# Google Ads Transparency Scraper (`teodor_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

See every ad any advertiser runs across Google. Scrape the Ads Transparency Center by advertiser name, domain, or ID: creatives with format, preview and image URLs, first/last shown dates, days active, ad variants, and the countries each ad ran in. Built for competitor ad intelligence

- **URL**: https://apify.com/teodor\_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Banea Teodor](https://apify.com/teodor_banea) (community)
- **Categories:**
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

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?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Google Ads Transparency Scraper

### What does Google Ads Transparency Scraper do?

This Actor extracts any advertiser's ads from the **[Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com)** — the public registry of every ad served through Google (Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping). Give it advertiser names, domains, or IDs and get every creative as clean JSON: format, preview and image URLs, first/last shown dates, how many days each ad has been active, and optionally every ad variant and the exact countries each ad ran in.

It talks to the Center's JSON API directly — no browser, no screenshots — so runs are fast, cheap, and stable.

### Why use this Actor?

- **See any competitor's entire Google ads playbook** — every text, image, and video ad they run, with real first-shown dates that reveal what they've been running for years (their proven winners) versus what they're testing this week.
- **Search your way** — by brand name ("Nike"), domain ("nike.com"), advertiser ID ("AR…"), or a pasted Ads Transparency URL. Domains are the widest net: they cover all of a brand's verified advertiser entities at once.
- **Longevity as a spend signal** — `daysShown` tells you how long each ad has been active; long-running ads are ads that work.
- **Region and format targeting** — only ads shown in a chosen country, only videos (or only text/image ads).
- **Ad variants and geography** — optionally fetch each ad's variants and per-country last-shown dates.
- **Built for pipelines** — every row always has every field, ISO 8601 dates, direct image URLs, stable `creativeId` for tracking ads over time.

### How much does it cost?

You pay per ad returned. Pulling a competitor's latest 200 ads costs a few cents and finishes in under a minute. Ads come 100 per request, so even large sweeps are cheap — use `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` and `maxAds` to bound any run. `includeDetails` adds one request per ad (same per-result price, proportionally longer runs).

### Input

| Field | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| `queries` | array | Advertisers: names, domains, `AR…` IDs, or Ads Transparency URLs. Names resolve to the matching advertiser with the most ads (alternatives are logged) — prefer domains for the full brand footprint. | `["nike.com"]` |
| `region` | string | Only ads shown in this country (`US`, `GB`, `DE`, …) or `anywhere`. | `"US"` |
| `format` | string | `any`, `text`, `image`, or `video`. | `"video"` |
| `includeDetails` | boolean | Fetch each ad's variants and per-country last-shown dates (+1 request per ad). | `false` |
| `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` | integer | Cap per advertiser — keeps runs comparable across brands. | `200` |
| `maxAds` | integer | Hard ceiling on billed results across all advertisers. | `1000` |

### Output

One row per ad creative:

```json
{
    "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
    "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
    "creativeId": "CR10486187606943989761",
    "url": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR10486187606943989761?region=anywhere",
    "format": "video",
    "formatCode": 3,
    "previewUrl": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?client=ads-integrity-transparency&...",
    "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/15470673379459137007",
    "firstShown": "2026-05-12T15:10:33.000Z",
    "lastShown": "2026-08-27T14:16:38.000Z",
    "daysShown": 108,
    "variantCount": 3,
    "variantPreviewUrls": ["https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?..."],
    "regions": ["US", "DE", "HU", "TR"],
    "regionLastShown": ["US:2026-08-27", "DE:2026-08-20"],
    "query": "nike.com",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-08-27T15:30:00.000Z",
    "runId": "AbC123..."
}
```

Field notes:

- **`imageUrl`** is the direct archived render — the snapshot of text ads and the thumbnail of video ads. Image ads render via the `previewUrl` script instead.
- **`variantCount`, `variantPreviewUrls`, `regions`, `regionLastShown`** fill when `includeDetails` is on; otherwise they stay null/empty so every export has one shape.
- **`daysShown`** counts distinct days the ad was active, not the calendar span.

### Tips and tricks

- **Competitor monitoring**: schedule a daily run per competitor domain and diff by `creativeId` — new ids are new ads, ids that disappear are paused campaigns.
- **Find their winners**: sort by `daysShown` descending — nobody runs a losing ad for 500 days.
- **Full brand footprint**: search by domain rather than name; big brands split into many advertiser entities (regional subsidiaries), and the domain search covers them all.
- **Creative research**: `format: "video"` + `includeDetails` gives you every video variant a brand tests, with preview links.
- **Market entry research**: `region` narrowed to a country shows exactly which ads a brand localizes there.

### Integrations

The dataset works with every Apify integration: export to **JSON, CSV, Excel**, push to **Google Sheets**, trigger **webhooks** on finish, or query via the **Apify API** from Python/Node — for example a weekly competitor-ads digest into Slack, or an AI agent summarizing new creatives via the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2).

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Enter one or more advertisers, each as a brand name ("Nike"), a domain ("nike.com"), an advertiser ID ("AR16735076323512287233"), or an Ads Transparency URL. Names are resolved to the advertiser with the most ads whose name matches.

## `region` (type: `string`):

Only return ads that were shown in this country. "Anywhere" returns ads from all regions.

## `format` (type: `string`):

Only return ads of this format.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also fetch each ad's detail record: all ad variants and the exact regions the ad ran in with per-region last-shown dates. Costs one extra request per ad, so large runs take proportionally longer.

## `maxAdsPerAdvertiser` (type: `integer`):

Cap on ads returned for each advertiser. Big brands run thousands of ads — set this to keep runs comparable across advertisers. 0 means no per-advertiser cap.

## `maxAds` (type: `integer`):

Hard ceiling on billed results across all advertisers. 0 means no cap — unlimited runs are capped at 50,000 to protect against surprise bills.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many requests run in parallel. The default is safe; lower it if you see rate-limit errors.

## `maxRequestsPerMinute` (type: `integer`):

Throttle the overall request rate.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "anywhere",
  "format": "any",
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
  "maxAds": 0,
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "maxRequestsPerMinute": 120
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Ad creatives with advertiser identity, format, preview/image URLs, first/last shown dates, activity duration, and optionally variants and regions.

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "nike.com"
    ],
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("teodor_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper").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 = {
    "queries": ["nike.com"],
    "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("teodor_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 50
}' |
apify call teodor_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,teodor_banea/google-ads-transparency-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

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/hs9UO3CgXoXduEjVf/builds/FAwBTRkHy81dGvunT/openapi.json