advertisers by name, monitor new ads. Licensed data, no blocked runs.

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

## Pricing

from $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 & Ad Library Scraper – Competitor Ads

Get every ad a competitor runs on Google from the Google Ads Transparency Center (Google's ad library): search by domain (e.g. `nike.com`) or advertiser id and get advertiser, ad format, preview image, first and last shown date and a link to each ad.
Filter by platform (Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Shopping), format (text, image, video) and date, find advertisers by name, and turn on monitor mode to get only new ads each run.
Built for marketers, PPC and SEO agencies, competitive-intelligence teams, and AI agents.
The data comes through a licensed data provider (DataForSEO), not by scraping the Transparency Center from a browser, so runs do not fail on captchas or blocks.

### What you get

- **Every ad for a domain or advertiser**, most recently shown first, up to 680 per target.
- **Advertiser name and id** (as verified by Google), **ad id**, **format** (text, image or video).
- **Preview image** of the ad and a **link to the ad** in the Transparency Center.
- **First shown, last shown and days running**: see which ads a competitor keeps running (the ones that work).
- **Advertiser search by name**: type a brand name and get matching advertisers with all their account ids, verification and approximate ad count.
- **Filters**: platform, ad format, and a date range of when the ads were shown.
- **Monitor mode**: only ads that earlier runs with the same target did not return.
- Any country the Transparency Center covers, or all countries.

Advertiser data only, as Google publishes it: no emails or phone numbers.

### Example output row

A real row from the domain `nike.com` in the United States:

```json
{
  "type": "ad",
  "target": "nike.com",
  "location": "United States",
  "rank": 1,
  "advertiser": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiser_id": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "verified": true,
  "creative_id": "CR07365799162371112961",
  "format": "text",
  "ad_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR07365799162371112961?region=US",
  "preview_image_url": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/16121430893045963815",
  "first_shown": "2022-11-30T14:47:27+00:00",
  "last_shown": "2026-10-21T10:42:07+00:00",
  "days_running": 1420,
  "checked_at": "2026-10-21T11:06:10+00:00"
}
```

### Input

| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| `targets` | A domain (`nike.com`) or advertiser id (`AR16735076323512287233`) returns its ads. Anything else (e.g. `Shopify`) is searched as an advertiser name and returns matching advertisers. Up to 500. |
| `location` | Country, e.g. `United States`, `United Kingdom`, `Germany`. Empty = all countries. |
| `maxAdsPerTarget` | 40 to 680, in steps of 40. Default 40. |
| `platform` | `google_search`, `youtube`, `google_play`, `google_maps` or `google_shopping`. Empty = all. |
| `adFormat` | `text`, `image` or `video`. Empty = all. |
| `dateFrom`, `dateTo` | Only ads shown in this period (`YYYY-MM-DD`). One end is enough; the other is filled in. |
| `onlyNew` | Monitor mode: only ads not returned in earlier runs with the same target and filters. |

Tip: search the brand name first to find all advertiser ids of a company, then track the ids.

### Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **$1 per 1,000 ads** ($0.001 per ad row) and $0.001 per advertiser row.
- $0.001 per search page (each 40 ads requested for a target, or one name search), also in monitor mode when every ad was seen before.
- $0.001 per run start.

Examples: one domain with 40 ads costs about $0.04. 10 competitors with 120 ads each cost about $1.23. A weekly monitor of 10 competitors (40 ads each) where 3 new ads per competitor turn up costs about $0.04 a week.

You can cap the cost of a run with the maximum charge setting; the Actor only starts the searches the budget covers. Failed searches are never charged.
Live searches need a paid Apify plan (any plan); the pre-filled example works on the free plan.

### Good to know

- Results usually arrive in seconds; big runs can take a few minutes.
- The date filter covers about the last 12 months; older periods come back empty.
- Some advertisers run few or no ads in a country; you pay only for the ads returned plus the search pages.
- Text ads have a preview image of the ad as Google shows it; some image and video ads also have a preview link.

### Related tools

- [Google Search Results API](https://apify.com/rowfeed/google-serp-api) – Google results for any query, with your domain's rank.
- [Competitor Keyword Research](https://apify.com/rowfeed/competitor-keywords) – the keywords any domain ranks for.

Not affiliated with Google.

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

A domain (nike.com) or advertiser id (AR...) returns its ads. Anything else (e.g. 'Shopify') is searched as an advertiser name and returns matching advertisers with their ids and ad counts. Up to 500.

## `location` (type: `string`):

Country whose Transparency Center region to search, e.g. 'United States', 'United Kingdom', 'Germany'. Leave empty for all countries.

## `maxAdsPerTarget` (type: `integer`):

Up to 680, in steps of 40 (most recently shown first).

## `platform` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on this platform.

## `adFormat` (type: `string`):

Only ads in this format.

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

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

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

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

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Return only ads not returned in earlier runs with the same domain or advertiser and filters. Schedule it daily or weekly to track competitor ads.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "hubspot.com",
    "AR16735076323512287233",
    "Shopify"
  ],
  "location": "Germany",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 40,
  "platform": "",
  "adFormat": "",
  "onlyNew": 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rowfeed/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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rowfeed/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 '{}' |
apify call rowfeed/google-ads-transparency --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,rowfeed/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/BaQ92WGYdFIaAFD6b/builds/iGrZ6W47EvhtizPha/openapi.json