# What is a Google Ads Transparency advertiser ID (AR…)?

> The AR… advertiser ID in the Google Ads Transparency Center: its shape, what it stands for, why the name next to it is often a legal entity, and how to find it and list its ads.

Canonical page: https://okdata.online/answers/google-ads-advertiser-id/

**Short answer: **It is the Ads Transparency Center's ID for one advertiser, AR followed by 20 digits, and it appears in links like adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR…. okdata finds it by brand name with Google advertiser search for $0.004 and lists that advertiser's ads, 40 a page, for $0.004 a page.

Open any advertiser in the Google Ads Transparency Center and the address bar shows something like `adstransparency.google.com/advertiser/AR04718236590142738945`. That `AR…` string is the advertiser ID: the center's key for one advertiser, the account behind ads on Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping, Maps and Play. Every ad of that advertiser hangs off it, at `/advertiser/AR…/creative/CR…`.

## What it looks like

| | Advertiser ID | Creative ID |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | `AR` + 20 digits, 22 characters | `CR` + 20 digits, 22 characters |
| Names | One advertiser | One ad |
| In okdata | `id` from advertiser search, `advertiser.id` on each ad | `id` of each ad |

Keep both as strings. Twenty digits can overflow a signed 64-bit integer, and a spreadsheet will round them.

## Why the name looks wrong

The name next to an advertiser ID is not chosen for marketing. Google's help says that for advertisers who completed its verification program it shows the legal or trademark name and location they verified, and for unverified ones the payments profile name. So a well-known brand often appears under its company name, a holding company or an agency. A search for one brand can return several advertiser IDs, for example a parent company and a regional distributor. Check the `region` and the `ads` estimate before you pick one.

## Finding it and using it

[Google advertiser search](/apis/google/advertisers/search/) takes a `query` (brand or company name) and a `country`, and returns up to 10 advertisers with `id`, `name`, `region` and `ads`, the center's estimate of how many ads it has. [Google advertiser ads](/apis/google/advertisers/ads/list/) then takes `id`, or skips the ID entirely with `domain=brand.com`, and lists the ads: format, preview image, first and last time shown, 40 per page.

| Job | Calls | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Brand name to advertiser IDs | 1 | $0.004 |
| One page of ads | 1 | $0.004 |
| An advertiser with about 600 ads, all pages | 1 + 15 | $0.064 |

## Example

```python
import os, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['OKDATA_API_KEY']}"}
SEARCH = "https://api.okdata.online/v1/google/advertisers/search"
ADS = "https://api.okdata.online/v1/google/advertisers/ads/list"

found = requests.get(SEARCH, headers=H, timeout=60,
                     params={"query": "Trail Kit", "country": "US"}).json()
if found["code"] != "ok":
    raise SystemExit(found["message"])
for a in found["data"]["items"]:
    print(a["id"], a["name"], a["region"], a["ads"])

advertiser = max(found["data"]["items"], key=lambda a: a["ads"] or 0)
page = requests.get(ADS, headers=H, timeout=60,
                    params={"id": advertiser["id"], "country": "US"}).json()
for ad in page["data"]["items"]:
    print(ad["id"], ad["format"], ad["first_shown_at"], ad["last_shown_at"], ad["url"])
```

Follow `page.next_cursor` for the next 40 ads, and stop when `page.has_more` is false.

## Limits

- The list does not carry ad copy, landing pages or reach for Google ads; those fields come back null and `meta.unavailable` names them. The `url` of each ad opens it in the center.
- `ads` on an advertiser is Google's estimate, not a count you can reconcile to the list.
- `country` limits the list to ads shown in one country and `format=text|image|video` to one kind; leave both out for everything.

For a full export workflow, see [exporting a competitor's ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center](/answers/export-google-ads-transparency-center/).

## Endpoints used

- [Google Ads Transparency advertiser search](https://okdata.online/apis/google/advertisers/search/) `google.advertisers.search`: $0.004 per call · about 10 advertisers per page
- [Google advertiser ads](https://okdata.online/apis/google/advertisers/ads/list/) `google.advertisers.ads.list`: $0.004 per call · about 40 ads per page

## More about Google Ads Transparency

- [Google Ads Transparency API](https://okdata.online/apis/google/)
- [How to list a brand's ads in the Google Ads Transparency Center](https://okdata.online/guides/google-ads-transparency-advertiser-ads/)
- [How do I see all the ads a competitor is running on Meta, Google and TikTok?](https://okdata.online/answers/competitor-ads-meta-google-tiktok/)
- [How do I export a competitor's ads from the Google Ads Transparency Center?](https://okdata.online/answers/export-google-ads-transparency-center/)
- [Advertiser ads API](https://okdata.online/roles/advertisers-ads-list/)

## Sources

- [Google Advertising Policies Help: Ads transparency](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/13733850) (read 2026-11-12)
- [Google Advertising Policies Help: Advertiser verification](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/9703665) (read 2026-11-12)

Where people asked this (read 2026-11-12): 

- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79328152
- https://github.com/nestauk/ds_digital_ads/issues/7
- https://github.com/faniAhmed/GoogleAdsTransparencyScraper/issues/6

Updated 2026-11-12