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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. After this tutorial, you will know how to spy on winning competitors' Google Ads
We'll see how to grab this data manually and automatically.
Sponsored section in Google SERP
First, we can find ads from a Google search
- Search on Google for a 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.
Sponsored results are not just at the top of search results but also at the bottom of your search.
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:
Sonika Arora
Google Ads Transparency Center
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.
Scrape the ads transparency center programmatically
You can do this automatically using SerpApi. We provide a Google Ads Transparency Center API.
Here is an example of how to scrape the Ad Transparency Center in Python:
Sonika Arora
Looking for a no-code solution? No code Google Ads Transparency Center search results scraper.
Search by text or the Advertiser ID
You can search for any ads by text, for example, search by the domain name. Alternatively, if you have the advertiser_id , you are welcome to use it as well.
You can leave the region parameter to be empty if you want to search for any regions, or give a specific region ID if needed.
Monitor competitors' ads using Google Sheets
Let's see how to scrape it using Google Sheets.
Install SerpApi Add-on
In the end, these are the results you will get. We are using Hubspot as an example. The image below shows the live ads from Hubspot.
First of all, make a copy of the below Google Sheets. I have already set up everything and the only thing you will need to change is the Advertiser ID.
Let's install the SerpApi's add-ons. At the menu bar, you should see Extensions, find the Get add-ons option within it.
Google Workspace Marketplace will show up after you click on it. At the search bar, type in serpapi, and click on the first result like the image below.
You should see SerpApi's add-on and click on it.
An Install button should be visible on your screen if you have followed along. Click on the Install button and you have successfully completed the first step.
Setup SerpApi's Add-on
To request the data from SerpApi, we need an API key. An API key is like a username and password for the system to recognize you, so we have to keep it safe. If you haven't had an account with SerpApi before, please proceed to sign up.
Once you successfully sign up with SerpApi, you can find the API key in the dashboard. Copy the API key and in Google Sheets, find Register your API key within Extensions.
Paste the API key into the input field and click OK, then you should see a successful message. We have done the second step and we only have one more step to go.
Find the company Advertiser ID
To get the results of a company, we have to know the Advertiser ID. The Advertiser ID is available in the URL of a live ad.
We will start from the Google Ads Transparency Center home page. Type in the company name you would like to monitor, in this example, we use Hubspot. Then click on the first relevant result in the dropdown menu.
Live ads are showing for the company you have selected. Proceed to click on any one of the ads.
Switch your focus to the URL bar and notice the series of characters that starts with AR, that is the Advertiser ID of the company. Hubspot's Advertiser ID is AR10072600183532683265.
Final: Getting the results
Let's get back to the Google Sheets. Copy the Advertiser ID you have obtained and paste it into the same cell that you see on the Sheet. The Sheet should start loading after you change the ID, If you see blank sheets or it has been loading for a long time, try to refresh the page.
You should see results like below.
Tips: To get more results, simply copy columns A and B together and paste them into a new row.
Google Shopping Ads
Google also allows businesses to advertise their products across channels, including the Google Shopping page.
You can use our Google Shopping API to get the ads from Google Shopping programmatically. It'll be available on the inline_shopping_results response.
SerpApi
Google Maps Ads
Ads are also available in Google Maps search:
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:
Hilman Ramadhan
That's it! I hope this can help you automate your ads strategy by learning what other competitors do.