Basic Google Maps Business Scraper

Extract business listings from Google Maps search results - fast, simple, and reliable.

🚀 Features

• Universal Search: Scrape any Google Maps search query (restaurants, hotels, shops, etc.)
• Essential Data: Get name, rating, reviews, address, category, and URL
• Smart Extraction: Robust rating/review extraction with multiple fallback methods
• No Clicking Required: Fast scraping from search results only
• Configurable Limits: Control how many businesses to scrape (1-500)
• Null-Safe: Handles missing data gracefully (sets to null)

💡 Use Cases

• Market Research: Gather competitor data in your area
• Lead Generation: Find businesses for B2B outreach
• Location Analysis: Compare ratings across neighborhoods
• Data Enrichment: Add Google Maps data to existing databases
• Trend Analysis: Track new businesses and ratings over time

📋 Input

{
  "searchQuery": "pizza restaurants in New York",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	Yes	-	Google Maps search query (e.g., "hotels in Paris")
maxResults	integer	No	100	Maximum number of businesses to scrape (1-500)

📤 Output

Each business produces:

{
  "businessName": "Joe's Pizza",
  "url": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/Joe%27s+Pizza/...",
  "rating": 4.5,
  "reviewCount": 1234,
  "address": "123 Main St, New York, NY 10001",
  "category": "Pizza restaurant"
}

Output Fields

• businessName (string): Name of the business
• url (string): Google Maps URL for the business
• rating (number | null): Star rating (0-5), null if not available
• reviewCount (integer | null): Number of reviews, null if not displayed
• address (string | null): Business address, null if not available
• category (string | null): Business category, null if not available

🎯 How It Works

1. Navigate: Opens Google Maps with your search query
2. Scroll: Automatically scrolls to load more businesses (lazy loading)
3. Extract: Pulls data from each business card
4. Deduplicate: Removes duplicate entries
5. Store: Saves to Apify dataset

🔧 Performance

• Speed: ~30-60 seconds for 100 businesses
• Throughput: Approximately 2-3 businesses per second
• Reliability: Handles missing data, scrolling detection, and rate limiting
• Limits: Stops at maxResults or when no more businesses are available

💻 Technology

• Python 3.11
• Apify SDK: Actor framework and storage
• Selenium: Browser automation for dynamic content
• Chrome/Chromium: Headless browser
• Regex: Smart rating/review extraction

📚 Examples

Example 1: Local Restaurant Research

{
  "searchQuery": "italian restaurants in San Francisco",
  "maxResults": 50
}

Get 50 Italian restaurants with ratings and reviews.

Example 2: Hotel Comparison

{
  "searchQuery": "hotels near Times Square",
  "maxResults": 20
}

Find 20 hotels near Times Square with ratings.

Example 3: Coffee Shop Discovery

{
  "searchQuery": "coffee shops in Seattle",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Discover 100 coffee shops in Seattle.

⚡ Quick Start

Run Locally

cd free-basic-google-maps-scraper
apify run

Deploy to Apify

apify login
apify push

⚠️ Limitations

• Search results only: Does not click into individual businesses (fast but basic data)
• No detailed info: Does not extract phone numbers, hours, or full reviews
• Review counts may be missing: Google Maps doesn't always show review counts in search results
• Geographic variation: Results depend on your search query and Google's location detection
• Rate limiting: Google may temporarily block if scraping too aggressively

🔍 Data Availability Notes

Rating: Almost always available
Review Count: Sometimes missing for businesses with few reviews
Address: Usually available, sometimes shows city only
Category: Usually available
Website/Phone: Not available in search results (requires clicking into business)

🔒 Privacy & Compliance

• Works only with publicly accessible Google Maps data
• No authentication or private data access
• Users responsible for compliance with Google's Terms of Service
• Respects standard web scraping practices

🆘 Support

For issues or questions:

• Check the Apify documentation
• Review the Selenium documentation
• Open an issue in the Actor's repository
• Contact support through Apify Console

💡 Future Enhancements

Want more data? Consider:

• Detailed scraper: Click into each business for phone, website, hours, photos
• Review extraction: Scroll through reviews for detailed sentiment analysis
• Photo URLs: Extract business photos
• Coordinates: Parse lat/long from URLs

📄 License

This Actor is available for use on the Apify platform.

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Built for speed and reliability 🚀