seads (Search Engine ADs Scanner) is a utility designed to automatically detect advertisements displayed on most popular search engines when searching for a user-submitted keywords.
For a comprehensive guide on how to use seads, please refer to this blog post.
- Automated reporting: Easily send reports of findings via email, Slack, or Telegram.
- Concurrent Search: Specify multiple headless instances to gather as many ads as possible concurrently.
- Screenshot Support: Capture screenshots of ads found in search engines for evidence.
- Docker Support: Install seads without affecting your local setup using Docker.
- Export in JSON: Export results of the execution in JSON format.
- Multiple User-Agent support: Provide your User-Agent string to click ads found in search engines.
- Due to the nature of search engine ads, a single search may not reveal all ads. Using concurrent headless browsers might slow down detection but ensures comprehensive ad gathering.
- Notifications via Slack and Telegram have character limits. Messages exceeding the limit won't be sent.
You can download seads from the releases section.
You can compile it from source by running:
go install github.com/andpalmier/seads/cmd/seads@latest
Clone the GitHub repo and run Docker:
docker build -t seads .
docker run -v "$(pwd)":/mnt seads -h
You can run seads with the following flags:
-config string (REQUIRED)
path to config file (default "config.yaml").
-concurrency int
number of concurrent headless browsers (default 4).
-cleanlinks
print clear links in output (links will remain defanged in notifications).
-notify
notify if unexpected domains are found.
-out
path of JSON file containing links of gathered ads
-screenshot string
path to store screenshots (if empty, the screenshot feature will be disabled).
-ua string
User-Agent string to be used to click on ads.
Example:
seads -config config.yaml -notify
Docker example:
docker run -v "$(pwd)":/mnt seads -config /mnt/config.yaml -notify
After installing seads, create a config.yaml file with the following structure:
mail:
host: MAILHOST
port: 587
username: USERNAME
password: PASSWORD
from: FROMADDRESS
recipients: [RECIPIENTADDRESS#1,RECIPIENTADDRESS#2]
slack:
token: SLACKTOKEN
channels: [CHANNEL#1,CHANNEL#2]
telegram:
token: TELEGRAMTOKEN
chatid: [CHATID#1,CHATID#2]
queries:
- query: "ipad"
expected-domains: [apple.com, amazon.com]
- query: "as roma"
expected-domains: []The field expected-domains is used to specify domains we are expecting to appear in the ads of search engines while searching for the specified keywords.
Domains in expected-domains will still appear in the output of seads, but won’t be sent in the notification.
Run seads with the following command:
seads -config config.yaml -screenshot scr -out results.json -notify
or
docker run -v "$(pwd)":/mnt seads -config /mnt/config.yaml -screenshot /mnt/scr -out /mnt/results.json -notify
output example:
screenshot example:
notification example:
Here are the "unexpected domains" found during the last execution of seads:
Message creation date: 2024-03-28 16:19:59
* Search engine: Bing
Search term: ipad
Domain: fust[.]ch
Full link: https://www[.]fust[.]ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455[.]html?gclid=104a09e8ed7b13b08aec6fed67fe1784&gclsrc=3p[.]ds&msclkid=104a09e8ed7b13b08aec6fed67fe1784&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple&utm_term=ipad&utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand
* Search engine: Bing
Search term: ipad
Domain: interdiscount[.]ch
Full link: https://www[.]interdiscount[.]ch/de/tablet--c512000?gclsrc=aw[.]ds&gclsrc=3p[.]ds&msclkid=af4155bd2b4d1d3c297a33b8a1c87a49
* Search engine: Bing
Search term: ipad
Domain: amazon[.]de
Full link: https://www[.]amazon[.]de/s?k=ipad&adgrpid=1189672236393152&hvadid=74354631353614&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=3322&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-74354720760700%3Aloc-175&hydadcr=29225_2368270&tag=hyddemsn-21&ref=pd_sl_876by72h0s_e
* Search engine: Bing
Search term: ipad
Domain: online-preisvergleich[.]de
Full link: https://online-preisvergleich[.]de/search?q=iPad+Air&em_src=kw&em_cmp=microsoft/Computer&Software&mc=cGiYaMHb0lOd&mscampaign=422647285&msadgroup=1163284371005528&msdevice=c&mstargetid=kwd-72705931935350:loc-175&msmatchtype=p&msnetwork=o&msclid=bb959cce59fc1e843813facbd3797f11&msclkid=bb959cce59fc1e843813facbd3797f11
* Search engine: Yahoo
Search term: ipad
Domain: fust[.]ch
Full link: https://www[.]fust[.]ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455[.]html?&msclkid=b0b52ff226f111e6258d49f7ac6044da&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple&utm_term=ipad&utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand&gclid=b0b52ff226f111e6258d49f7ac6044da&gclsrc=3p[.]ds
* Search engine: DuckDuckGo
Search term: ipad
Domain: fust[.]ch
Full link: https://www[.]fust[.]ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455[.]html?&msclkid=7a0a9f42347e10eee57ff947bee681a9&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple&utm_term=ipad&utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand&gclid=7a0a9f42347e10eee57ff947bee681a9&gclsrc=3p[.]ds
* Search engine: DuckDuckGo
Search term: ipad
Domain: manor[.]ch
Full link: https://www[.]manor[.]ch/de/apple/ipad/b/apple/apple-ipad-ipad?msclkid=f58b08acfac4136d7cc96ea9705cdffb&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=DE+-+GEN+-+MULTIMEDIA&utm_term=ipad+tablets&utm_content=Brand+-+Apple+-+iPad
This message was automatically sent by seads (www.github.com/andpalmier/seads)
output file example:
[
{
"engine": "Google",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "apple.com",
"link": "https://www.apple.com/chde/ipad/",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:32.815712+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Bing",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "fust.ch",
"link": "https://www.fust.ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455.html?gclid=104a09e8ed7b13b08aec6fed67fe1784\\u0026gclsrc=3p.ds\\u0026msclkid=104a09e8ed7b13b08aec6fed67fe1784\\u0026utm_source=bing\\u0026utm_medium=cpc\\u0026utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple\\u0026utm_term=ipad\\u0026utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:44.295591+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Bing",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "interdiscount.ch",
"link": "https://www.interdiscount.ch/de/tablet--c512000?gclsrc=aw.ds\\u0026gclsrc=3p.ds\\u0026msclkid=af4155bd2b4d1d3c297a33b8a1c87a49",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:44.295591+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Bing",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "amazon.de",
"link": "https://www.amazon.de/s?k=ipad\\u0026adgrpid=1189672236393152\\u0026hvadid=74354631353614\\u0026hvbmt=be\\u0026hvdev=c\\u0026hvlocphy=3322\\u0026hvnetw=o\\u0026hvqmt=e\\u0026hvtargid=kwd-74354720760700%3Aloc-175\\u0026hydadcr=29225_2368270\\u0026tag=hyddemsn-21\\u0026ref=pd_sl_876by72h0s_e",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:44.295591+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Bing",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "online-preisvergleich.de",
"link": "https://online-preisvergleich.de/search?q=iPad+Air\\u0026em_src=kw\\u0026em_cmp=microsoft/Computer\\u0026amp;Software\\u0026mc=cGiYaMHb0lOd\\u0026mscampaign=422647285\\u0026msadgroup=1163284371005528\\u0026msdevice=c\\u0026mstargetid=kwd-72705931935350:loc-175\\u0026msmatchtype=p\\u0026msnetwork=o\\u0026msclid=bb959cce59fc1e843813facbd3797f11\\u0026msclkid=bb959cce59fc1e843813facbd3797f11",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:44.295591+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Yahoo",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "amazon.com",
"link": "https://www.amazon.com/s?k=%E2%80%9Cipad%E2%80%9D\\u0026i=electronics\\u0026adgrpid=1340306317325785\\u0026hvadid=83769406602961\\u0026hvbmt=be\\u0026hvdev=c\\u0026hvlocphy=3322\\u0026hvnetw=o\\u0026hvqmt=e\\u0026hvtargid=kwd-83770149440260%3Aloc-175\\u0026hydadcr=8776_10900136\\u0026tag=mh0b-20\\u0026ref=pd_sl_43gcbo4bh9_e",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:52.044445+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "Yahoo",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "fust.ch",
"link": "https://www.fust.ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455.html?\\u0026msclkid=b0b52ff226f111e6258d49f7ac6044da\\u0026utm_source=bing\\u0026utm_medium=cpc\\u0026utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple\\u0026utm_term=ipad\\u0026utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand\\u0026gclid=b0b52ff226f111e6258d49f7ac6044da\\u0026gclsrc=3p.ds",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:52.044445+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "DuckDuckGo",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "fust.ch",
"link": "https://www.fust.ch/de/r/pc-tablet-handy/tablet/apple-ipad-455.html?\\u0026msclkid=7a0a9f42347e10eee57ff947bee681a9\\u0026utm_source=bing\\u0026utm_medium=cpc\\u0026utm_campaign=Bing%20-%20NBrand%20-%20S%20-%20D%20-%20MM%20PC%20Marke%20Apple\\u0026utm_term=ipad\\u0026utm_content=1_Apple%3D2_Apple%20iPad%C2%A63_Nbrand\\u0026gclid=7a0a9f42347e10eee57ff947bee681a9\\u0026gclsrc=3p.ds",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:59.847625+01:00"
},
{
"engine": "DuckDuckGo",
"query": "ipad",
"domain": "manor.ch",
"link": "https://www.manor.ch/de/apple/ipad/b/apple/apple-ipad-ipad?msclkid=f58b08acfac4136d7cc96ea9705cdffb\\u0026utm_source=bing\\u0026utm_medium=cpc\\u0026utm_campaign=DE+-+GEN+-+MULTIMEDIA\\u0026utm_term=ipad+tablets\\u0026utm_content=Brand+-+Apple+-+iPad",
"time": "2024-03-28T16:19:59.847625+01:00"
}
]- Rod: GitHub repo, documentation
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- Fatih/color: GitHub repo, Go reference