# Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper (`viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency`) Actor

Extract competitor ads from Google Ads Transparency Center (Search, YouTube, Maps, Play, Shopping). No login or API key required. Compliance + competitive intelligence.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency.md
- **Developed by:** [viralanalyzer](https://apify.com/viralanalyzer) (community)
- **Categories:** Marketing, Lead generation, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 creative scrapeds

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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 Center Scraper

> 🔗 [View on Apify Store](https://apify.com/viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency) | 🇺🇸 English | [🇧🇷 Português](#português)

Extract competitor ad creatives from **Google Ads Transparency Center** — ads running on Google Search, YouTube, Maps, Play and Shopping. **No login or API key required.** Uses the public reverse-engineered RPC of `adstransparency.google.com`.

### ✨ Features

- **Anonymous access** — no Google account, no OAuth, no API key
- **Search by advertiser name/domain** OR **direct lookup by AR... advertiser ID**
- **18 region filters** (US/BR/GB/DE/FR/ES/IT/CA/AU/MX/AR/CL/CO/JP/IN/NL/BE + Anywhere)
- **Format filter** — TEXT / IMAGE / VIDEO / ALL
- **Auto-pagination** up to 500 creatives per advertiser
- **Rich output** — creative ID, headline, body, image URL, video URL, destination URL, regions where ad ran, first/last shown dates
- **Polite rate-limit** — 400ms inter-page sleep + 500ms inter-advertiser
- **NEVER 0 ITEMS guard** — fails loud if Google rotated schema instead of silent success

### 📥 Input

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | enum | Yes | `searchTerm` | `searchTerm` = find by name/domain, `advertiserId` = direct lookup |
| `searchTerm` | string | If mode=searchTerm | `Nike` | Advertiser name, brand or domain |
| `advertiserId` | string | If mode=advertiserId | — | Google advertiser ID (format `AR...`) |
| `region` | enum | No | `anywhere` | ISO country code or `anywhere` |
| `formatFilter` | enum | No | `ALL` | `TEXT` / `IMAGE` / `VIDEO` / `ALL` |
| `maxCreatives` | int | No | 50 | Max creatives per advertiser (1-500) |
| `maxAdvertisers` | int | No | 3 | Top-N matching advertisers to fetch (search mode only) |

#### Example input
```json
{
  "mode": "searchTerm",
  "searchTerm": "Nike",
  "region": "US",
  "formatFilter": "VIDEO",
  "maxCreatives": 50,
  "maxAdvertisers": 1
}
````

### 📤 Output

```json
{
  "creativeId": "CR123456789",
  "advertiserId": "AR12345678",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiserDomain": "nike.com",
  "format": "VIDEO",
  "headline": "Just Do It",
  "body": "Discover the new Air Max collection…",
  "imageUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/.../image.jpg",
  "videoUrl": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/.../video.mp4",
  "destinationUrl": "https://www.nike.com/...",
  "regions": [
    {"region": "US", "firstShown": "2026-03-01", "lastShown": "2026-05-14", "timesShown": null}
  ],
  "creativeUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR12345678/creative/CR123456789",
  "source": "google-ads-transparency-rpc"
}
```

### 💰 Pricing

Pay-per-event: only charged when a real creative is returned. Zero results → zero charge.

### 🚀 Use cases

- **Competitive ad intelligence** — see what your competitors are spending on
- **Compliance research** — track political/issue ads at scale
- **Creative analysis** — extract winning headline/copy/imagery patterns
- **Brand safety** — discover ads using your brand keywords
- **Affiliate research** — find advertiser destination URLs for affiliate matching

### ⚠️ Common errors

| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| `[FAIL] No advertisers found` | Search term too narrow/typo | Try a broader name OR use `region: anywhere` |
| `[GOOGLE_RPC] HTTP 429` | Rate-limited (rare with built-in sleeps) | Re-run after 60s |
| `[GOOGLE_RPC] HTTP 503` | Google maintenance | Re-run later |
| `[FAIL] Zero creatives extracted` | Advertiser has no ads in selected region/format | Try `region: anywhere` + `formatFilter: ALL` |

### 🔒 No data sent to third parties

All requests go directly to `adstransparency.google.com`. No proxy, no middleware — your search terms aren't logged anywhere.

### 📚 Related actors

- [Facebook Ad Library Intelligence](https://apify.com/viralanalyzer/facebook-ads-library) — Meta Ad Library (FB/IG/Messenger/WhatsApp ads)

### 🆕 Changelog

- **v1.0** (2026-05-15): Initial release. RPC endpoints `SearchSuggestions`, `SearchCreatives`, `GetCreativeById`. Auto-pagination. NEVER 0 ITEMS guard.

***

### Português

## 📢 Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper

Extrai criativos publicitários de **competidores** do **Google Ads Transparency Center** — ads rodando em Google Search, YouTube, Maps, Play e Shopping. **Sem login, sem API key.** Usa o RPC público reverse-engineered de `adstransparency.google.com`.

#### Diferencial vs competidores na Apify Store

- **Sem auth**: 0 fricção de onboarding (concorrentes pedem OAuth ou são pagos)
- **Multi-region**: 18 países pré-configurados, não só US
- **PPE**: você paga só pelos criativos retornados, não por run vazio
- **Open source compatible**: usa o mesmo RPC público que SerpApi / SearchApi cobram $50+/mês

#### Casos de uso para o mercado BR/LATAM

- Espiar campanhas Google Ads de Magalu, Americanas, Mercado Livre, Magazine Luiza
- Compliance eleitoral — ads políticos no BR/AR/MX
- Pesquisa de afiliação — encontrar advertisers ativos para abordar
- Análise criativa — copiar padrões de headline/copy dos top spenders

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose 'searchTerm' to search advertisers by name/domain, or 'advertiserId' for direct lookup if you already have the AR... ID.

## `searchTerm` (type: `string`):

Advertiser name, brand or domain to search (e.g. 'Nike', 'Magalu', 'shopify.com'). Required when mode=searchTerm.

## `advertiserId` (type: `string`):

Direct Google advertiser ID format AR.... Required when mode=advertiserId. Find via the Transparency Center URL.

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

ISO-3166 country code to filter ads shown in that region. 'anywhere' = no filter.

## `formatFilter` (type: `string`):

Filter by ad format. ALL = no filter.

## `maxCreatives` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of ad creatives to return per advertiser (1-500).

## `maxAdvertisers` (type: `integer`):

When mode=searchTerm, how many top-matching advertisers to scrape ads for.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "searchTerm",
  "searchTerm": "Nike",
  "region": "US",
  "formatFilter": "ALL",
  "maxCreatives": 5,
  "maxAdvertisers": 1
}
```

# 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 = {
    "mode": "searchTerm",
    "searchTerm": "Nike",
    "region": "US",
    "maxCreatives": 5,
    "maxAdvertisers": 1
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency").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 = {
    "mode": "searchTerm",
    "searchTerm": "Nike",
    "region": "US",
    "maxCreatives": 5,
    "maxAdvertisers": 1,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "searchTerm",
  "searchTerm": "Nike",
  "region": "US",
  "maxCreatives": 5,
  "maxAdvertisers": 1
}' |
apify call viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=viralanalyzer/google-ads-transparency",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Google Ads Transparency Center Scraper",
        "description": "Extract competitor ads from Google Ads Transparency Center (Search, YouTube, Maps, Play, Shopping). No login or API key required. Compliance + competitive intelligence.",
        "version": "2.0",
        "x-build-id": "npRUhzEJcVHTMnxkl"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/viralanalyzer~google-ads-transparency/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-viralanalyzer-google-ads-transparency",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/viralanalyzer~google-ads-transparency/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-viralanalyzer-google-ads-transparency",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/viralanalyzer~google-ads-transparency/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-viralanalyzer-google-ads-transparency",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "mode"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "mode": {
                        "title": "Search mode",
                        "enum": [
                            "searchTerm",
                            "advertiserId"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Choose 'searchTerm' to search advertisers by name/domain, or 'advertiserId' for direct lookup if you already have the AR... ID.",
                        "default": "searchTerm"
                    },
                    "searchTerm": {
                        "title": "Search term (advertiser name or domain)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Advertiser name, brand or domain to search (e.g. 'Nike', 'Magalu', 'shopify.com'). Required when mode=searchTerm."
                    },
                    "advertiserId": {
                        "title": "Advertiser ID (AR...)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Direct Google advertiser ID format AR.... Required when mode=advertiserId. Find via the Transparency Center URL."
                    },
                    "region": {
                        "title": "Region (ISO country code)",
                        "enum": [
                            "anywhere",
                            "US",
                            "BR",
                            "GB",
                            "DE",
                            "FR",
                            "ES",
                            "IT",
                            "CA",
                            "AU",
                            "MX",
                            "AR",
                            "CL",
                            "CO",
                            "JP",
                            "IN",
                            "NL",
                            "BE"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "ISO-3166 country code to filter ads shown in that region. 'anywhere' = no filter.",
                        "default": "US"
                    },
                    "formatFilter": {
                        "title": "Ad format filter",
                        "enum": [
                            "ALL",
                            "TEXT",
                            "IMAGE",
                            "VIDEO"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Filter by ad format. ALL = no filter.",
                        "default": "ALL"
                    },
                    "maxCreatives": {
                        "title": "Max creatives to extract",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 500,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of ad creatives to return per advertiser (1-500).",
                        "default": 50
                    },
                    "maxAdvertisers": {
                        "title": "Max advertisers (search mode)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 20,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "When mode=searchTerm, how many top-matching advertisers to scrape ads for.",
                        "default": 3
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```