Better Business Bureau (BBB) Scraper

Scrape BBB.org business profiles from the Better Business Bureau directory in the United States and Canada. For any keyword (e.g. plumber, roofing, auto repair, or a company name) and location, get each business's BBB rating, accreditation, categories, phone numbers, emails, website, address and coordinates — plus contacts, years in business, hours, licences, social links, review and complaint counts from the BBB profile. Fast, no login, no API key.

What's new in version 2.0

• Much faster and more reliable: a default 3-business run finishes in seconds.
• More fields per business: all phones, BBB bureau, service area, contacts with titles, accreditation and file-opened dates, hours, licences, social links, products and services, description, review and complaint counts, latest reviews and rating reasons.
• New options: sort order, state/province filter, Include profile details (turn off for even faster listing-only runs) and Include branch locations.
• Full BBB grade scale for the minimum-rating filter (A+ to F, including minus grades).
• A proxy is no longer required. When nothing matches, the run ends with an empty dataset instead of a placeholder record.
• businessId is now BBB's numeric business ID; the combined id/bbbId (bureau-business) are unchanged.

At a glance

What you get	BBB rating, accreditation, categories, phones, emails, website, address, coordinates, contacts, dates, years in business, employees, hours, licences, social links, reviews, complaints
Coverage	BBB directories of the United States and Canada
Input	Keyword or company name, optional cities/postal codes
Filters	Minimum BBB rating, accredited only, state/province, sort order
Output	JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML; "Businesses" and "Contacts" table views
Scale	Up to 225 businesses per location search (BBB's limit) and 5,000 per run across locations
Requirements	No login, no cookies, no API key

What is the Better Business Bureau (BBB)?

The Better Business Bureau is a non-profit organisation that rates businesses in the US and Canada on an A+ to F scale, accredits businesses that meet its standards, and publishes customer reviews and complaints. Its public directory at bbb.org is a widely used source of business contact data and trust signals.

Use cases

• Lead generation — local service businesses with phones, emails, websites and contact names
• Vendor and contractor vetting — BBB rating, accreditation, complaints and years in business
• Reputation monitoring — track ratings, review counts and complaints for a list of businesses
• Market research — count and compare businesses by category, city and rating
• Data enrichment — add BBB rating and accreditation to an existing company list

How to scrape BBB

1. Enter keywords (a category like plumber or a company name).
2. Optionally add locations (Chicago, IL, 10001, Toronto, ON) and choose the country (US or Canada).
3. Set Max businesses, filters (minimum rating, accredited only, state), sort order and whether to include profile details.
4. Run and export the results, or open the Businesses / Contacts views.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
keywords	String	plumber	Business category or company name (required)
locations	Array	—	Cities or postal codes; each is searched separately, duplicates removed. Empty = country-wide
countries	US / CA	US	BBB directory
maxRecordsGlobal	Integer	3	Max businesses for the run (1–5,000)
maxRecordsPerLocation	Integer	50	Max per location (0 = no per-location limit; BBB shows up to 225 per search)
includeDetails	Boolean	true	Open each BBB profile for website, emails, contacts, dates, hours, licences, social links, reviews and complaints
includeBranchLocations	Boolean	false	One record per listed location instead of one per business (see FAQ)
minRating	Select	any	Minimum BBB grade: A+, A, A-, B+ … F (unrated businesses are excluded when set)
accreditedOnly	Boolean	false	Only BBB Accredited Businesses
sortBy	Select	relevance	relevance, rating, distance, aToZ, zToA
stateFilter	String	—	Two-letter state/province code (e.g. IL, ON)
proxyConfiguration	Object	—	Optional; BBB is fetched directly first and Apify proxies are used automatically only if needed

Input examples

Plumbers in Chicago, A or better, accredited

{
  "keywords": "plumber",
  "locations": ["Chicago, IL"],
  "maxRecordsGlobal": 100,
  "minRating": "A",
  "accreditedOnly": true
}

Roofers in several Canadian cities, listing data only (fastest)

{
  "keywords": "roofing",
  "countries": "CA",
  "locations": ["Toronto, ON", "Ottawa, ON", "Vancouver, BC"],
  "maxRecordsGlobal": 300,
  "maxRecordsPerLocation": 100,
  "includeDetails": false
}

Look up a company by name

{ "keywords": "Roto-Rooter", "maxRecordsGlobal": 20 }

Output

{
  "type": "bbb_business",
  "url": "https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/general-contractor/sullivan-lane-inc-0654-1000012025",
  "name": "Sullivan Lane, Inc.",
  "id": "0654-1000012025",
  "bbbId": "0654-1000012025",
  "businessId": "1000012025",
  "bureauId": "0654",
  "primaryCategory": "General Contractor",
  "categories": ["General Contractor", "Roofing Contractors"],
  "rating": "A+",
  "bbbMember": true,
  "accreditationStatus": "Accredited",
  "dateAccredited": "2025-12-26",
  "phone": "(312) 772-5701",
  "phones": ["(312) 772-5701"],
  "website": "https://sullivanlaneinc.com/",
  "address": { "street": "180 N Stetson Ave Ste 3500", "city": "Chicago", "state": "IL", "zipCode": "60601-6769", "country": "USA" },
  "latitude": 41.885445,
  "longitude": -87.622612,
  "contactName": "Mr. Amon Nickerson",
  "contactTitle": "President",
  "principalContacts": [{ "name": "Mr. Amon Nickerson", "title": "President", "isPrincipal": true }],
  "fileOpenedDate": "2020-07-22",
  "businessStarted": "2019-08-08",
  "businessIncorporatedDate": "2019-08-08",
  "yearsInBusiness": 7,
  "businessType": "Corporation",
  "hoursOfOperation": { "monday": "09:00-17:00", "tuesday": "09:00-17:00" },
  "logo": "https://m.bbb.org/prod/ProfileImages/2026/24bcd9d4-37c0-49f8-bc2b-2660fa4a922d.png",
  "bbbBureau": "BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois",
  "reviewCount": 0,
  "complaintCount": 0,
  "complaintsClosedLast3Years": 0,
  "complaintsClosedLast12Months": 0,
  "hasMultipleLocations": true,
  "reviewsUrl": "https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/general-contractor/sullivan-lane-inc-0654-1000012025/customer-reviews",
  "complaintsUrl": "https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/general-contractor/sullivan-lane-inc-0654-1000012025/complaints",
  "searchKeywords": "plumber",
  "searchLocation": "Chicago, IL",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-07T18:00:00Z"
}

Other fields appear when BBB publishes them: listingId, emails, additionalPhones, additionalWebsites, alternateNames, numberOfEmployees, description, productsAndServices, paymentMethods, licenses / licensedBy, socialLinks, averageReviewRating, latestReviews, ratingReasons, notRatedReason, serviceAreaSummary, serviceAreaDescription, requestQuoteUrl, localReportUrl, outOfBusiness, isCharity. Fields BBB does not show are omitted — there are no null values.

FAQ

What does a BBB rating mean?

BBB grades businesses from A+ (highest) to F based on complaint history, time in business, transparency, licensing and other factors. Some businesses are not rated; for them rating is omitted and notRatedReason may explain why.

What is BBB accreditation?

Accredited Businesses meet BBB's standards and pay for accreditation. accreditationStatus is Accredited or Not Accredited, bbbMember is the same as a boolean, and dateAccredited gives the start date.

How many businesses can I get?

BBB shows up to 225 businesses per search (15 pages). Add several locations (or use state filters and different keywords) to collect more — up to 5,000 per run, with duplicates removed.

Why do I get fewer businesses than BBB's result count?

BBB lists some businesses several times — once for each branch, franchise location or service address. By default each business is returned once, so a search can yield fewer records than BBB's listing count. Turn on includeBranchLocations to get one record per listed location instead; each keeps its own address, phone, coordinates and localReportUrl, and listingId identifies the location.

Does it get emails and websites?

Yes, when the business lists them on its BBB profile (with Include profile details on). Many businesses list a website; fewer list an email.

Can I scrape Canadian businesses?

Yes. Set countries to CA and use Canadian cities or postal codes, e.g. Toronto, ON.

What is the fastest setting?

Turn off includeDetails. You still get name, rating, accreditation, categories, phones, address, coordinates and the BBB profile link for every business, from a single request per 15 businesses.

Do I need a proxy or a BBB account?

No. The actor reads BBB's public pages directly and uses Apify proxies automatically only if direct access is blocked.

Why might a search return nothing?

The keyword may have no BBB matches in that location, or the filters (minimum rating, accredited only, state) may be too strict. The run then finishes with an empty dataset and a clear status message.

Data source

Public BBB.org directory pages. You are responsible for using the data lawfully and in line with BBB's terms.