# Google Ads Transparency Scraper - Competitor Ads by Domain (`unbrowseai/google-ads-transparency-scraper`) Actor

Get every Google ad a company runs on Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps and Play from the Ads Transparency Center: advertiser, creative ID, format, first and last shown dates, days shown, image and preview links. Search by domain, advertiser ID or brand name. Half the usual price.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/unbrowseai/google-ads-transparency-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Unbrowse AI](https://apify.com/unbrowseai) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, Lead generation
- **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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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 Scraper – Competitor Ads by Domain or Advertiser

See every ad a company runs on Google. Give it a website (like `nike.com`), an advertiser ID (`AR…`) or a brand name, and it returns the ads listed in Google's Ads Transparency Center as clean rows: advertiser name and ID, creative ID, format (text, image or video), the first and last date the ad was shown, how many days it ran, the domain it promotes, an image of the ad and a link to the ad's page. Filter by country, platform (Search, YouTube, Shopping, Maps, Play), format and date range.

### What people use it for

- **Competitor ad research** – see which creatives a rival keeps running (long-running ads are usually the winners) and when they launched new ones.
- **Agency pitches and audits** – show a prospect what their competitors spend creative effort on, per country and platform.
- **Lead generation** – find out whether a company advertises on Google at all, and roughly how many ads it runs.
- **Creative inspiration** – build a swipe file of image and video ads in your niche.
- **Monitoring** – schedule a daily or weekly run and compare `firstShown` dates to catch new campaigns.

### How to use it

1. Add one or more **domains** (`nike.com`), **advertiser IDs** (`AR16735076323512287233`), **brand names** (`HelloFresh`), or paste Transparency Center URLs.
2. Pick a **region** (two-letter country code, or `ANYWHERE`).
3. Optionally narrow by **platform**, **ad format** and a **date range**.
4. Set **Max ads per domain or advertiser**. Brand names are matched to the best-fitting advertiser accounts; set how many with **Max advertisers per name**.
5. Run, then export JSON, CSV or Excel, or read the dataset through the API.

A domain search returns ads from every advertiser account that points to that domain, which often includes resellers and regional subsidiaries. Use an advertiser ID when you want one account only.

### Output example

```json
{
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR06167249677558218753",
  "format": "TEXT",
  "firstShown": "2023-11-16T21:59:27.000Z",
  "lastShown": "2026-09-28T03:25:02.000Z",
  "daysShown": 897,
  "targetDomain": "nike.com",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/4163754085854068139",
  "imageWidth": 348,
  "imageHeight": 160,
  "previewUrl": null,
  "adUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233/creative/CR06167249677558218753?region=US",
  "advertiserUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR16735076323512287233?region=US",
  "region": "US",
  "platformFilter": "ALL",
  "searchInput": "nike.com",
  "searchType": "domain",
  "advertiserAdsTotal": { "min": 8000, "max": 9000 },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-28T04:10:00.000Z"
}
```

- `imageUrl` is a static image of the ad when Google stores one (most text and image ads). Other ads come with `previewUrl`, the script Google uses to render the ad preview.
- `daysShown` counts the days the ad was actually served, which can be fewer than the span between the first and last date.
- `advertiserAdsTotal` is the approximate total the Transparency Center reports for the search, useful for sizing an advertiser.

### Pricing

One flat price per ad, on every Apify plan:

| Apify plan | Price per 1,000 ads |
|---|---|
| Free | $1.00 |
| Starter | $1.00 |
| Scale | $1.00 |
| Business | $1.00 |
| Enterprise | $1.00 |

That is half of what the most used scraper for this data charges per ad. Searches that fail or find nothing are free. Set a maximum cost per run and the scraper stops cleanly at that limit.

### FAQ

**Why do I see advertisers other than the brand for a domain?** Google lists every verified account whose ads point to that domain, including retailers and agencies. Use advertiser IDs to restrict to one account.

**How far back does it go?** As far as the Transparency Center shows for your region, generally the past year of activity, plus older ads still running. Platform filters only cover ads shown since September 2023.

**Does it return impressions or targeting?** Google publishes impression ranges and targeting only for political ads in some regions. This scraper returns what the public ad list shows.

**Is it legal?** It reads information Google publishes for public transparency. You are responsible for how you use the data, including advertisers' trademarks and data protection law.

Missing a field or filter? Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

## `domains` (type: `array`):

Websites the ads point to, e.g. nike.com. Returns ads from every advertiser account promoting that domain.

## `advertiserIds` (type: `array`):

Advertiser IDs starting with AR (from an advertiser page URL on the Transparency Center).

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Free-text names such as HelloFresh. Each is matched to the best-fitting advertisers (see Max advertisers per name).

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Optional. Advertiser page URLs (adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR...) or domain search URLs (?domain=...).

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

Two-letter country code where the ads were shown (US, GB, DE, IN, ...), or ANYWHERE for all regions.

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

Only ads shown on this Google surface. Platform filters cover ads shown since September 2023.

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

Only text, image or video ads.

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

Only ads shown on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). The Transparency Center covers roughly the last year.

## `endDate` (type: `string`):

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

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

Stop after this many ads for each domain, advertiser ID or matched advertiser.

## `maxAdvertisersPerTerm` (type: `integer`):

For brand or company names: how many matching advertiser accounts to scrape (exact name matches first, then the largest).

## `resolvePreviews` (type: `boolean`):

For ads Google renders on the fly (most video, Shopping and some text ads), read the preview to add the ad image, Shopping product title and YouTube video link. Slightly slower; no extra charge.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "advertiserIds": [],
  "searchTerms": [],
  "startUrls": [],
  "region": "US",
  "platform": "ALL",
  "adFormat": "ALL",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
  "maxAdvertisersPerTerm": 3,
  "resolvePreviews": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `ads` (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 = {
    "domains": [
        "nike.com"
    ],
    "region": "US",
    "maxAdsPerTarget": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("unbrowseai/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 = {
    "domains": ["nike.com"],
    "region": "US",
    "maxAdsPerTarget": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("unbrowseai/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 '{
  "domains": [
    "nike.com"
  ],
  "region": "US",
  "maxAdsPerTarget": 20
}' |
apify call unbrowseai/google-ads-transparency-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,unbrowseai/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/dV2ytU06ZxchfKyqd/builds/n66u3ykzZXLk42c4m/openapi.json