Exporting Competitors' Google Ads from the Transparency Center With Python

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Google's Ads Transparency Center lists the ads each advertiser runs, including text, images, video, regions and dates, but it has no export button or public API. The author built an Apify actor that pulls this data into CSV-ready rows, and the article walks through a short Python script using the apify-client library. Returned records include fields such as first and last shown dates, days running, format and a transparency link, with an optional per-domain summary row. The author suggests tracking the daysRunning field, since long-running ads may be performing well, and notes that the tool can run on a schedule to flag newly launched creatives. The article also cautions that the Transparency Center does not reveal spend, clicks or targeting, and that ad text is not always available.

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