{ "name": "Get a Slack alert when competitors launch new Google ads", "nodes": [ { "parameters": { "content": "## Get a Slack alert when competitors launch new Google ads\n\n### Who's it for\nMarketers, PPC managers and agencies who want to know the day a competitor starts a new Google ad (Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping), without checking the Google Ads Transparency Center by hand.\n\n### How it works\n1. Every morning the Schedule Trigger starts the workflow.\n2. The **Settings** node holds your competitors (domains, brand names or advertiser IDs) and the region.\n3. The **Google Ads Transparency Scraper** Actor on Apify (`plainrows/google-ads-transparency`) runs with **Only new ads** on: it remembers the ads it already delivered, so each run returns only ads launched since the last one.\n4. A Code node groups the new ads by competitor and builds one message with format, first shown date and a link to each ad.\n5. The message is posted to Slack. No new ad, no message.\n\n### Requirements\n- An Apify account (free plan available) and its API token.\n- A Slack workspace and the Slack credential in n8n.\n- The Apify node is the verified community node `@apify/n8n-nodes-apify` (available on n8n Cloud; on self-hosted n8n install it from Settings > Community nodes).\n\n### How to customize\n- Edit `competitors` (one per line), `country` and `monitorName` in **Settings**. Use a new `monitorName` to start a fresh history.\n- Change the hour or frequency in the Schedule Trigger (weekly works too).\n- Replace Slack with Gmail, Microsoft Teams or Google Sheets using the same fields.\n\nThe first run lists every current ad (up to 40 per competitor) and seeds the memory; later runs only pay for new ads plus a small fee per competitor searched.", "height": 760, "width": 520 }, "id": "f23c2862-7fbe-5d03-9548-fc67bb0323f6", "name": "Description", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ -660, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "content": "### Setup\n1. Put your competitors in `competitors` (one per line: domain, brand name or advertiser ID) and set `country` in **Settings**.\n2. Add your Apify credential (free account at apify.com) to *Get new ads*.\n3. Connect Slack and pick the channel in *Post to Slack*.\n4. Run once by hand: the first run lists current ads and seeds the memory.\n\n**Cost:** a small fee per competitor searched plus a price per new ad (see the Actor's Pricing tab); the node caps each run with *Maximum Cost per Run*.", "height": 340, "width": 420, "color": 7 }, "id": "71d8bca1-7b78-5dc9-8959-41cbedd6ce57", "name": "Setup", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "rule": { "interval": [ { "field": "days", "triggerAtHour": 9 } ] } }, "id": "359f76e4-c973-53d6-ab68-27e5d5f17195", "name": "Every day 9:00", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger", "typeVersion": 1.2, "position": [ 0, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "assignments": { "assignments": [ { "id": "7a162681-1b7e-58a9-a07d-de207ab4c149", "name": "competitors", "value": "hubspot.com\nsalesforce.com\npipedrive.com", "type": "string" }, { "id": "cffdb975-8634-54ae-a0b4-cbddbb83534a", "name": "country", "value": "US", "type": "string" }, { "id": "5aa8592e-5f58-5d96-a675-f1d312357eb7", "name": "monitorName", "value": "n8n-competitor-ads", "type": "string" } ] }, "options": {} }, "id": "dbcf4e45-9943-53d8-a979-cc923fa0633f", "name": "Settings", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set", "typeVersion": 3.4, "position": [ 220, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "resource": "Actors", "operation": "Run actor and get dataset", "actorId": "plainrows~google-ads-transparency", "customBody": "={{ JSON.stringify({ targets: $json.competitors.split('\\n').map((t) => t.trim()).filter(Boolean), country: $json.country, maxAdsPerTarget: 40, onlyNewAds: true, monitorName: $json.monitorName }) }}", "maxTotalChargeUsd": 1 }, "id": "2e0db8c8-f7fa-5326-b7ef-3d190621dd33", "name": "Get new ads", "type": "@apify/n8n-nodes-apify.apify", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, 120 ], "credentials": { "apifyApi": { "id": "", "name": "Apify account" } } }, { "parameters": { "jsCode": "// One Slack message listing the new ads, grouped by competitor. No new ad: no message.\nconst ads = $input.all().map((i) => i.json).filter((a) => a.found !== false);\nif (ads.length === 0) return [];\nconst byCompetitor = {};\nfor (const a of ads) (byCompetitor[a.query] ??= []).push(a);\nconst day = (iso) => (iso ? iso.slice(0, 10) : 'n/a');\nconst blocks = Object.entries(byCompetitor).map(([competitor, list]) => {\n const lines = list.slice(0, 10).map((a) => `• ${a.format ?? 'ad'} by ${a.advertiserName ?? 'unknown advertiser'}, first shown ${day(a.firstShown)}: <${a.transparencyUrl}|view ad>`);\n if (list.length > 10) lines.push(`…and ${list.length - 10} more`);\n return `*${competitor}*: ${list.length} new ad${list.length > 1 ? 's' : ''}\\n${lines.join('\\n')}`;\n});\nconst text = `:mega: *New competitor Google ads* (${ads[0].region})\\n\\n${blocks.join('\\n\\n')}`;\nreturn [{ json: { text, newAds: ads.length } }];" }, "id": "9d3509e2-f246-5efe-be52-9f7c914ee8c0", "name": "Build alert", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [ 660, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "select": "channel", "channelId": { "__rl": true, "value": "", "mode": "list" }, "text": "={{ $json.text }}", "otherOptions": {} }, "id": "194df673-7c30-58b1-993f-3f6c6f9a7957", "name": "Post to Slack", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.slack", "typeVersion": 2.3, "position": [ 880, 120 ], "credentials": { "slackApi": { "id": "", "name": "Slack account" } } } ], "connections": { "Every day 9:00": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Settings", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Settings": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Get new ads", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Get new ads": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Build alert", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Build alert": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Post to Slack", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] } }, "pinData": {}, "settings": { "executionOrder": "v1" }, "meta": { "templateCredsSetupCompleted": false } }