Google Ads Transparency Scraper

Extract public advertiser creatives from the Google Ads Transparency Center for competitor monitoring, ad research, and campaign tracking. The actor resolves advertiser names, websites, or Google advertiser IDs, then returns creative rows with advertiser details, creative IDs, first and last shown dates, format, preview links, assets, and available ad text.

Use it when you want repeatable Google ads data for brands such as Nike, Shopify, Temu, or a client competitor list without manual Ads Transparency Center searches.

Why use Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

• Monitor new and recently shown Google ads by advertiser.
• Build competitor creative swipe files from public ad previews.
• Track first shown and last shown dates across recurring runs.
• Collect stable advertiser and creative IDs for deduplication.
• Export image/display assets and product-style creative text when the preview exposes it.
• Feed ad intelligence dashboards, agency reports, or downstream analyzers.

What data does Google Ads Transparency Scraper extract?

For each public creative found, the actor can return:

Field group	Fields
Search context	target, country, countryName, runId
Advertiser identity	advertiserName, advertiserCountry, advertiserId
Creative identity	creativeId, format, adDetailsUrl
Timing	firstShownDate, lastShownDate
Assets	assetUrl, imageUrl, imageUrls, previewUrl
Copy	headline, description, callToAction, creativeText
Variations	variationCount, variations with preview, image, and text fields

The actor uses public web endpoints behind the Ads Transparency Center. It does not require a Google login for the tested public advertiser search path.

Who uses Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

PPC and growth teams can monitor competing advertisers and export current display or shopping-style creative examples.

Agencies can run scheduled competitor checks for client reports and compare which advertisers are still active over time.

E-commerce teams can inspect product-oriented ads, asset URLs, and first/last shown dates for brands in the same category.

Researchers and journalists can build public ad datasets by advertiser and country, with direct ad detail links for review.

What input does Google Ads Transparency Scraper accept?

{
  "targets": ["Nike", "nike.com", "AR16735076323512287233"],
  "country": "US",
  "maxAds": 40,
  "shownSince": "2026-07-01",
  "firstShownAfter": "2026-01-01"
}

Input	Required	Description
targets	Yes	Advertiser names, website domains, or Google advertiser IDs. Examples: Nike, nike.com, AR16735076323512287233. Names and domains are resolved to the most likely advertiser in the selected country.
country	Yes	ISO-style country selector for the public ad library region. Supported values: US, CA, GB, AU, BR, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, PT. Default: US.
maxAds	No	Maximum creatives to return per target. Use small values for quick checks and larger values for deep monitoring. Default: 40; maximum: 1000.
shownSince	No	Keep ads last shown on or after this YYYY-MM-DD date. Leave empty to keep all returned last-shown dates.
firstShownAfter	No	Keep ads first shown on or after this YYYY-MM-DD date. Leave empty to keep all returned first-shown dates.
datasetId	No	Existing Apify dataset ID for pipeline runs. When provided, rows are appended there in addition to the default run dataset.
runId	No	External workflow ID copied to output rows and RUN_SUMMARY for joins across scheduled runs.

What output does Google Ads Transparency Scraper return?

Example row:

{
  "target": "Nike",
  "country": "US",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiserCountry": "US",
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "creativeId": "CR17388216613009883137",
  "format": "Graphic",
  "firstShownDate": "2026-04-28",
  "lastShownDate": "2026-07-14",
  "adDetailsUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR17388216613009883137?region=US",
  "imageUrl": "https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:...",
  "imageUrls": ["https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:..."],
  "previewUrl": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?...",
  "headline": "Nike Men's Air Force 1 Flyknit 2.0 Shoes in Black, Size: 10.5 | AV3042-001",
  "creativeText": "Nike Men's Air Force 1 Flyknit 2.0 Shoes in Black, Size: 10.5 | AV3042-001",
  "variationCount": 3,
  "variations": [
    {
      "variationIndex": 1,
      "previewUrl": "https://displayads-formats.googleusercontent.com/ads/preview/content.js?...",
      "imageUrl": "https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:...",
      "headline": "Nike Men's Air Force 1 Flyknit 2.0 Shoes in Black, Size: 10.5 | AV3042-001"
    }
  ]
}

Image creatives often include assetUrl, imageUrl, or imageUrls. Product or dynamic creatives can include headline, description, callToAction, creativeText, and variations. If the public preview does not expose readable copy, the actor omits those fields rather than guessing.

How do I run Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

1. Add one or more advertiser names, domains, or advertiser IDs.
2. Choose a country.
3. Set maxAds based on how deep you want the run to go.
4. Optionally add date filters for monitoring new or recently shown ads.
5. Run the actor and download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or through the Apify API.

How can I use Google Ads Transparency Scraper through the API?

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR_USERNAME~google-ads-transparency-scraper/runs" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "targets": ["Nike"],
    "country": "US",
    "maxAds": 40
  }'

Fetch dataset items:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?clean=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"

How can I monitor advertisers over time?

For recurring monitoring, schedule the actor daily or weekly with the same targets. Use advertiserId and creativeId to deduplicate rows in your warehouse. Use firstShownDate and lastShownDate to identify fresh or still-active creatives.

What are the limits of Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

• The actor returns data visible through the public Ads Transparency Center path tested for advertiser search.
• It does not claim complete global ad coverage.
• It does not return spend, impressions, targeting criteria, keywords, or auction data unless those fields become publicly exposed.
• Creative copy is best-effort. Image-only previews may only expose image assets.
• Google can change internal public endpoints or payload shapes. The actor records failures in RUN_SUMMARY rather than inventing rows.
• Very large advertisers can have thousands of public ads; use maxAds to control run size and cost.

How do I troubleshoot Google Ads Transparency Scraper?

Issue	Likely cause	Solution
The actor picked the wrong advertiser	A broad brand name matched another advertiser in the selected country	Use a website domain or a known Google advertiser ID such as AR16735076323512287233.
No rows were returned	The advertiser has no public ads in that country, or date filters removed all rows	Try the advertiser ID, change country, or remove shownSince and firstShownAfter.
Some rows do not have creative text	The public preview exposed only an image, frame, or asset URL	Use imageUrl, imageUrls, assetUrl, previewUrl, and keep nullable copy fields optional.
A run is slower for some targets	Dynamic preview enrichment requires extra public preview requests	Lower maxAds for quick checks or split large advertiser lists across runs.

What changed in the current version?

0.1

• Initial version with advertiser resolution, public creative pagination, first/last shown dates, asset links, preview links, and best-effort creative text extraction.

How can I get support?

Open an issue on the actor page with the target, country, run ID, and a short description of what looked wrong. Include whether the problem was advertiser resolution, missing rows, date filtering, or preview extraction.