Google Maps New Business Monitor – New Local Leads

What does Google Maps New Business Monitor do?

Google Maps New Business Monitor watches Google Maps for businesses that newly appear for a category and a place (for example "coffee shop" in "Austin, TX"). On every run it collects the public Google Maps listings, compares their place IDs with the IDs this monitor has already seen, and outputs only the newly listed businesses: name, category, address, coordinates, phone, website, rating and a Google Maps link. Export the results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or push them to a webhook.

The first run of a monitor creates the baseline. Every later run (schedule it daily or weekly) returns just the delta, so you pay only for the new businesses delivered instead of re-exporting the same places each week.

Who is it for? Use cases

• Local marketing and sales agencies: pitch newly listed businesses before competitors do.
• Local B2B providers (POS, insurance, signage, cleaning, accounting): build a fresh lead feed per city and category.
• Franchise and territory teams: watch a category or area for new competitor locations.
• Commercial real-estate scouts: follow new listings in a neighborhood as a market-activity signal.
• Automation builders: feed a CRM, Google Sheet, Slack, Zapier or Make with new local leads.

Features

• Delta feed: outputs only places not seen in earlier runs of the same monitorId.
• Several queries × several locations in one monitor.
• Baseline control: output the first run as BASELINE, or only record history silently.
• all mode returns every scanned place with changeType (NEW, BASELINE, SEEN) and isNew flags.
• Stores only place IDs and dates between runs (never full place data), with configurable retention (default 90 days) and a reset option.
• No login, no API key. Runs over HTTP with Apify datacenter proxy by default.
• Pay per result: you are charged for delivered dataset items only.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	string list (required)	["coffee shop"] prefill	Categories or keywords, as typed in Google Maps.
locations	string list (required)	["Austin, TX, USA"] prefill	Cities, neighborhoods or postal areas. Each query runs in each location.
monitorId	string	default	Name of the monitor whose seen-place history is reused. Use one ID per independent watch list.
outputMode	new_only / all	new_only	new_only outputs unseen places only; all outputs every scanned place with flags.
emitBaseline	boolean	true	Output the first run as BASELINE. If off, the first run only records history.
maxPlacesPerSearch	integer (1–500)	60	Places scanned per query + location. Google returns 20 per page and about 120 at most.
maxResults	integer (1–100000)	100	Maximum delivered (billable) results per run.
language	string	en	Language of names and categories.
countryCode	string	empty	Two-letter regional setting (us, gb, de). Detected from the first results if empty.
historyRetentionDays	integer (1–365)	90	Place IDs not seen again for this many days are dropped.
resetHistory	boolean	false	Clear this monitor's history first; the run becomes a new baseline.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify proxy	Datacenter proxy is used by default.

Example input:

{
  "searchQueries": ["coffee shop"],
  "locations": ["Austin, TX, USA"],
  "monitorId": "austin-coffee",
  "outputMode": "new_only",
  "maxPlacesPerSearch": 60,
  "maxResults": 100
}

Output

Real items from a first run (baseline) on Apify:

{
  "placeId": "ChIJP8p2kJC1RIYR2qrGoXZtZCk",
  "name": "Terrible Love",
  "changeType": "BASELINE",
  "isNew": false,
  "firstSeenAt": "2026-10-03T14:37:40.003Z",
  "category": "Coffee shop",
  "categories": ["Coffee shop", "Coffee stand"],
  "address": "3908 Avenue B, Austin, TX 78751",
  "city": "Austin",
  "postalCode": "78751",
  "countryCode": "US",
  "latitude": 30.3045132,
  "longitude": -97.735632,
  "phone": null,
  "website": "http://terriblelovecoffee.com/",
  "rating": 4.9,
  "reviewsCount": 432,
  "priceLevel": null,
  "businessStatus": null,
  "googleMapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJP8p2kJC1RIYR2qrGoXZtZCk",
  "searchQuery": "coffee shop",
  "location": "Austin, TX, USA",
  "monitorId": "smoke-example",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-03T14:37:40.003Z"
}

Output fields and fill rates

Measured on a production run (40 items, dentists in Denver, from TEST_REPORT.json) and a 20-item proof run. Fields come from what Google Maps shows, so some are empty for some places.

Field	Fill rate (40-item run)	Notes
placeId, name, googleMapsUrl, changeType, isNew, firstSeenAt, scrapedAt, searchQuery, location, monitorId	100%	Always present.
category, categories	100%
address, city, postalCode, countryCode, latitude, longitude	100%
phone	100% (60% in the 20-item Austin coffee run)	Depends on the category and place.
website	97.5% (90% in the 20-item run)
rating	100%
reviewsCount	90% (0% in the 20-item run)	Not always returned; do not rely on it.
priceLevel	0%	Currently not returned (always null).
businessStatus	0%	Currently not returned (always null).

Run examples:

• First run, new_only, emitBaseline: true: 20 items, all changeType: "BASELINE".
• No-match query (zzqxv nonexistent business in Austin): the run succeeded but Google still returned a loosely related place, so the Actor does not guarantee zero items for nonsense queries.
• Missing searchQueries: rejected by Apify as invalid input before any run starts.

What does "new" mean?

NEW means newly seen by this monitor, not a confirmed opening date. A place can appear as new if Google ranked it outside the scanned results before, or if it was just added to Maps. Raise maxPlacesPerSearch and use narrower locations in dense cities to reduce false positives.

How to use via API

Replace <USERNAME> with your Apify username and <APIFY_TOKEN> with your token.

curl

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/<USERNAME>~google-maps-new-business-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"searchQueries":["coffee shop"],"locations":["Austin, TX, USA"],"monitorId":"austin-coffee"}'

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('<USERNAME>/google-maps-new-business-monitor').call({
    searchQueries: ['coffee shop'],
    locations: ['Austin, TX, USA'],
    monitorId: 'austin-coffee',
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("<USERNAME>/google-maps-new-business-monitor").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["coffee shop"],
    "locations": ["Austin, TX, USA"],
    "monitorId": "austin-coffee",
    "emitBaseline": True,
    "resetHistory": False,
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(items)

Scheduling and integrations

Create an Apify Schedule (daily or weekly) with the same monitorId. Connect the run's webhook or the built-in integrations (Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make) to receive only the new businesses. Do not run the same monitorId concurrently: runs would overwrite each other's history.

Pricing

Pay per result (one dataset item = one result). Price per 1,000 results depends on your Apify plan:

Plan	Price per 1,000 results
FREE	$1.50
BRONZE	$1.30
SILVER	$1.15
GOLD and above	$1.00

In new_only mode, scanned places that were already seen are not billed. Platform usage (compute and proxy) is billed separately by Apify; the measured usage of the proof runs was below $0.001 per run for 5–20 items. Use maxResults to cap spending.

Troubleshooting

• Zero items on a repeat run: expected when nothing new appeared. Use outputMode: "all" to check what was scanned.
• Everything shows as BASELINE: it is the first run for that monitorId (or resetHistory was on).
• Too few places for a dense city: Google caps each search at about 120 places. Use narrower locations (neighborhoods, postal codes) or more specific queries.
• Empty results for a location: the location text may not be recognized; try "City, State, Country".
• Large runs: each page request now times out after 12 s (3 attempts on fresh proxy sessions). For big watch lists set a generous run timeout or split them into several monitors; the log shows one status line per query × location.
• Format changes on Google's side can temporarily affect fields; open an issue on the Actor page if you see empty fields.

FAQ

Is it legal? The Actor collects only business listing data shown publicly on Google Maps without login: no reviewer names, review texts or private data. Google's terms restrict automated access; you are responsible for lawful use, including GDPR and anti-spam rules when contacting businesses.

What is stored between runs? Only place IDs and first/last-seen dates per monitorId, kept for historyRetentionDays. Use resetHistory to clear it.

Does it use the Google Places API? No. It reads public Google Maps search results, so no Google API key is needed.

Can it return reviews or images? No. It is built for detecting new businesses, not for review or photo extraction.

Can I get all places, not just new ones? Yes: set outputMode to all.

Keywords

google maps new business monitor, new business leads, newly opened businesses, google maps monitoring, new business scraper, local lead monitor, google maps change alert, local business leads, google places new listings, new restaurant openings, franchise territory monitoring, new store openings data, google maps scraper

Hashtags

#GoogleMaps #LeadGeneration #NewBusiness #LocalLeads #BusinessMonitoring #WebScraping #Apify #SalesProspecting #RealEstate #Franchise