Search, YouTube & DisplayLook up an advertiser and collect its public ads across Google. You can compare formats, see when creatives appeared, and check how the messaging changes between markets.
Try these examples for marketing, growth and competitor research.
Before a SaaS launch, look up three competing domains. Review their creative formats and see which messages appear in search, display and video. Use the examples to plan your own channel tests.
Keep a competitor creative inventory with notes on the channels you want to investigate.
If you're researching a retail launch, follow advertiser activity in two target countries. Use first- and last-shown dates to check when creatives appeared and how the copy differs.
Make a country comparison with links to the public ad records.
For a small group of advertisers, turn on extra details and save variant URLs. Resolve public YouTube IDs where they're available, then review the assets before starting production.
Organize the assets by format so your team can find campaign references.
FROM FIRST RUN TO REPEATABLE WORKFLOW
{
"domains": ["nike.com"],
"regions": ["GB"],
"platform": "all",
"maxAds": 50,
"fetchAdDetails": false,
"resolveMedia": false,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}Paste this into the Actor’s JSON input editor. Replace the example targets with yours before running.
Check the current input form on ApifyNames, domains, advertiser IDs and Transparency Center URLs can all identify an advertiser. Use an ID when a brand has several legal entities or a name search keeps choosing the wrong one.
| Search method | When to use it | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Website domains | When to use itYou have a competitor watchlist. | What changesVerified advertiser domains such as nike.com. More precise than a loose brand name. An unmatched domain can fall back to a brand-name lookup, so inspect the resolved advertiser. |
| Advertiser or brand name | When to use itYou want to find relevant results before choosing specific targets. | What changesSearch brand or company names. The Actor also checks the brand’s domain and chooses a matching advertiser. Inspect the resolved identity; use an AR ID to pin an exact entity. |
| Advertiser IDs | When to use itYou know the exact entity you want to collect. | What changesAR advertiser IDs from Transparency Center URLs. These avoid ambiguous name resolution and are the most reliable way to track the same legal entity over time. |
| Ad Library URLs | When to use itYou already configured the search on the source website. | What changesPaste advertiser URLs from Google’s Transparency Center. Each URL carries its own region and platform; global settings only fill missing filters. |
Keeps ads whose last-shown date is on or after this date. Filtering happens after collection because Google’s endpoint has no date filter; it does not guarantee fewer requests.
Compare the related scraperUse the exact field names below in JSON. In Apify’s form, enter list items separately, choose filters, and keep numbers and booleans in their proper types.
Default and prefill are different. A default applies when you omit a setting; a prefill is an example already entered in Apify’s form. Review prefilled targets and limits before every run. Some settings have no schema default. You still need to supply at least one supported target.
searchTermsSearch brand or company names. The Actor also checks the brand’s domain and chooses a matching advertiser. Inspect the resolved identity; use an AR ID to pin an exact entity.
domainsVerified advertiser domains such as nike.com. More precise than a loose brand name. An unmatched domain can fall back to a brand-name lookup, so inspect the resolved advertiser.
domainOne domain instead of a domains list. Use the bare domain; paths on the website do not narrow the advertiser’s ads.
advertiserIdsAR advertiser IDs from Transparency Center URLs. These avoid ambiguous name resolution and are the most reliable way to track the same legal entity over time.
advertiserIdThe single-advertiser version of advertiserIds. Copy the AR value from the advertiser’s Transparency Center URL, not a creative ID.
transparencyUrlsPaste advertiser URLs from Google’s Transparency Center. Each URL carries its own region and platform; global settings only fill missing filters.
transparencyUrlOne advertiser URL, with the same precedence as transparencyUrls. A region embedded in the URL overrides a conflicting global region.
regionsSeveral country codes or names create separate advertiser-region jobs. Results overlap and are deduplicated by creative_id. Empty means all served regions; unsupported countries are skipped.
regionOne country, used only when the regions list is empty. Prefer regions when comparing several markets.
platformRestricts the Google advertising surface. Choose search, youtube, display, shopping, maps or play, or all. Ads can appear on several surfaces, so platform totals can overlap.
all search youtube display shopping maps playminDateKeeps ads whose last-shown date is on or after this date. Filtering happens after collection because Google’s endpoint has no date filter; it does not guarantee fewer requests.
maxDateKeeps ads first shown on or before this date. Together with minDate, it selects ads whose delivery overlaps your window. Use YYYY-MM-DD for predictable input.
proxyConfigurationApify Proxy is recommended; datacenter is usually sufficient. Residential is not required for this Actor. A rejected proxy configuration can fall back to the account’s default proxy.
maxConcurrency1-10 advertiser-region jobs in parallel. Increasing it helps with multiple advertisers or regions; one advertiser in one region still paginates sequentially.
maxAdsA hard cap on unique ads across the whole run, including all targets and markets. Start with 50. Leaving it empty removes this cap; a broad search can then become much larger.
maxPagesPage cap for each advertiser-region job. A page contains up to pageSize ads, at most 100. This is a testing limit, not a global result cap.
fetchAdDetailsAdds region breakdowns, regional delivery dates and creative variants. It requires one extra request per ad; enable it only for research that needs these fields.
resolveMediaMakes extra requests to resolve public YouTube video IDs from previews. It cannot create a public video URL for display-video ads that do not have one.
pageSize1-100 ads per request. Values above 100 are clamped because Google rejects larger batches. Keep 100 unless debugging a particular response.
delayMsPause between page requests, in milliseconds. Increase it when the source throttles you; reducing it does not remove network delays or the source’s rate limits.
rawReturns the source structure rather than the normalized presentation. Keep false for consistent analysis columns; use true when you need the source payload for debugging or your own transformations.
proxyRotationsRetries refused work with a new proxy session. More retries can recover temporary blocks but add time and traffic. Keep the default until the log shows a reason to change it.
resumeSaves progress about every 30 seconds so an Apify restart or migration can continue the current run. Leave it on for normal use.
continueFromLastRunContinues unfinished work from the previous run with matching input. Earlier results remain in that run’s dataset. Keep false for a fresh collection or a recurring snapshot.
impersonateThe browser identity used for requests. Keep the Actor’s default unless you are diagnosing immediate blocks. It changes the request fingerprint, not the data you ask for.
proxySessionIdPins a proxy session for debugging. Leave empty for routine collection. Parallel jobs need their own sessions, so this setting is ignored when parallelism prevents a single fixed session.
This reference follows the Actor’s published input fields. Check the live form before changing a production workflow. Check the current input form on Apify.
Each example is a separate run. Start small, inspect the results, then increase coverage. Update the targets, countries and dates to match your question.
Two domains and two regions produce four advertiser-region jobs. The 150-ad cap applies to the combined, deduplicated dataset. It does not reserve an equal sample for every brand or country.
{
"domains": ["nike.com", "adidas.com"],
"regions": ["GB", "FR"],
"maxAds": 150,
"fetchAdDetails": false,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}Filter to YouTube and enable resolveMedia to try to resolve video IDs and URLs. Review the returned media fields before giving Claude links to summarize; some creatives still have no directly accessible video.
{
"domains": ["nike.com"],
"regions": ["GB"],
"platform": "youtube",
"maxAds": 50,
"resolveMedia": true,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}Add detailed fields and a delivery window for Germany. Dates are checked after ads are fetched, so a narrow window does not guarantee a cheap run. Replace the example dates and start with a small cap.
{
"domains": ["nike.com"],
"regions": ["DE"],
"minDate": "2026-09-01",
"maxDate": "2026-09-30",
"maxAds": 50,
"fetchAdDetails": true,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": true
}
}Keep advertiser and creative IDs with region, platform and the collection date. Detail and media switches enrich the same records rather than creating a separate performance dataset. Use Sheets for a creative review, or BigQuery and dbt for deduplicated history. The source does not provide spend, ROAS or conversions.
resume protects the current run if Apify restarts it. continueFromLastRun continues an earlier run with the same configuration; earlier records stay in the earlier dataset. Combine both datasets for the complete collection, and raise a previously reached result cap when continuing. Start fresh when you want to see what changed today.
Save one configuration above as input.json. Set APIFY_TOKEN to your Apify API token in your terminal, then send the file as the request body.
curl --fail-with-body --request POST \
--url "https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/jmlp~google-ads-transparency-center-scraper/runs" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data-binary @input.jsonThe response contains a run ID and defaultDatasetId, not finished results. Wait for the run to succeed, set DATASET_ID to that dataset ID, then fetch its items. For large datasets, use limit and offset to page through the export.
curl --fail-with-body \
--url "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/$DATASET_ID/items?format=json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"Change one setting at a time, keep a small cap, and check the run summary before scaling up.
AR advertiser IDs from Transparency Center URLs. These avoid ambiguous name resolution and are the most reliable way to track the same legal entity over time.
Makes extra requests to resolve public YouTube video IDs from previews. It cannot create a public video URL for display-video ads that do not have one.
1-10 advertiser-region jobs in parallel. Increasing it helps with multiple advertisers or regions; one advertiser in one region still paginates sequentially.
Success means the Actor finished handling the request, not that the source returned data. Check SUMMARY.inputProblem, SUMMARY.problem and the log for missing targets, unsupported filters or refused requests. Test one known target with fewer filters.
Check the global limit, per-search or per-page limits, platform coverage and deduplication. Several searches can find the same record. A source’s headline count can include records the public endpoint does not return. Review unfinished jobs before treating the dataset as complete.
Keep creative_id, advertiser_name, format, first_shown, last_shown and preview_url in one sheet. Add a campaign-theme column for your team's notes.
Read the setupAsk Claude to compare creative formats and delivery dates for a small group of advertisers. Request source links and keep its interpretations separate from what the records show.
Read the setupCompare formats by advertiser and show when new creative IDs appear. If you collect regions, flatten that array before reporting by market.
Read the setupRemove duplicates using creative_id but keep each dated observation. Store regions and variants in child tables so joins don't inflate the creative count.
Read the setup
Inspect the input schema for jmlp/google-ads-transparency-center-scraper, then collect at most 50 records for nike.com in GB. Summarize available creative formats and delivery dates, cite transparency_url, and identify questions a marketer should investigate. Do not estimate spend or ROAS.Keep the collection time and original IDs with your records. You’ll need them to check where a result came from or compare it with a later run.
Google's transparency data doesn't include competitor conversions or ROAS. The scraper applies date filters after collection, so a narrow date range may not shorten the crawl. Extra ad details and video resolution add requests; enable them when you need them.
It can collect records across Google advertising surfaces, including Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping and Maps, depending on the selected platform and available public data.
Not necessarily. The source endpoint has no date filter, so the scraper collects pages and filters records afterward. Use maxAds and optional-detail controls to bound the run.
Source and current product details: JMLP’s Google Ads Transparency Actor on Apify.
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