google-ad-scraper

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": "...", "maxResults": N}`
4. **Output**: Returns ads as JSON or human-readable summary

**Input contract:** `maxResults` is the actor’s documented limit field ([official schema](https://apify.com/burbn/google-ads-search/input-schema)). This fallback remains temporary research; it does not create a saved GooseWorks ad-library source. Prefer the confirmed durable Google workflow in `competitor-ad-intelligence` when saving is requested.

## 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

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.