# Google Maps Reviews Scraper – New Reviews Only + Alerts (`kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor`) Actor

Google Maps reviews scraper built for monitoring: scrape reviews of your business locations and competitors and get only new reviews each run, low-rating alerts, owner reply rate, complaint topics, rating & review-count trend and an HTML report.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Kiro Zhang](https://apify.com/kirozhang) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 1 monthly users, 94.1% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 1,000 new reviews

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

> **Built for local-SEO and reputation agencies and multi-location brands.** One scheduled run per client: only the reviews that are new since the last run, 1–2★ reviews flagged as alerts, complaint topics and a client-ready HTML report. Reviews you already received are never charged again.
>
> **Just need a one-off export?** Set *Reviews to backfill on the first run* (up to 1,000 per place) and run once: you get the newest reviews in a clean format for $1 per 1,000 reviews plus $0.05 per place (Compass data-source fee extra, see FAQ).
>
> **Why not a plain review scraper?** A scraper returns the same reviews on every run and leaves de-duplication, alerting and reporting to you. This monitor remembers what you already have (per *Tracking name*), so a daily schedule costs cents and your Slack channel only hears about what changed.

> **Need all review platforms in one run?** [Reputation Monitor](https://apify.com/kirozhang/reputation-monitor) watches Google Maps together with Yelp, Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Facebook, App Store and Google Play – same alerts, topics and report, one tracking name per client.

### What does this Google Maps reviews scraper do?

It watches **Google Maps reviews** for your business locations — and your competitors — and on every run returns **only the reviews you haven't seen yet**, sorted newest first:

- 🆕 **New reviews only** — the first run collects a baseline (default: the 50 newest reviews), later runs return just what's new. Perfect for a daily or hourly schedule.
- 🚨 **Low-rating alerts** — reviews with ≤ 2★ (configurable) are flagged so you can respond fast.
- 💬 **Owner reply tracking** — reply text and reply rate, for you and competitors.
- 🏷️ **Complaint topics** — service & staff, wait time, price & value, food quality, cleanliness, rooms & facilities, location, noise, bookings & orders, quality of work, honesty.
- ⭐ **Rating & review-count trend** with change since the last run.
- 📊 **HTML report** with your locations, competitors and the latest negative reviews.

Works for restaurants, hotels, shops, clinics, salons, agencies — any business with a Google Maps profile, anywhere in the world.

### Who is it for?

- **Business owners & multi-location brands** – never miss a bad review again.
- **Reputation-management and local-SEO agencies** – one scheduled run per client, alerts to Slack or email, a report you can forward.
- **Franchise and operations teams** – compare locations and spot problems by topic.

### How to use it

1. Add **your businesses**: a Google Maps link (place URL, share link or `?cid=` link), a Place ID (`ChIJ…`) or simply `Business name, street, city`.
2. Optionally add **competitors**.
3. Run once (baseline), then add a **Schedule** — daily is typical — with the same **Tracking name**.
4. Connect **Slack, email, Google Sheets, Zapier, Make or n8n** and filter on `isAlert` for negative reviews only.

### Output

#### Dataset – one row per new review

```json
{
    "business": "Hotel Edison",
    "isMyBusiness": true,
    "rating": 1,
    "isAlert": true,
    "topics": ["Service & staff", "Cleanliness"],
    "text": "Great location, but the room was dirty and the front desk didn't care…",
    "author": "Jane D.",
    "authorInfo": "Local Guide · 54 reviews",
    "relativeDate": "a day ago",
    "publishedAt": "2026-10-07T15:40:12.000Z",
    "photos": 2,
    "ownerReply": "Dear Valued Guest, thank you for your feedback…",
    "ownerReplyDate": "2026-10-08T09:02:51.000Z",
    "mapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=…"
}
```

#### Summary & report (key-value store)

- **OUTPUT** – per business: rating and review count (with change), new reviews, average rating of new reviews, star distribution, alerts, owner reply rate, top complaint topics, latest alerts and a trend.
- **REPORT** – a shareable HTML dashboard.

### Alerts in Slack, reply tracking, keyword alerts and a shareable report

All optional, all included in the price below – nothing extra is charged.

- **Slack or webhook alerts** – paste a Slack Incoming Webhook URL (or any https webhook for Make, Zapier, n8n, Teams) and get one summary message after each run: new reviews, alerts with links, and the report link. Choose when: only when there are alerts, whenever there is anything new, or after every run.
- **Reply tracking** – set *Remind me about unanswered alerts after (hours)*, e.g. 48. Alert reviews are re-checked on later runs; if the business has not replied by then you get one reminder, and the report shows the alert reply rate and the median time to reply. Re-checking reads a few extra reviews through the Google Maps data source (about $0.0006 each, see FAQ); they are not charged again by this Actor.
- **Keyword alerts and custom topics** – flag any review that mentions words like `refund`, `food poisoning` or a staff member's name, whatever its rating (`alertReason: "keyword"`), and count your own topics such as `Parking: parking, car park, valet`.
- **Shareable report link** – turn on *Shareable report link* to keep the HTML report, with 7- and 30-day trends, at one fixed URL per Tracking name that updates after every run (`OUTPUT.reportUrl`). Send it to a client or your team; reviewer names are never included. The link starts working a minute or two after the first run.

### How much does it cost?

| Event | Free & Starter | Scale | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business check (rating, counts, newest reviews, metrics, report) | $0.05 | $0.04 | $0.035 |
| New review saved | $0.001 | $0.0009 | $0.0008 |

**Examples**

- 1 location + 2 competitors checked daily, ~10 new reviews/day in total → about **$4.80 per month**.
- Agency with 20 locations checked daily, ~100 new reviews/day → about **$33 per month**.
- One-off export of the newest 500 reviews of a place → about **$0.55**, plus about $0.30 in Compass data-source fees (see FAQ).

Reviews you already received are never charged again. On the Apify free plan a run monitors up to 2 businesses.

To cap spending, set **Maximum cost per run** in the run options – the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached and keeps what it already saved.

### Automations: Slack, email, n8n, Make, Zapier

- **n8n – ready-made workflow:** [Negative Google Maps reviews → Slack](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/JFOMYybxejeFmBbUK/records/n8n-google-maps-negative-reviews-to-slack). In n8n choose *Import from URL* and paste the link, add your Apify API token as a *Header Auth* credential (`Authorization` = `Bearer YOUR_TOKEN`), edit the input and activate.
- **Make or Zapier:** use the Apify app → *Run an Actor* with this Actor and the same input → filter on `isAlert = true` → Slack, Gmail or Google Sheets.
- **Apify only:** add a *Schedule* (daily is typical), then connect Slack or email in the Actor's *Integrations* tab.

### Reliability

An automated health check runs this Actor against live pages every week, and open issues are checked twice a day. If something looks wrong, open an issue with the run ID and you'll get an answer within 24 hours.

### Tips & FAQ

- Every review comes with its exact publish time (`publishedAt`) and, when the owner answered, the reply time (`ownerReplyDate`).
- Reviews are read with [Google Maps Reviews Scraper](https://apify.com/compass/Google-Maps-Reviews-Scraper) by Compass, started by this Actor in your account. Apify bills its small per-review fee (about $0.0006 per review read) separately; only recent reviews are read after the first run, so this usually adds less than a cent per business.
- Reviews without text (rating only) are included — they move your average too.
- History is stored in the named key-value store `google-maps-review-monitor-history` in your Apify account.
- Running a hotel or restaurant? Pair it with our **Tripadvisor Review Monitor**.

# Actor input Schema

## `businesses` (type: `array`):

Required. One business per line: a Google Maps link (place URL, share link or ?cid= link), a Place ID starting with ChIJ, or 'Business name, street, city'. Example: https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4280570365733019477

## `competitors` (type: `array`):

Optional. Competitor businesses in the same formats. They are tracked side by side and marked isMyBusiness=false.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Google Maps interface language (review texts stay in their original language).

## `trackingId` (type: `string`):

Stable name for this group of businesses, e.g. one per client ('client-acme'). Runs with the same name share history, so only reviews you have not received yet are returned and charged. Defaults to the list of businesses.

## `alertMaxRating` (type: `integer`):

Reviews with this many stars or fewer are flagged (isAlert = true).

## `maxReviewsFirstRun` (type: `integer`):

How many of the newest reviews to save per business on the first run (baseline). Each saved review is one 'review' charge. Later runs return only new reviews.

## `maxReviewsPerRun` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on new reviews saved per business in one run (limits cost if a run has not happened for a long time).

## `includeReviewText` (type: `boolean`):

Store the full review text.

## `slackWebhookUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional. A Slack <a href="https://api.slack.com/messaging/webhooks" target="_blank">Incoming Webhook</a> URL (https://hooks.slack.com/services/…). After a run you get one summary message in that channel. Stored encrypted.

## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional. Any https endpoint (Make, Zapier, n8n, a Microsoft Teams workflow or your own server). Receives one JSON POST per run with counts, items and the report link. Stored encrypted.

## `notifyOn` (type: `string`):

When the Slack / webhook message is sent.

## `alertKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. A review that mentions any of these words or phrases is flagged as an alert whatever its rating, e.g. <code>refund</code>, <code>food poisoning</code>, <code>lawyer</code> or a staff member's name. Case- and accent-insensitive.

## `customTopics` (type: `array`):

Optional. One topic per line: <code>Topic name: word, phrase, word</code>, e.g. <code>Parking: parking, car park, valet</code>. Matching reviews get the topic in <code>customTopics</code> and the report counts them. Built-in topics stay as they are.

## `unansweredAlertHours` (type: `integer`):

Optional (empty or 0 = off; 48 is a good start). Alert reviews are re-checked on later runs; if the business has not replied after this many hours you get one reminder in the Slack / webhook message, and the report shows the alert reply rate and median time to reply. Re-checked reviews are not charged again.

## `publicReport` (type: `boolean`):

Off by default. When on, the HTML report with 7- and 30-day trends is kept at one fixed link per Tracking name (shown in OUTPUT.reportUrl and in notifications) – send it to a client or your team. Anyone with the link can open it; reviewer names are never included.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "businesses": [
    "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4280570365733019477"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "alertMaxRating": 2,
  "maxReviewsFirstRun": 50,
  "maxReviewsPerRun": 500,
  "includeReviewText": true,
  "notifyOn": "alerts",
  "alertKeywords": [
    "refund",
    "food poisoning",
    "rude"
  ],
  "customTopics": [
    "Parking: parking, car park, valet"
  ],
  "unansweredAlertHours": 48,
  "publicReport": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `reviews` (type: `string`):

No description

## `report` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "businesses": [
        "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4280570365733019477"
    ],
    "alertKeywords": [
        "refund",
        "food poisoning",
        "rude"
    ],
    "customTopics": [
        "Parking: parking, car park, valet"
    ],
    "unansweredAlertHours": 48
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "businesses": ["https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4280570365733019477"],
    "alertKeywords": [
        "refund",
        "food poisoning",
        "rude",
    ],
    "customTopics": ["Parking: parking, car park, valet"],
    "unansweredAlertHours": 48,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "businesses": [
    "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4280570365733019477"
  ],
  "alertKeywords": [
    "refund",
    "food poisoning",
    "rude"
  ],
  "customTopics": [
    "Parking: parking, car park, valet"
  ],
  "unansweredAlertHours": 48
}' |
apify call kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,kirozhang/google-maps-review-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/S3gUZR4QCiFuqNHOb/builds/8jU35frqZYEr1CjTG/openapi.json