Google Ads Transparency Scraper

Extract Google Ads Transparency Center creatives in a clean, structured dataset. Collect advertiser identifiers, creative formats, shown dates, media preview URLs, and source links for advertiser pages or domain searches. Useful for competitor monitoring, compliance review, and ad-library research.

Features

• Advertiser lookups — Collect creatives for a specific advertiser ID
• Domain searches — Gather creatives tied to a brand or website domain
• Filtered start URLs — Reuse a working Transparency Center URL as your input
• Clean datasets — Duplicate records, null values, and empty fields are handled automatically
• Media extraction — Capture preview image or video URLs when available
• Extended collection — Large domain searches are expanded with date-window queries to go beyond a single 100-result window

Use Cases

Competitive Monitoring

Track which creatives a competitor is running and how long they stay active. Use the dataset to compare messaging, formats, and launch timing across advertisers.

Brand Safety Review

Inspect ads associated with a domain or advertiser before partnership, placement, or compliance decisions. Review public creative assets without manual browsing.

Market Research

Build a dataset of active ad creatives for category analysis. Compare how brands vary their formats and refresh campaigns over time.

Creative Audits

Export preview assets and shown dates for internal review. This is useful when you need a structured archive of ads instead of screenshots and manual notes.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
startUrl	String	No	—	Full Transparency Center URL. Useful for advertiser pages or domain searches with built-in filters.
advertiserId	String	No	—	Google advertiser ID such as AR03056092225806008321.
domain	String	No	—	Domain search such as nike.com.
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of records to collect for the run. Domain searches can extend beyond 100 by querying additional date windows.
max_pages	Integer	No	5	Retained for compatibility. It is ignored by the current implementation.
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	Residential	Optional proxy settings for network routing.

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Output Data

Each item in the dataset contains:

Field	Type	Description
creative_id	String	Unique identifier for the ad creative
advertiser_id	String	Google advertiser ID
advertiser_name	String	Advertiser name when available in the source data
format	String	Creative format such as Text, Image, Video, or HTML5
first_shown_date	String	First observed shown date in YYYY-MM-DD format
last_shown_date	String	Most recent shown date in YYYY-MM-DD format
landing_domain	String	Destination domain associated with the creative when available
image_url	String	Preview image URL when the creative exposes one
video_url	String	Preview video URL when the creative exposes one
details_link	String	Direct link to the creative details page
region_filter	String	Region code used for the query when applicable
source_url	String	Transparency Center URL used as the source for the result

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Usage Examples

Advertiser Run

Collect creatives for one advertiser:

{
    "advertiserId": "AR03056092225806008321",
    "results_wanted": 20
}

Domain Run

Collect creatives associated with a domain:

{
    "domain": "nike.com",
    "results_wanted": 50
}

Start URL Run

Reuse a working Transparency Center URL directly:

{
    "startUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR03056092225806008321?region=anywhere",
    "results_wanted": 20
}

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Sample Output

{
    "creative_id": "CR17653238703880929281",
    "advertiser_id": "AR03056092225806008321",
    "advertiser_name": "SoftwareOne",
    "format": "Video",
    "first_shown_date": "2026-05-17",
    "last_shown_date": "2026-06-25",
    "video_url": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?client=ads-integrity-transparency",
    "details_link": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR03056092225806008321/creative/CR17653238703880929281",
    "source_url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR03056092225806008321?region=anywhere"
}

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Tips for Best Results

Start With Working Inputs

• Use a confirmed advertiser page or domain search first
• Keep results_wanted at 20 while validating a new target

Increase Coverage Carefully

• Raise results_wanted only after confirming data quality
• Large domain searches may require multiple internal date windows to reach the requested count

Expect Field Variation

• Some creatives only expose image_url
• Some creatives only expose video_url
• Text-heavy creatives may not provide preview media

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Integrations

Connect your data with:

• Google Sheets — Review creatives in a spreadsheet
• Airtable — Build a searchable ad archive
• Make — Automate monitoring workflows
• Zapier — Trigger alerts when new data appears
• Webhooks — Send results into your own systems

Export Formats

• JSON — For APIs and structured pipelines
• CSV — For spreadsheet analysis
• Excel — For reporting
• XML — For broader system integration

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Frequently Asked Questions

What inputs are supported?

You can run the actor with a full Transparency Center URL, an advertiser ID, or a domain.

How many records can I collect?

The currently verified response window returns up to 100 records per query.

Why is image_url or video_url missing on some items?

Preview media depends on the creative type. Some records expose only one media format, and some expose neither.

Does the actor remove duplicates?

Yes. Records are deduplicated by creative_id before they are written.

Why are some fields missing from certain records?

The Transparency Center does not expose the same fields for every creative. Empty and null values are omitted from output.

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Support

For issues or feature requests, use the Apify Console issue tracker or contact support.

Resources

• Apify Documentation
• API Reference
• Scheduling Runs

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Legal Notice

This actor is intended for legitimate research, monitoring, and compliance use cases. Users are responsible for ensuring their use complies with platform terms and applicable law.