🎯 Google Ads Scraper - Competitor Monitor

Scrape public ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center by domain, company name, keyword, advertiser ID, or Transparency Center URL.

Use this Actor to build a clean competitor ads table with ad creatives, copy, CTAs, landing pages, active dates, preview media, downloaded creative files, OCR text, reach stats, and new/removed ad monitoring.

💸 Price: $0.50 / 1,000 saved ads. No Google Ads account, no Google Ads API key, and no browser setup required.

✅ What You Can Get

Data group	Example fields
👤 Advertiser	advertiserName, advertiserLegalName, advertiserId, advertiserRegionCode
🆔 Creative	creativeId, format, adTransparencyUrl, preview
✍️ Ad copy	headline, description, cta, text, textLines
🔗 Landing pages	landingUrl, landingDomain, optional archived HTML in key-value store
📅 Activity dates	firstShown, lastShown, daysActive, isActive
🌍 Reach stats	regions, platforms, impressionsMin, impressionsMax, targetingSummary
🖼️ Media	media, variantUrls, optional downloaded assets in key-value store
🔎 OCR	ocrText for image ads, videoOcrText for video ads
📌 Monitoring	status, firstSeenAt, lastSeenAt, removedAt

The default output is one practical 📊 Ads table. The 📌 Run report gives totals, top formats, top landing domains, long-running ads, performance stats, and next actions.

🎯 Best For

• Monitoring competitors' Google, YouTube, Search, Display, and Shopping ads.
• Building a swipe file of competitor creatives and landing pages.
• Finding fresh ad copy, CTAs, offers, formats, and active campaigns.
• Tracking new and removed creatives on a daily or weekly Apify Schedule.
• Exporting Google Ads Transparency Center data to CSV, Excel, JSON, Clay, n8n, or your own API workflow.
• Auditing advertisers by region, format, date range, platform, impression range, and targeting signals when Google exposes them.

🚀 Quick Start

For a first run, fill only:

1. 🎯 Domains, names, IDs, or URLs - for example nike.com, Shopify, or an AR... advertiser ID.
2. 🔢 Max ads - use 20 for a cheap test.
3. Click Start.

Example input:

{
  "searchTargets": ["nike.com"],
  "resultsLimit": 20
}

After the run, open 📊 Ads table first. It contains the rows most users need without opening technical storage tabs.

🧭 How To Choose Input

Input type	Example	Best use
Domain	nike.com	Easy competitor research
Company name	Shopify	Quick brand lookup
Keyword	running shoes	Broader market discovery
Advertiser ID	AR08888592736429539329	Most reliable for repeat runs and monitoring
Transparency Center URL	https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/...	Exact advertiser or exact creative
Creative URL	https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR.../creative/CR...	Fetch one known ad

For scheduled monitoring, use exact AR... advertiser IDs whenever possible. They avoid ambiguity from brand search suggestions.

⚙️ Input Options

The input form is intentionally short. Start with competitors and a result limit, then enable only the extras you need.

Field	What it does	Recommended use
🎯 Domains, names, IDs, or URLs	Competitors or exact Google Transparency targets.	Add one target per line.
🔢 Max ads	Total saved rows across the whole run.	Use 20 for tests, 100-500 for normal research, 0 only for everything available.
🌍 Country	Optional country filter.	Leave All countries for the broadest view.
🎞️ Ad format	Text, image, video, or all formats.	Leave All formats unless you need a specific creative type.
📅 Date range	Activity window.	Use Last 30 days for active campaign checks.
🎨 Download creative files	Saves direct media files to key-value store.	Enable for swipe files.
🔎 Image OCR	Extracts text from image creatives.	Enable when image copy matters.
🎬 Video OCR	Extracts text from video frames or thumbnails.	Enable when video overlays matter.
🔗 Archive landing pages	Saves HTML copies of decoded landing pages.	Enable when you need evidence or later review.
📈 Reach and targeting stats	Adds regions, platforms, impressions, and targeting flags.	Enable for the fullest competitor-intelligence rows.
📌 Track new and removed ads	Stateful monitoring across scheduled runs.	Enable for daily or weekly competitor watches.

📊 Output

Each dataset item is one Google ad creative.

Common fields:

Field	Meaning
advertiserName / advertiserId	Google advertiser identity.
creativeId	Stable Google creative ID.
format	TEXT, IMAGE, or VIDEO.
text, headline, description, cta	Decoded ad copy when Google exposes it.
ocrText, videoOcrText	Optional text extracted from images or videos.
landingUrl, landingDomain	Decoded destination when available.
firstShown, lastShown, daysActive	Date range in YYYY-MM-DD format and active duration.
regions, platforms, impressionsMin, impressionsMax	Optional Google-exposed reach stats.
preview, media, assetUrl	Preview/media links and optional downloaded creative file.
status	new, seen, or removed in monitor mode.
adTransparencyUrl	Direct link to the ad in Google Ads Transparency Center.

Example output item:

{
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "advertiserId": "AR16735076323512287233",
  "creativeId": "CR01753144146295521281",
  "format": "IMAGE",
  "text": "Nike Running | New arrivals are here | Shop now",
  "ocrText": "Run your best mile | New shoes available now",
  "cta": "Shop now",
  "landingUrl": "https://www.nike.com/",
  "landingDomain": "nike.com",
  "regions": ["United States"],
  "platforms": ["YouTube", "Google Search"],
  "impressionsMin": 1000,
  "impressionsMax": 2000,
  "firstShown": "2026-01-15",
  "lastShown": "2026-03-18",
  "daysActive": 62,
  "preview": "https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/archive/simgad/...",
  "assetUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/ASSET_...?signature=...",
  "adTransparencyUrl": "https://adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR.../creative/CR..."
}

Apify lets you download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, JSONL, XML, RSS, HTML, or through the API.

🎨 Download Creative Files

Enable Download creative files when you need a saved swipe file instead of links that may disappear.

When Google exposes durable direct media URLs, the Actor stores files as ASSET_* records in the default key-value store and adds:

• mediaDownloaded
• assetKey
• assetUrl
• assetKeys
• assetUrls
• assets

YouTube watch URLs and expiring googlevideo.com streams remain as links because they are not durable creative files.

🔎 OCR For Image And Video Ads

Enable Image OCR to extract text baked into image creatives.

Image OCR adds:

• ocrText
• ocrLines
• ocrSourceUrls
• ocrImagesCount
• ocrStatus

Enable Video OCR to extract text overlays from video creatives. Direct video assets are sampled with ffmpeg when Google exposes them. YouTube-only video ads use public thumbnail OCR instead of downloading full YouTube videos.

Video OCR adds:

• videoOcrText
• videoOcrLines
• videoOcrSourceUrls
• videoOcrFramesCount
• videoOcrStatus

OCR is best-effort and adds extra CPU and network work, so leave it off for the fastest bulk exports.

🔗 Archive Landing Pages

Enable Archive landing pages when you need proof of competitor landing pages, not just final URLs.

The Actor saves one HTML archive per unique decoded landing URL and adds:

• landingPageDownloaded
• landingPageKey
• landingPageUrl
• landingPageStatus
• landingPageContentType
• landingPageBytes

Landing-page archiving is optional because it fetches external websites and can slow large runs.

📌 Monitor New And Removed Ads

Enable Track new and removed ads, keep the same Monitor name, and run the Actor on an Apify Schedule.

Example:

{
  "searchTargets": ["AR08888592736429539329"],
  "resultsLimit": 100,
  "monitorMode": true,
  "monitorName": "NIKE_US"
}

Monitor rows include:

• status: new, seen, or removed
• firstSeenAt
• lastSeenAt
• removedAt

With a limited run such as 20, 100, or 500, the Actor labels new and seen inside that sampled window. Accurate removed-ad detection requires a full advertiser scan with resultsLimit: 0 and maxPages: 0, because Google's top-results window can shift between runs.

Monitor state is stored in the named key-value store google-ads-monitor-state and mirrored into the run's default key-value store for visibility.

⚡ Speed Benchmarks

Benchmarked on June 17-18, 2026. Times vary by advertiser, media volume, Google response speed, and enabled extras.

Mode	Saved ads	Actor processing time	Full Apify run time	Notes
Default Ads table	20	3.5s	14.3s	Preview-rich rows, 0 Google 429s
Default Ads table	100	5.3s	15.8s	Preview-rich rows, direct connection only
Default Ads table	500	42.1s	54.5s	Preview-rich rows, direct connection only
Reach and targeting stats	100	21.4s	23.6s	100 enriched rows, 0 Google 429s
Reach and targeting stats	500	122.3s	125.2s	500 enriched rows, 2 Google 429s recovered, 0 Residential traffic
All extras + reach stats	20	10.3s	20.8s	Assets, OCR, video OCR, landing archives, reach stats
All extras + reach stats + monitor	500	124.5s	135.6s	500/500 enriched rows, 473 assets, 2 Google 429s recovered, 0 Residential traffic
Media-heavy all-extras run	500	419.4s	429.9s	802 assets, 56 video OCR rows, 10 landing archives

The default Ads table is the fastest mode. Reach stats, OCR, media downloads, video OCR, and landing-page archives are optional because they add detail lookups, downloads, CPU work, and storage writes.

🔌 API Example

Use this Actor as a Google Ads Transparency Center API alternative.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/vortex_data~google-ads/run-sync-get-dataset-items?format=json&clean=true&timeout=300" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchTargets": ["nike.com"],
    "resultsLimit": 20,
    "extractOcrText": true
  }'

Use the same input fields in API calls as in the Apify Console form.

🔄 Clay And n8n

Clay

Use Clay's Apify integration:

1. Add Run Apify Actor.
2. Actor: vortex_data/google-ads.
3. Input JSON:

{
  "searchTargets": ["nike.com"],
  "resultsLimit": 20,
  "extractOcrText": true
}

Map fields such as advertiserName, format, text, ocrText, cta, landingDomain, firstShown, lastShown, preview, and adTransparencyUrl into your Clay table.

n8n

Import integrations/n8n-google-ads-monitor.json from this Actor source, set APIFY_TOKEN, and edit the JSON body in the Run Google Ads Monitor node.

For scheduled alerts, replace Manual Trigger with Schedule Trigger, keep monitorMode: true, and reuse the same monitorName.

{
  "searchTargets": ["AR08888592736429539329"],
  "resultsLimit": 100,
  "monitorMode": true,
  "monitorName": "COMPETITOR_US"
}

⚠️ Notes And Limitations

• Google Ads Transparency Center is a public transparency UI, not an official bulk export API.
• Google does not expose exact impressions for every ad. When available, impressions are returned as ranges.
• Some ads do not expose copy, CTA, targeting, platform stats, media files, or landing URLs.
• Large repeated all-extras runs against the same advertiser can trigger temporary Google 429 responses. The Actor rotates warmed sessions, uses cheaper proxy routes first, and keeps Residential Proxy as a last rescue tier.
• Rich modes do not invent missing data. If Google does not expose a field, the Actor leaves it empty.
• Image and video OCR are best-effort. Video OCR does not transcribe speech.
• Landing-page archiving saves HTML only when the decoded destination returns an HTML page within safety limits.
• Signed googlevideo.com URLs expire and are kept as links, not downloaded files.
• Brand and keyword search depend on Google's advertiser suggestions. Exact AR... IDs are more stable.

❓ FAQ

Can I search by domain?

Yes. Paste a domain such as nike.com or shopify.com. The Actor resolves matching Google advertiser accounts and scrapes their public ads.

Can I search by advertiser ID?

Yes. AR... advertiser IDs are the fastest and most reliable input, especially for scheduled monitoring.

Can I scrape one exact ad?

Yes. Paste a Google Ads Transparency Center creative URL containing both AR... and CR....

Does it support text, image, and video ads?

Yes. Leave Ad format set to All formats for normal competitor research, or filter to text, image, or video ads.

Can it download creatives?

Yes. Enable Download creative files. Direct durable images, thumbnails, videos, and HTML5 bundles are stored in the key-value store when Google exposes them.

Does it support OCR?

Yes. Image OCR and video OCR are optional. Leave them off for faster bulk runs.

Does it support landing pages?

Yes. The default table includes decoded landing URLs when available. Enable Archive landing pages to save HTML snapshots.

Do I need a Google Ads account?

No. The Actor uses public Google Ads Transparency Center data.

Is this affiliated with Google?

No. This Actor is not affiliated with Google. Users are responsible for using scraped data lawfully and respecting applicable rules.

🧯 Support

If a run returns fewer ads than expected, open the run log and check the target, country, format, date range, and result limit first. For repeatable monitoring, prefer exact AR... advertiser IDs.

Need help with a run? Open the Issues tab and include the run ID, input target, expected result count, and whether optional extras were enabled.