Google Ads Transparency Scraper: Competitor Ads & Monitoring

What does Google Ads Transparency Scraper do?

Google Ads Transparency Scraper gets the ads any advertiser runs on Google Search, YouTube, Google Shopping, Google Maps and Google Play from the Google Ads Transparency Center, as JSON, CSV or Excel. Search by advertiser name, advertiser id, website domain (such as nike.com) or a Transparency Center link, filter by country, platform, format and date, and get one row per ad: images, ad text, the YouTube video, the landing page, first and last shown dates, the countries it ran in and, for ads shown in the EU, how many times it was shown, on which platforms, its topic and the audience the advertiser chose.

Use it as a Google Ads library API for competitor research, or turn on Only new ads, put it on a schedule and get just the ads a competitor started showing since the last run. No Google account, no API key.

Why use this Google Ads Transparency scraper?

• Ad text, video and landing page in the same price. Many ads in the Transparency Center are drawn by a preview script, so their words are not in Google's data. With details on (the default), the Actor reads each ad's preview for the headline, description, display URL, call to action, business or app name, the YouTube video of video ads and the landing page. In our test runs on Nike's most recent ads, 13 to 18 of every 20 came back with their words.
• Details at no extra charge. Every variation's image, the number of variations, the countries with dates, and for EU ads the times shown per country and platform, the topic and the audience selection. One price per ad.
• Monitoring built in. Only new ads remembers which ads each input returned before. Scheduled runs save and charge only the ads you have not seen; skipped ads are free.
• Fast paging. The Actor reads 100 ads per request: our test read 418 ads from three advertisers in 2 seconds (details off).
• Keeps going when Google slows it down. It connects directly while Google allows it, moves to Apify Proxy datacenter IPs when Google rate-limits, then to residential IPs (at no extra charge) if Google refuses those too, and if Google still blocks every connection for a while it saves the remaining ads without details instead of failing.
• Takes what you have. Brand names (matched to the advertiser with the most ads), advertiser ids (AR...), domains, and advertiser or single-ad links copied from your browser, with their filters.
• Never charges an ad twice. A restarted run skips ads it already saved, and the run stops exactly at the maximum cost you set.

Typical uses: competitor ad research, creative swipe files, watching a brand's new campaigns, agency pitches, checking who else advertises with your domain or brand, and EU reach research.

What data can you get from the Google Ads Transparency Center?

Field	Description
advertiserName, advertiserId, advertiserCountry	The advertiser as Google lists it, its id and where it is based
advertiserVerified, advertiserLegalName	Whether Google verified the advertiser, and its legal name
creativeId, adUrl	The ad's id and its page on the Transparency Center
format	text, image or video
firstShown, lastShown, daysShown	When the ad ran (ISO 8601, UTC) and for how many days
headline, description, displayUrl, callToAction, sitelinks	The ad's words, where Google shows them
businessName, appName	Store, merchant or app named on the ad
landingUrl, landingDomain	The page and website the ad sends people to
imageUrl, imageUrls, previewUrl	The ad image, the images of every variation, and Google's preview script
youtubeVideoId, youtubeUrl	The YouTube video of a video ad, when the preview shows it
variationCount	Number of variations
regions	Countries the ad ran in, with dates and, in the EU, times shown per platform
impressionsMin, impressionsMax, platformImpressions, platforms	EU ads: times shown in total and per platform
topic, topicSource, audienceSelection	EU ads: topic (labeled by Google or provided by the advertiser) and the audience criteria used
paidBy	Who paid for the ad
searchInput, searchType, searchRegion, scrapedAt	Which input found the ad, the region filter, and when it was saved

How to scrape the Google Ads Transparency Center

1. Open the Actor and type one or more advertisers (names or AR... ids), domains, or paste Transparency Center links.
2. Pick a region (anywhere, or a country), and optionally a platform, a format and a date range.
3. Set Max ads per advertiser (newest first; 0 reads up to 10,000).
4. Leave Include ad details on for text, videos, regions and EU data, or turn it off for the fastest and simplest list.
5. For monitoring, tick Only new ads and add a schedule.
6. Click Start, then download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the API.

How much does it cost to scrape Google ads?

The Actor uses pay per event pricing, so you pay for ads saved, not for server time:

• Ad: $1.00 per 1,000 ads on Apify's free plan, with details, ad text, video ids and landing pages included.
• Paid Apify plans pay less: $0.90 per 1,000 on Starter, $0.70 on Scale and $0.50 on Business.
• Each run also has a start fee of $0.002.

Example: 1,000 ads cost about $1.00. Watching 10 competitors every day with Only new ads, at about 20 new ads per competitor per day, is about 6,000 ads a month, so about $6 plus $0.06 in start fees. Ads skipped by Only new ads are free, and you can set a maximum cost per run in the run options; the Actor stops cleanly when it reaches it. Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, enough for about 5,000 ads a month.

Input

See the Input tab for every option. A typical input:

{
    "advertisers": ["AR16735076323512287233", "AR05501100765344694273"],
    "domains": ["allbirds.com"],
    "region": "DE",
    "platform": "YOUTUBE",
    "format": "VIDEO",
    "dateRange": "last-30-days",
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 100,
    "includeDetails": true
}

Links work too: paste an advertiser page (https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233?region=US&platform=SEARCH), a domain search (...?domain=nike.com) or a single ad (.../advertiser/AR.../creative/CR...). A link keeps its own region, platform, format and dates.

For monitoring:

{
    "advertisers": ["Glossier"],
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 200,
    "onlyNewAds": true
}

Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel. Two real results, shortened: empty fields and preview links are left out, and the video ad's 44 countries are cut to one.

[
    {
        "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
        "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
        "advertiserCountry": "US",
        "advertiserLegalName": "Nike, Inc.",
        "advertiserVerified": true,
        "creativeId": "CR07144086868877901825",
        "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR07144086868877901825?region=anywhere",
        "format": "text",
        "firstShown": "2023-11-16T21:47:39.000Z",
        "lastShown": "2026-10-18T08:53:33.000Z",
        "daysShown": 900,
        "headline": "Nike® Official Site",
        "description": "Built on defiance, tradition, and a legacy larger than game. Women's Jordan shoes.",
        "displayUrl": "nike.com",
        "businessName": "Nike",
        "landingDomain": "nike.com",
        "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/6484835414976825563",
        "imageWidth": 348,
        "imageHeight": 301,
        "imageIsRendering": true,
        "imageUrls": [
            "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/6484835414976825563",
            "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/14442065786807425665"
        ],
        "variationCount": 3,
        "regions": [
            { "regionCode": "US", "regionName": "United States", "firstShown": null, "firstShownOnOrBefore": null, "lastShown": "2026-09-01", "impressionsMin": null, "impressionsMax": null, "platforms": [] }
        ],
        "paidBy": "Nike, Inc.",
        "detailsIncluded": true,
        "searchInput": "AR16735076323512287233",
        "searchType": "advertiser",
        "searchRegion": null,
        "scrapedAt": "2026-10-18T09:11:58.132Z"
    },
    {
        "advertiserId": "AR05501100765344694273",
        "advertiserName": "Gymshark Ltd",
        "advertiserCountry": "GB",
        "advertiserLegalName": "Gymshark Ltd",
        "advertiserVerified": true,
        "creativeId": "CR15903349979587018753",
        "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR05501100765344694273/creative/CR15903349979587018753?region=anywhere",
        "format": "video",
        "lastShown": "2026-10-18T02:54:59.000Z",
        "description": "The best of Gymshark anytime, anywhere. Download the app and join Gymshark Loyalty.",
        "callToAction": "Install",
        "appName": "Gymshark: Shop Gym Clothes",
        "landingDomain": "play.google.com",
        "landingUrl": "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gymshark.store",
        "youtubeVideoId": "De4QZa0s8tY",
        "youtubeUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De4QZa0s8tY",
        "variationCount": 3,
        "platforms": ["YouTube", "Google Search"],
        "regions": [
            {
                "regionCode": "IE",
                "regionName": "Ireland",
                "firstShown": "2025-05-20",
                "firstShownOnOrBefore": false,
                "lastShown": "2026-06-25",
                "impressionsMin": 0,
                "impressionsMax": 1000,
                "platforms": [
                    { "platform": "Google Search", "impressionsMin": 0, "impressionsMax": 1000 },
                    { "platform": "YouTube", "impressionsMin": 0, "impressionsMax": 1000 }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "impressionsMin": 20000,
        "impressionsMax": 25000,
        "platformImpressions": [
            { "platform": "YouTube", "impressionsMin": 0, "impressionsMax": 1000 },
            { "platform": "Google Search", "impressionsMin": 1000, "impressionsMax": 2000 }
        ],
        "topic": "Apparel",
        "topicSource": "google",
        "audienceSelection": {
            "demographicInfo": "included",
            "geographicLocations": "included",
            "contextualSignals": "included and excluded"
        },
        "paidBy": "Gymshark Ltd",
        "detailsIncluded": true,
        "searchInput": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR05501100765344694273/creative/CR15903349979587018753?region=anywhere",
        "searchType": "url",
        "scrapedAt": "2026-10-18T04:05:48.739Z"
    }
]

The Ad text view in the Output tab lists the words, landing pages and videos; Region rows gives one row per ad and country for spreadsheets (add view=regions to the dataset items URL in the API).

How Only new ads works

With Only new ads on, the Actor keeps the ids of every ad it saved for an input in the key-value store google-ads-transparency-monitor in your account, and later runs with the same inputs and filters skip them. Each set of inputs gets its own list; give a Monitor name to keep separate lists for schedules with the same inputs. Google lists ads by when they were last shown, so an older ad that starts running again counts as new once. To be sure you catch every new ad, set Max ads per advertiser a little above the number of ads a competitor changes between runs; ads skipped as seen cost nothing.

Tips for scraping Google ads

• Ids match exactly; names match the biggest advertiser. An advertiser id (AR..., in every Transparency Center link) always reads that account. A name like "Nike" is matched to the account with the most ads among Google's suggestions, in your region when you set one; if those miss the brand, the Actor checks who runs most of the ads on its .com website. When the pick still looks unlike the name (few ads, or a name that only starts like yours), the log and the status message say so. Raise Advertisers per name to read the next matches too.
• Domains find everyone advertising a site. A domain search returns every advertiser whose ads lead there: our allbirds.com test found 14 ads from Allbirds Inc and 1 from another company. That is useful for checking resellers and brand bidding.
• EU ads carry the most data. Times shown, platforms, topic and audience selection exist only for ads shown in the EU, because Google publishes them under EU rules (the Digital Services Act). Set the region to an EU country to see them on every ad. Google publishes times shown with a 90-day delay.
• Dates. firstShown and lastShown are exact times in UTC; the Transparency Center shows them as dates in US Pacific time, so a late-evening ad can show one day earlier there. For EU countries where Google says "First shown on or before March 1, 2023", the region's firstShown is 2023-03-01 with firstShownOnOrBefore: true.
• Some text ads exist only as a picture. Google keeps many search ads as an image of the ad; for those imageIsRendering is true and the words are in the picture, not in the text fields.
• Large detail runs. Each ad with details costs Google one or two extra requests, and Google limits requests per IP. When it blocks every connection the run tells you in the log and saves the remaining ads without details; a schedule spread over the day, fewer ads per run, or turning details off gets around it. Ad links (/creative/CR...) are always read with details.

Integrations and API

• API: start runs and read results with the Apify API, for example POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/stratumics~google-ads-transparency-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN with the input as the JSON body.
• JavaScript and Python: use the official apify-client packages: client.actor('stratumics/google-ads-transparency-scraper').call(input), then read client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems().
• No-code: connect the Actor to Zapier, Make, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack or webhooks from the Integrations tab, for example to post each new competitor ad to a Slack channel.
• AI agents: add the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com?tools=stratumics/google-ads-transparency-scraper) to any assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol, and it can look up a company's Google ads on its own.

FAQ

Do I need a Google account or an API key?

No. The Actor reads the public Ads Transparency Center the way a logged-out visitor's browser does.

Why do some ads have no headline or description?

Google keeps many text ads only as a picture of the ad (see imageUrl), and image and video ads carry their words inside the creative. The Actor fills the text fields whenever Google's data or the ad's preview contains the words.

Why are times shown, platforms and audience empty for some ads?

Google publishes them only for ads shown in the EU. US-only ads have dates and countries, but no reach data.

Can I get the video file?

The Actor gives the YouTube id and link when the preview shows the YouTube video, which is common for app and YouTube campaigns, and Google's previewUrl for every other video ad. Direct video file links in Google's previews expire within hours and are tied to the viewer's IP, so they are not saved.

Is it legal to scrape the Google Ads Transparency Center?

Our Actors are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as email addresses, gender, or location. They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. We therefore believe that our Actors, when used for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe. However, you should be aware that your results could contain personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the world. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you're unsure whether your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers.

The Ads Transparency Center lists advertisers and their ads. Some advertisers are individuals who advertise under their own name; their names appear in the results the same way Google shows them.

Where do I report a problem?

Open an issue on the Issues tab with your run link and we will look at it. For programmatic access, see the API tab.

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