Google Ads Scraper

Scrape ads from Google Ads using the Apify burbn/google-ads-search actor. Search by domain to get ad creatives, formats, and campaign details.

Quick Start

Requires APIFY_API_TOKEN env var (or --token flag).

bash
# Search by domain (recommended)
python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
  --domain "hubspot.com"

# Search by company name (resolves to domain via transparency center)
python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
  --company "Nike"

# Limit results
python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
  --domain "hubspot.com" --max-ads 30

# Human-readable summary
python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
  --domain "stripe.com" --output summary

How It Works

1. Domain Input: Pass the target company's domain directly via --domain
2. Company Name Resolution (optional): If only --company is provided, the script searches Google Ads Transparency Center using Apify's web-scraper (Puppeteer) to resolve the company name to advertiser info
3. Ad Scraping: Calls the Apify burbn/google-ads-search actor with {"domain": "...", "maxItems": N}
4. Output: Returns ads as JSON or human-readable summary

CLI Reference

| Flag | Default | Description | |------|---------|-------------| | --domain | none | Company domain (e.g. hubspot.com) — recommended | | --company | none | Company name (resolved to domain via transparency center) | | --max-ads | 50 | Maximum number of ads to return | | --output | json | Output format: json or summary | | --token | env var | Apify token (prefer APIFY_API_TOKEN env var) | | --timeout | 300 | Max seconds to wait for Apify run |

At least one of --company or --domain is required.

Output Fields

Each ad in the output contains:

json
{
  "advertiserId": "AR13129532367502835713",
  "advertiserName": "Nike, Inc.",
  "creativeId": "CR12345678901234567890",
  "originalUrl": "https://www.nike.com/",
  "imageUrl": "https://...",
  "variantFormat": "TEXT",
  "variantContent": "Shop the latest Nike shoes...",
  "variants": [...],
  "variantCount": 3,
  "startDate": "2026-01-15"
}

Output fields:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | advertiserId | Google Ads advertiser ID | | advertiserName | Company/advertiser display name | | creativeId | Unique ID for the ad creative | | originalUrl | Destination URL the ad links to | | imageUrl | URL of the ad image (if applicable) | | variantFormat | Ad format (TEXT, IMAGE, VIDEO, etc.) | | variantContent | Ad copy/text content | | variants | Array of ad variants | | variantCount | Number of variants for this creative | | startDate | Date the ad first appeared |

Cost

• Ad scraping: Varies by actor pricing, typically a few cents per domain
• Company name resolution (optional): ~$0.05 (one web-scraper page)

Common Workflows

1. Competitor Ad Research

bash
python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
  --domain "competitor.com" --max-ads 100 --output summary

2. Compare Multiple Competitors

bash
# Run for each competitor domain
for domain in "competitor1.com" "competitor2.com" "competitor3.com"; do
  python3 skills/google-ad-scraper/scripts/search_google_ads.py \
    --domain "$domain" --max-ads 50
done

Limitations

• Company name resolution uses Puppeteer-based web scraping of Google's SPA. It may occasionally fail — use --domain for best results.
• Ad coverage: Google only shows ads from verified advertisers. Some smaller advertisers may not appear.
• Historical data: Primarily shows recently active ads.