Business URL Discovery: B2B Lead Generation from Search

Find verified company domains at scale. Pay only for results.

Business URL Discovery discovers verified business websites from search queries across multiple sources. Results are deduplicated and AI-validated before delivery.

Two input modes:

• City Batch (recommended for most users): pick a profession and a region and the actor builds and runs the full city query list automatically.
• Manual: write your own queries and run them as a batch.

Pay $0.005 per verified domain. Nothing for failures, duplicates, or Maps-only listings.

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City Batch Mode

City batch mode is the fastest path to a full prospect list for a trade or service business. You specify a profession and a region. The actor generates one search query per city (ranked by population), runs all of them, and returns a single deduplicated dataset.

Example: plumbers across Texas

{
  "inputMode": "cityBatch",
  "profession": "plumber",
  "regionCode": "TX",
  "topCities": 10,
  "maxResultsPerCity": 20
}

The actor generates and runs these 10 queries automatically:

plumber in Houston
plumber in San Antonio
plumber in Dallas
plumber in Austin
plumber in Fort Worth
plumber in El Paso
plumber in Arlington
plumber in Corpus Christi
plumber in Plano
plumber in Laredo

Expected output: Approximately 220 verified business domains (20 to 25 per city). Expected cost: ~$1.13 (220 domains x $0.005 + $0.025 startup fee).

Scale estimates for cityBatch mode:

Cities	Expected domains	Expected cost
5 (default)	~110	~$0.58
10	~220	~$1.13
30	~650	~$3.28

Manual mode delivers approximately 18 to 22 verified business websites per query.

No query writing. No city list to maintain. One input, one dataset.

Regional coverage

• All 50 US states. Cities ranked by population so the largest markets come first.
• All 27 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden).
• Additional European markets: United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland.
• All 13 Canadian provinces and territories.
• Asia-Pacific and Americas: Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico.

Language is set automatically

In city batch mode, the search language for each region is derived automatically. Germany (DE) uses German. France (FR) uses French. Quebec (CA-QC) uses French. Brazil (BR) uses Portuguese. Mexico (MX) uses Spanish. All US states, remaining Canadian provinces, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand use English. No manual language configuration needed.

Scaling city batch

Region	topCities	Expected domains	Estimated cost
One US state, 5 cities	5	75 to 100	$0.40 to $0.53
One US state, 10 cities	10	150 to 200	$0.78 to $1.03
One US state, 25 cities	25	350 to 500	$1.78 to $2.53
EU country, 10 cities	10	100 to 180	$0.53 to $0.93

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Who Uses This

Sales reps and appointment setters: build targeted prospect lists by industry and city. No Apollo subscription. No minimum spend. Export to CSV and import to your CRM in one run.

Marketing agencies and lead gen freelancers: use city batch mode to cover an entire state in one job. Run separate jobs for each client vertical. One dataset per job, ready to work.

AI agent developers and automation builders: structured JSON output with consistent field names on every run. Feed directly into enrichment actors, n8n workflows, Make scenarios, or any tool that calls the Apify REST API.

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Quick Start

City batch mode (recommended):

1. Set inputMode to "cityBatch"
2. Enter a profession (e.g. "electrician") and a regionCode (e.g. "TX")
3. Set topCities (default: 5) and maxResultsPerCity (default: 20)
4. Click Run

Manual query mode:

1. Add professions to the Profession / Trade list (e.g. Plumber, Electrician)
2. Add cities to the City list (e.g. Austin, Dallas, Houston)
3. Select the target Country (language is auto-derived from the country)
4. Click Run

Results appear in the dataset as they are discovered. Export as JSON or CSV, or pipe directly into Company Intelligence Profiler (coming soon). Each result is AI-validated before delivery.

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How Queries Are Built (Manual Mode)

The actor builds every possible combination of professions and cities. This is a cartesian product, not a positional pair.

Example:

Professions: Plumber, Electrician Cities: London, Berlin

Produces 4 queries:

• Plumber in London
• Plumber in Berlin
• Electrician in London
• Electrician in Berlin

Query math:

Professions	Cities	Queries	Max domains (at 25/query)
1	3	3	75
2	3	6	150
3	5	15	375
5	10	50	1,250

Duplicates across queries are removed automatically and never charged twice. A domain found via multiple queries appears once in the dataset.

All results are processed in one run. Export as JSON or CSV, or pipe directly into Company Intelligence Profiler (coming soon).

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What You Get

Each record in the output dataset:

Field	Type	Description
domain	string or null	Clean domain: "company.com". Null for Maps-only listings with no website.
companyName	string	Company name extracted from search result title or AI
snippet	string	Search snippet or business address
query	string	The search query that found this result
pageTitle	string	Raw page title from the search result
pageDescription	string	Meta description or snippet text as returned by the search engine
rank	integer or null	Position in results (1 = top). Null for local listings.
confidence	number	AI validation score (0 to 1). Higher = more confident it is a real business.
has_website	boolean	true if a domain was found. false for Maps-only listings.
discoveredAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp

Sample output:

{
  "domain": "riversideplumbing.com",
  "companyName": "Riverside Plumbing Co",
  "snippet": "Austin's trusted plumber since 1987. 24/7 emergency service.",
  "query": "plumbers in Austin Texas",
  "rank": 3,
  "confidence": 0.92,
  "has_website": true,
  "discoveredAt": "2026-03-27T10:14:22.000Z"
}

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Using This Actor in Automations and AI Agents

Every run returns structured JSON with the same field names regardless of which sources contributed results. domain, companyName, confidence, has_website are present and consistently typed on every record. Your pipeline never needs to handle missing fields.

To run this actor via API or inside an automation workflow, you need your own Apify API token. Find it at console.apify.com under Account Settings, Integrations. Each API call must include this token in the Authorization header. Do not share your token or commit it to version control.

Call via the Apify REST API:

# Find your Apify API token at: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/your-username~business-url-discovery/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-apify-api-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"inputMode": "cityBatch", "profession": "plumber", "regionCode": "TX", "topCities": 5}'

The response includes a defaultDatasetId. Poll the run until it finishes, then fetch results:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{defaultDatasetId}/items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-apify-api-token>"

City batch via API:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/your-username~business-url-discovery/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-apify-api-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"inputMode": "cityBatch", "profession": "electrician", "regionCode": "TX", "topCities": 10}'

Pipe into Company Intelligence Profiler (coming soon): The domain field feeds directly into Company Intelligence Profiler with no transformation. Filter has_website === true first to exclude results with no website, then pass each domain as input.

Compatible with: n8n, Make (Integromat), Zapier, LangChain, any custom tool that calls the Apify REST API, and all Apify client libraries (JavaScript, Python).

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Use Cases

Sales prospecting Build targeted lead lists without a ZoomInfo or Apollo subscription. Use city batch mode to cover a full state in minutes. Export to CSV and import to your CRM.

Agency lead generation Run city batch for 10 cities in one job. Cover multiple states or countries with separate jobs. One dataset per job, deduplicated, ready for cold outreach or further enrichment.

Market research Map the competitive landscape in a niche. Identify who ranks for your target keywords across multiple markets.

CRM enrichment Have company names but no website? Run each name as a manual query and resolve the domain.

Pipeline automation Feed this actor's output directly into Company Intelligence Profiler to turn every discovered domain into a full B2B profile: firmographics, tech stack, key people, contact info, and ICP scoring summary. Total pipeline cost: $0.055 per company.

International prospecting City batch mode supports US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Mexico with automatic language handling. For manual queries, set manualCountry and manualLocale to match your target market.

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Supported Industries

The AI classifier and blocklist have been tested across these industry types:

Home services: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, painting, landscaping, pest control. Low directory noise; most results are direct business websites.

Professional services: accounting, law, dentistry, optometry, chiropractic, physical therapy. Higher directory noise (Yelp, Healthgrades, Avvo). The blocklist covers the major aggregators for these verticals.

Retail and local: florists, bakeries, pet shops, hardware stores, pharmacies, auto repair. Results vary by market density; smaller cities return more direct business sites than major metros.

B2B and SaaS: software companies, IT services, marketing agencies, consulting firms. Low local listing coverage (B2B businesses rarely appear in local directories). Web search results are the primary source.

Restaurants and hospitality: higher aggregator leakage risk. DoorDash, Grubhub, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable are all blocked, but delivery-only ghost kitchens often have no direct website. Expect a higher domain: null rate for these queries.

Real estate: very high portal leakage risk. Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, and similar are blocked but local broker sites vary widely in structure. Use minimumAiConfidence: 0.7 or higher for real estate queries.

Not recommended for: individual freelancers, contractors on Fiverr/Upwork (they are individuals, not businesses with websites), vacation rentals (Airbnb/VRBO dominate and are blocked), or industries where most operators have no web presence.

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Part of a Two-Actor B2B Pipeline

This actor is Step 1. Company Intelligence Profiler (Step 2, coming soon to the Apify Store) completes the pipeline.

Feed the domains discovered here into Company Intelligence Profiler to get:

• Firmographics (industry, size, HQ location, business model)
• Technology stack detection
• Key people (name + title)
• Contact information (email, phone)
• Growth signals (open roles, funding rounds, new products)
• ICP scoring summary for your sales team

Total pipeline cost: $0.055 per domain ($0.005 discovery + $0.05 enrichment). A complete, enriched B2B profile for under 6 cents, no subscription, no minimums.

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Automate with n8n

The Apify n8n node handles API token injection automatically once you connect your Apify account in n8n credentials. You do not need to add the token manually to any step below.

Step 1 - Run Business URL Discovery
  Node: Apify > Run Actor
  Input: { "inputMode": "cityBatch", "profession": "plumber", "regionCode": "TX", "topCities": 10 }

Step 2 - Get Dataset Items
  Dataset ID: {{ $json.defaultDatasetId }}

Step 3 - Filter (domains only)
  If: {{ $json.has_website }} is true

Step 4 - Split In Batches (size: 1)

Step 5 - Enrich each domain (requires Company Intelligence Profiler, coming soon)
  Node: Apify > Run Actor (Company Intelligence Profiler)
  Input: { "domains": ["{{ $json.domain }}"] }

The domain field feeds into Company Intelligence Profiler with no mapping or transformation.

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Input Parameters

City Batch Mode

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
inputMode	string	"manual"	Set to "cityBatch" to auto-generate queries by region
profession	string	Required	Business type to search for. E.g. "plumber", "electrician", "family dentist"
regionCode	string	Required	US state, EU country, Canadian province, or country code for AU/NZ/BR/MX. E.g. "TX", "DE", "CA-ON", "AU"
topCities	integer	5	Number of top cities to search in the selected country. Default 5 is recommended for first runs. Increase to 10-20 for production campaigns. (1 to 20)
maxResultsPerCity	integer	25	Max charged results per city. AI filters candidates; you pay only for validated results up to this cap. Typical yield is 20 to 25 per city. (5 to 30)

Language is derived automatically from the region in city batch mode. Germany (DE) uses German. France (FR) uses French. Brazil (BR) uses Portuguese. Mexico (MX) uses Spanish. All US states, Canadian provinces, UK, Australia, and New Zealand use English.

Manual Query Mode

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
inputMode	string	"manual"	"manual" for direct queries. "cityBatch" to auto-generate by region.
queryProfessions	string[]	Required	List of professions or trades. E.g. ["Plumber", "Electrician"]. Combined with every city in queryCities. Write in your target language (e.g. "Klempner" for Germany).
queryCities	string[]	Required	List of cities. E.g. ["Austin", "Dallas"]. Combined with every profession in queryProfessions.
manualCountry	string	"us"	ISO country code for proxy routing and TLD filtering. Must match your target cities. E.g. "de", "dk", "gb". Language is auto-derived from this field.
manualLocale	string	"en"	Language code override. Leave at default unless the auto-derived language for your country is wrong.
maxResultsPerManualQuery	integer	20	Max charged results per query. AI filters candidates; you pay only for validated results up to this cap. Typical yield is 15 to 22 per query. (5 to 25).

Advanced Settings

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
minimumAiConfidence	number	0.6	Minimum AI confidence to include a result (0.4 to 0.9). Lower = more results, more noise.

All sources are always active.

Example: German market (manual mode):

{
  "inputMode": "manual",
  "queryProfessions": ["Klempner", "B2B SaaS Unternehmen"],
  "queryCities": ["Berlin", "München", "Hamburg"],
  "manualCountry": "de"
}

This runs 6 queries (2 professions x 3 cities) with German-language search and German proxy routing. Write professions in the target language. manualCountry sets proxy routing and TLD filtering; language is derived automatically.

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Geographic Coverage

United States: Primary market. All sources tested at scale. Works correctly for metro-branded businesses and regional operators across the US.

United Kingdom, Canada, Australia: Fully supported. Set manualCountry to gb, ca, or au. UK and Australian business directories are filtered automatically.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH): Fully supported. In city batch mode, select the region and language is set automatically. For manual queries, set manualCountry to de, at, or ch. German business directories are filtered automatically.

France: Fully supported. City batch mode sets French automatically for French regions. For manual queries, set manualCountry to fr. French business directories are filtered automatically.

Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium): Fully supported. City batch mode sets Dutch automatically for Netherlands and Belgium. For manual queries, set manualCountry to nl or be. Dutch and Belgian business directories are filtered automatically.

Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland): Fully supported. City batch mode sets the correct Nordic language for each country. Nordic business directories are filtered automatically.

Iberia (Spain, Portugal): Fully supported. City batch mode sets Spanish or Portuguese automatically. Spanish and Portuguese business directories are filtered automatically.

Italy: Fully supported. City batch mode sets Italian automatically. Italian business directories are filtered automatically.

Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania: Supported. City batch mode sets the correct local language. Local business directories are filtered automatically. Works correctly for metro-branded businesses in major cities.

Non-Latin script markets (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic): Not recommended. The search mechanics work but the AI classifier and blocklist have not been tested on these scripts. Results will be inconsistent.

How geo-targeting works:

• In city batch mode, the language for each country is set automatically based on the selected region. No manual configuration is needed.
• For manual queries, set manualCountry (e.g. de, gb, fr) to tell each search engine which country's results to show. Language is then derived automatically from the country code.
• manualCountry is available in the Apify UI under Manual Query Mode and can also be passed via JSON input when calling via the Apify API.

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Pricing

Pay per result. Nothing for failures, duplicates, or Maps-only listings.

Quick estimate: A typical 10-city city batch run returns 150 to 200 verified domains and costs $0.78 to $1.03 total (domains + $0.025 start fee).

Standard Pricing

Event	Price	When charged
Actor start	$0.025	Once per run, before any queries run
Per verified domain	$0.005	Per unique business URL delivered
Maps-only result (no website)	Free	Captured and included, not charged
Duplicates across queries	Free	Deduplicated automatically

Subscription Tier Discounts

Apify subscription plans get discounts on both events:

Tier	Domain price	Start fee	Domain discount
Free	$0.0050	$0.025	None
Bronze	$0.0048	$0.020	4%
Silver	$0.0046	$0.0175	8%
Gold	$0.0044	$0.0125	12%

Spend Limit

Apify's built-in spend limit (maxTotalChargeUsd) controls the maximum charges per run. The default is $25.00. You can adjust it in the run configuration before starting a run, or pass it via the API. The run stops automatically and saves partial results when the limit is reached.

Volume Estimates

Results	Domain cost (free tier)	Total (incl. start)
100	$0.50	$0.53
500	$2.50	$2.53
1,000	$5.00	$5.03
4,995	$24.98	$25.00 (default limit reached)

Note: Apify Proxy bandwidth adds approximately $0.003 to $0.010 per query to your Apify platform bill, separate from the per-domain charge above.

How this compares:

	This Actor	Apollo	ZoomInfo	Manual Research
Price per domain	$0.005	~$0.10 to $0.40	~$0.50+	~$5 to $15 (time)
Subscription required	No	Yes ($49+/mo)	Yes (enterprise)	No
Local businesses (Maps)	Yes	No	No	Manual
International queries	Yes	English-focused	English-focused	Manual
Pay only for results	Yes	No	No	N/A
City batch automation	Yes	No	No	Manual

1,000 domains costs $5.03 here. The same list costs $100 to $400 on Apollo.

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Tips for Best Results

• Use city batch mode when you want full coverage of a profession across a state or country
• In manual mode, be specific with locations: "plumbers in Austin Texas" beats "plumbers"
• Combine industry + location for better coverage; avoid single-word queries
• All sources run automatically; deduplication is built in
• Local service businesses (plumbers, HVAC, roofers) often have a local listing but no website; those are captured and not charged
• Set minimumAiConfidence: 0.7 for higher precision; 0.5 for maximum volume
• 20 to 25 results per city is the typical range; cityBatch mode delivers this consistently
• Results found in multiple sources get a confidence boost; prioritize high-confidence results for outreach

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Proxy Requirement

Proxies are required. Datacenter IPs are blocked by major search engines. This actor uses Apify proxies for all sources, configured automatically.

No configuration needed. You do not need to supply proxy credentials or toggle any proxy settings.

Bandwidth cost: Apify Proxy adds approximately $0.003 to $0.010 per query to your Apify platform bill. This is separate from the per-domain charge.

Free plan note: Proxy access requires a paid Apify plan. On the free tier results may be limited due to CAPTCHA blocks.

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Running Large Query Batches

Default actor timeout: 3600 seconds (60 minutes). This is already configured in the actor settings; you do not need to change it.

Typical run durations:

Queries	Typical duration
1 to 5 queries	3 to 12 minutes
10 to 15 queries	20 to 35 minutes
20 to 30 queries	40 to 60 minutes

These estimates apply to both city batch and manual modes. City batch with 10 cities is equivalent to 10 manual queries.

If running via the Apify CLI with the -t flag, set the timeout to match or exceed the actor's own timeout:

$apify run -t 3600

The default CLI timeout of 1800 seconds (30 minutes) may cut off multi-query runs prematurely. The run itself will complete correctly on the Apify platform; the CLI just stops waiting for it. Fetch results from the dataset after the run finishes.

On the Apify platform, timeouts are managed by the platform directly. The actor's defaultRunOptions.timeoutSecs: 3600 applies automatically on every run; no CLI flag needed.

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Limitations

• Results with no company website return domain: null. These are included free and not charged. Use has_website === true to filter before piping to downstream actors.
• Results are capped at 25 per query in manual mode (30 per city in city batch mode). For broader coverage, increase topCities or add more queries.
• Search engine HTML structure changes occasionally. When a source degrades to zero results, automated alerts fire and the issue is fixed in the next build update.
• This actor discovers domain URLs. It does not scrape the websites themselves. For firmographics, tech stack, and contact data, use Company Intelligence Profiler (coming soon) as Step 2.

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Categories

Lead Generation · AI · Agents

Tags

b2b · leads · google-maps · url-discovery · business-finder · domains · lead-generation · prospecting · n8n · sales · crm · city-batch