Google Ads Competitor Analysis System: Spying with API

Hilman Ramadhan -


Want to see what your competitors are up to with their Google Ads? Let's explore how SerpApi can help you discover their strategies and make better campaign decisions.

We'll see how to grab this data manually and automatically.

Google Ads Competitor Analysis System

First, we can find ads from a Google search

  • Search on Google by particular Keyword
  • Take notes of the image, title, and description of the ads

    One way to discover your competitor's strategy is to search on Google for particular keywords. You can use a "hot" keyword that people would search for that is relevant to your niche and see who your competitors are in the sponsored section.
Search ads example on SERP

Sponsored results are not just at the top of search results but also at the bottom of your search.

Ads example at the bottom of the SERP

Learn what your competitors use for their image, title and snippet for the ads.

Find ads programmatically

You can do this automatically using SerpApi. We provide Google Ad Results API. Here is an example in Python:

How to Scrape Google Ad Results
Google is the most popular search engine and they made money via Ads. Google included Google Ad Results in their search results page. The Google Ad results can be shopping ads, local services ads, text ads. Many companies run their Ads on Google Platform to drive more clicks and generate
SerpApiAndy L

Export ads result to CSV


The Google Ads Transparency Center is a feature launched by Google to provide more transparency and information about advertising on its platforms. What's interesting about this page is that we can see ads from any advertiser.

Example of finding Nike ads on the transparency page

Scrape ads transparency center programmatically

You can do this automatically using SerpApi. We provide Google Ads Transparency Center API.

Here is an example of how to scrape the ads transparency center in Python:

Scrape Competitors’ Google Ads Data Using Python
This blog post guides you on how to scrape Google Ads Transparency Center data using SerpApi and Python.
SerpApiSonika Arora

Google Maps Ads

Google also allows businesses to advertise their products across channels, including Google Maps.

Sample ads on Google Maps

Using our Google Maps API, you can scrape whenever ads are available.

The ads will be available in a nice structured JSON format like this

"ads":
[
{
"position":
1,
"title":
"First Service Roofing & Construction",
"place_id":
"ChIJ40kZESxC24gRD_zZEQ7Qu3k",
"data_id":
"0x88db422c111949e3:0x79bbd00e11d9fc0f",
"data_cid":
"8771833458081790991",
"reviews_link":
"https://serpapi.com/search.json?data_id=0x88db422c111949e3%3A0x79bbd00e11d9fc0f&engine=google_maps_reviews&hl=en",
"photos_link":
"https://serpapi.com/search.json?data_id=0x88db422c111949e3%3A0x79bbd00e11d9fc0f&engine=google_maps_photos&hl=en",
"gps_coordinates":
{
"latitude":
26.6720556,
"longitude":
-81.89239909999999
},
"place_id_search":
"https://serpapi.com/search.json?engine=google_maps&google_domain=google.com&hl=en&place_id=ChIJ40kZESxC24gRD_zZEQ7Qu3k",
"provider_id":
"/g/1tdh4p5w",
"rating":
4.7,
"reviews":
211,
"type":
"Roofing contractor",
"types":
[
"Roofing contractor",
"Painter"
],
"type_id":
"roofing_contractor",
"type_ids":
[
"roofing_contractor",
"painter"
],
"address":
"1364 Touchstone Rd, Fort Myers, FL 33903",
"open_state":
"Closed ⋅ Opens 7 AM Wed",
"hours":
"Closed ⋅ Opens 7 AM Wed",
"operating_hours":
{
"tuesday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"wednesday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"thursday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"friday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"saturday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"sunday":
"7 AM–5 PM",
"monday":
"7 AM–5 PM"
},
"phone":
"(239) 652-5784",
"website":
"https://www.myfirstservice.net/",
"thumbnail":
"https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipMImLlWFkLosfOtCjKzQCZLQBSAFUM3zyfSRAxM=k-no-"
},

Here is a tutorial on how to scrape Google Maps Data using Python

Scrape Google Maps data and reviews using Python
Learn how to quickly and effortlessly scrape Google Maps places data and its reviews using the SerpApi Python library. Bonus: export the data to a CSV file.
SerpApiHilman Ramadhan

That's it! I hope this can help you automate your ads strategy by learning what other competitors do.