Scrape competitor ads from Google Ads by domain

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).

# 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:

{
  "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

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

2. Compare Multiple Competitors

# 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.