USE CASE:

Seeing the search ads a competitor pays for

This page is about seeing the search ads a competitor pays for: what your options are for search ads, what each costs, and the one we would use. We are Mamba Labs, we build Apify actors, and Google Ads Transparency Monitor is ours for search ads.

Last updated November 2, 2026

The problem

A competitor's paid search tells you which messages they think convert, and how long they keep running them. Google publishes every advertiser's ads in a public transparency center. Reading it one company at a time is possible. Reading it for twenty competitors every month, with first and last shown dates kept, is where it stops being practical.

Traditional Search Tools

  • SpyFu or Semrush. Strong on keywords and estimated spend, built from their own crawls. Their ad copy history is partial, and both cost a monthly seat.
  • Searching the keywords yourself. You see the ads served to you, in your location, today. Useful for a feel and misleading as a census.
  • Browse the transparency center. Search each advertiser, scroll the creatives and screenshot the ones that matter. It is free. Dates are on each ad, so tracking change means repeating the whole read.

Mamba Labs Apify Actors

These are the actors we built for this job. If yours is not covered here, search from the bar at the top of the page or contact us here and tell us what you need.

Related Actors

Google Ads Transparency MonitoractorAll use casesindex