Better Business Bureau business scraper

Searches bbb.org and returns structured records for matching businesses — ratings, accreditation status, contact details, complaint history, owner info, and more. Works for any US or Canadian city.

The BBB (Better Business Bureau) is one of the most established business trust platforms in North America. It rates businesses from A+ to F, tracks complaint history, and verifies accreditation. If you need to research a company, find local service providers, or build a lead list with trust signals already baked in, this is the data source.

What data you get

Two levels of data depending on your settings:

Search page only (faster, scrapeDetails: false): business name, BBB rating, accreditation badge, phone number, address, and business categories. About 10 results per page.

Full profile (default, scrapeDetails: true): everything above plus website, entity type (LLC, Corporation, Sole Proprietorship), accreditation date, years in business, business start date, owner or manager name, complaint count, star rating from customer reviews, payment methods accepted, and social media links.

The full profile run takes longer since it visits each business's BBB page individually, but the data is far richer.

What BBB ratings mean

BBB grades businesses on a scale from A+ (highest) to F (lowest), based on how the business responds to complaints, its transparency, and its track record. Some businesses show "NR" (Not Rated) if BBB doesn't have enough information yet.

A business can be rated without being accredited. Accreditation means the business applied, paid a fee, and agreed to BBB's standards. A non-accredited business with an A+ rating is still a good sign — it just means they haven't paid for the badge.

How to use

1. Enter a search query. A business category works best — "Plumbers", "HVAC Contractors", "Roofing", "Restaurants". You can also search by business name (use searchType: Name) or phone number (searchType: Phone).
2. Enter a location. City and state ("Chicago, IL") or a zip code both work. The BBB searches near the location you provide.
3. Set a maxItems limit and run.

Records appear in the dataset as they come in — no need to wait for the full run to finish before using the data.

Input example

{
  "searchQuery": "Roofing Contractors",
  "location": "Dallas, TX",
  "country": "USA",
  "searchType": "Category",
  "scrapeDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 150
}

Search by business name:

{
  "searchQuery": "Home Depot",
  "location": "Atlanta, GA",
  "searchType": "Name",
  "scrapeDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 20
}

Canada search:

{
  "searchQuery": "Electricians",
  "location": "Toronto, ON",
  "country": "CAN",
  "searchType": "Category",
  "scrapeDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 100
}

Output example

{
  "businessName": "Riccardo's Plumbing Co.",
  "bbbRating": "A+",
  "isAccredited": true,
  "accreditedSince": "3/15/2018",
  "yearsInBusiness": 22,
  "phone": "(312) 555-0180",
  "website": "https://riccardosplumbing.com",
  "address": {
    "street": "450 N Wabash Ave",
    "cityStateZip": "Chicago IL 60611"
  },
  "addressRaw": "450 N Wabash Ave Chicago IL 60611",
  "primaryCategory": "Plumbers",
  "categories": ["Plumbers", "Drain Cleaning"],
  "entityType": "Corporation",
  "businessManagement": "Mr. R. Rossi, Owner",
  "businessStarted": "1/1/2003",
  "businessIncorporated": "6/15/2005",
  "bbbFileOpened": "4/2/2008",
  "numberOfReviews": 31,
  "numberOfComplaints": 0,
  "starRating": 4.8,
  "paymentMethods": ["Credit Card", "Check", "Cash"],
  "socialMedia": ["https://www.facebook.com/riccardosplumbing"],
  "logoUrl": "https://m.bbb.org/prod/ProfileImages/abc123.jpeg",
  "bbbProfileUrl": "https://www.bbb.org/us/il/chicago/profile/plumber/riccardos-plumbing-0654-12345678",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-30T10:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

Output fields explained

Field	Description
businessName	Official business name as listed on BBB
bbbRating	Letter grade: A+, A, B+, B, C+, C, D+, D, F, or NR (Not Rated)
isAccredited	True if the business is a BBB Accredited Business
accreditedSince	Date accreditation was granted (accredited businesses only)
yearsInBusiness	How long the business has been operating
phone	Primary phone number
website	Business website URL
address	Structured object with street and cityStateZip
addressRaw	Full address as a single string
primaryCategory	Main business category
categories	All categories the business is listed under
entityType	Legal structure — Corporation, LLC, Sole Proprietorship, etc.
businessManagement	Owner or manager name and title
businessStarted	Date the business started operations
businessIncorporated	Date of incorporation (if applicable)
bbbFileOpened	Date BBB first created a file for this business
numberOfReviews	Total customer reviews on BBB
numberOfComplaints	Total complaints filed through BBB
starRating	Average star rating from customer reviews (1–5)
paymentMethods	Payment types accepted (Credit Card, Check, Cash, etc.)
socialMedia	Social media profile URLs listed on the BBB profile
logoUrl	Business logo image URL from BBB
bbbProfileUrl	Direct link to the full BBB business profile
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the record was collected

Input fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	Yes	—	Business type, keyword, or name (e.g., "Restaurants", "HVAC")
location	string	Yes	—	City and state or zip code (e.g., "New York, NY", "90210")
country	string	No	USA	USA or CAN
searchType	string	No	Category	Category, Name, or Phone
scrapeDetails	boolean	No	true	Visit each profile page for full data
maxItems	integer	No	100	Max listings to collect (up to 1000)
requestTimeoutSecs	integer	No	30	Per-request timeout in seconds

Common uses

Lead generation — search a business category in a target city, get a ready-to-use list with phone numbers, websites, and contact names. Filter by accreditation or rating after export.

Vendor vetting — before signing a contract with a local service provider, pull their BBB profile. Check complaint count, how long they've been in business, and whether they're accredited. Takes 30 seconds instead of manual searching.

Competitor research — map out who else operates in your category in a given market. See their ratings, years in business, and customer review scores side by side.

Local SEO audits — check whether businesses in a niche have consistent NAP data (name, address, phone) on BBB versus other directories.

Business verification — confirm a company's legal entity type, owner name, and business start date before doing due diligence.

Performance tips

• Set scrapeDetails: false for quick runs when you only need the search-page basics. It's 10x faster since it skips the individual profile pages.
• BBB returns roughly 10 businesses per search results page. A run for 100 businesses with scrapeDetails: true visits around 110 pages total.
• For large markets, BBB may return thousands of results. Use maxItems to cap the run size.
• Increase requestTimeoutSecs to 60 if you get timeout errors on slow connections.

Notes

BBB coverage is strongest in the US and Canada. Businesses that have never sought BBB accreditation or had a complaint filed often have minimal profile data — just the name and address. Non-accredited businesses still appear in search results and have ratings, just thinner profile pages.

Some businesses appear in multiple search results if they have multiple locations. Each location gets its own record with its own address and profile URL.