Get alerts when a competitor launches new Google ads (Ads Transparency Center)

Google's Ads Transparency Center shows every ad a verified advertiser runs on Search, YouTube and Display, but it has no alerts and no API. To hear when a competitor launches something new, run Google Ads Transparency Scraper on Apify on a schedule with Only new ads turned on. Each run checks the advertiser's most recent ads and returns only the ones earlier runs didn't, with the ad text, format, first and last shown dates and a preview link. Ads seen before are skipped before their previews load, so repeat runs take seconds. It costs $1 per 1,000 ads, and only new ads count.

Open Google Ads Transparency Scraper on Apify $1 per 1,000 ads ($0.80 on Gold and above)

Step by step

1. Create a free Apify account. Sign up at apify.com. The free plan's $5 monthly credit covers about 5,000 ads.
2. Add the competitors. Open Google Ads Transparency Scraper and add advertiser names or domains, one per line. Set the country (region) or leave it on anywhere.
3. Turn on Only new ads. Under Monitoring, switch on Only new ads. Max ads per advertiser sets how many of each advertiser's most recent ads a run checks (100 by default).
4. Save it as a task and schedule it. Click Save as a new task, then Schedule it daily or weekly. The first run returns everything and starts the history; later runs return only new ads.
5. Send the new ads somewhere useful. On the task's Integrations tab, post them to Slack, append them to Google Sheets, or call a webhook. n8n, Make and Zapier can pick them up too.

Do it from code

One run, only new ads (cURL)

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automationnation~google-ads-transparency-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"advertisers": ["nike.com"], "region": "us", "onlyNewAds": true}'

# Each row: advertiserName, format, firstShown, lastShown, daysRunning, ad text and preview, change: "new"

A daily check, set up through the API (cURL)

# 1. Save the search as a task
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-tasks?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"actId": "EgAvEiCu14kp5cLaF", "name": "competitor-ads", "input": {"advertisers": ["nike.com", "Adidas"], "region": "us", "maxAdsPerAdvertiser": 100, "onlyNewAds": true}}'

# 2. Run it every morning at 8:00 (TASK_ID is the id returned by step 1)
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/schedules?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "competitor-ads-daily", "cronExpression": "0 8 * * *", "timezone": "Europe/London", "isEnabled": true, "isExclusive": true, "actions": [{"type": "RUN_ACTOR_TASK", "actorTaskId": "TASK_ID"}]}'

From an AI assistant (MCP)

Add this MCP server URL to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and ask in plain English:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automationnation/google-ads-transparency-scraper

Alternatives

Checking the Ads Transparency Center by hand is free, one advertiser at a time. Ad-intelligence suites such as Semrush and SpyFu estimate competitors' search keywords and spend, on monthly plans. Meta's Ad Library covers Facebook and Instagram ads, not Google's. See the side-by-side comparison.

FAQ

Written by AutomationNation, the developer of Google Ads Transparency Scraper. Prices checked October 2026.