Google Maps Duplicate Listings: Old & Duplicate Profiles

For local SEO agencies, business owners and teams managing several locations, this Actor finds Google Maps profiles that may represent the same business or a former address. It searches for candidates, compares their public identity details, and gives you a reviewable answer with direct links.

About $0.05 per completed business check. Checking 20 locations costs about $1, plus Apify's small Actor start fee. Candidate profiles, retries and the report are included. One business is prefilled, so you can inspect a small result before checking a larger list. No Google login or API key is required.

What you get

Each completed business produces a summary row first, followed by a row for every candidate. The summary also contains the candidates as a nested array, so an application can consume one complete answer without joining rows. Use type to distinguish business, candidate and note records; do not count both copies as separate findings.

Output	What it tells you
verdict	The plain-language result, placed first in each record
type	business, candidate or note
status	Whether the check completed, needs input or could not finish
businessName	The main profile selected for the check
likelyDuplicates	Candidates with corroborating identity evidence
possibleDuplicates	Weaker matches that need a human decision
primary	Main listing, address, phone, website, coordinates and Maps link
candidates	Complete candidate evidence inside the business row
score	Match strength from 0 to 100; a rule weight, not a probability
signals	Name similarity, shared phone/domain/address, distance and closure flags
reasons	Readable explanations of the candidate classification
action	A suggested review step; the Actor never changes a listing
queries	The searches attempted and whether each completed
notes, errors	Coverage limitations and incomplete-source information
checkedAt	When the business result was produced

The Output tab links to SUMMARY JSON and REPORT.html. Dataset views show summaries and candidate evidence. Apify schedules, webhooks, Make, Zapier and n8n can connect results to your review process.

Common uses

Check a business after moving premises. A current profile may coexist with an old listing that still has reviews, an old phone number or a permanently closed marker. The two profiles can have different names or websites, so name equality alone is insufficient.

Review a franchise location list before a local SEO cleanup. Supply one exact address or Maps URL per shop. Shared branding is normal for a chain, and the same website can represent hundreds of valid locations. The comparison treats those facts cautiously.

Investigate slightly different business names. An older trading name, abbreviated name or spelling variation can be supplied in nameVariants within a business object. The Actor searches those variants and shows the evidence for each result rather than silently combining profiles.

How to use it

1. Enter one business name with its city, a street address or a Google Maps URL. For a chain, an exact address or URL is best.
2. Keep the default 25 km radius for a first run, set a maximum spending limit in Apify, and start the Actor.
3. Read the business verdict, open candidate links and review the matching signals. Verify that profiles represent the same real location before requesting any merge or removal through Google.

A simple input:

{
  "businesses": ["Quinto Bookshop, London"],
  "radiusKm": 25
}

A structured location with extra discovery information:

{
  "businesses": [
    {
      "name": "Waterstones Oxford",
      "address": "22 Queen St, Oxford OX1 1EP, United Kingdom",
      "website": "https://www.waterstones.com",
      "phone": "+44 1865 790212",
      "nameVariants": ["Waterstones Oxford Broad Street"]
    }
  ]
}

Optional phone and website values help find candidates. If they disagree with the main listing, the result says so. They do not overwrite Google's current contact details or manufacture a matching identity.

Input reference

Field	Default	Meaning
businesses	One prefilled London bookshop	Array of strings, Maps URLs or business objects
query	Empty	One business name and location as an alternative
queries	Empty	Alternative array of name-and-location strings
location	Empty	Default city/address for short query or keyword inputs
phone	Empty	Optional discovery phone when checking one business
website	Empty	Optional discovery website when checking one business
radiusKm	25	Candidate distance from the main listing, from 0.1 to 100 km
maxCandidates	40	Maximum candidates included per business, from 5 to 60
urls	Empty	Alternative list of Google Maps profile URLs
startUrls	Empty	Alternative Maps URL objects, such as {"url":"..."}
keywords	Empty	Alternative business names, usually paired with location

Business objects accept name, city or address, mapsUrl or url, phone, website and up to three nameVariants. A full Maps URL containing a CID is the most precise reference. Common short Maps links are resolved through public redirects. Some place-ID-only or unusual sharing links cannot be resolved; use a CID link or a name and address if you receive a note.

A run accepts up to 100 inputs on every plan. Repeated inputs and repeated main profile IDs have no additional business check charge. Larger lists should be divided into batches. An ambiguous name that matches several active locations produces a note with possible primary profiles, so you can supply the correct address.

How a match is decided

The Actor resolves the main profile, reads its details, and searches for its name, phone, website domain, locality and optional name variants. It then compares distinct candidate IDs inside the requested radius. Search results can include irrelevant businesses; these remain useful negative evidence in the candidate table.

A likely duplicate needs several corroborating signals. Examples include nearly identical names at the same address with a matching phone or domain, or a closed former profile with a matching name, phone, website and compatible category. When a phone is visibly shared by several active locations, that weakens the former-location inference.

A possible duplicate has useful overlap but insufficient evidence for the stronger verdict. Quinto's former profile, for example, shares the current shop's name and domain but supplies no public phone. It belongs in a review queue, not an automatic merge queue.

A different business verdict means the available evidence does not support a duplicate. Separate active street addresses are excluded, even with the same phone and website. An unmarked former address can therefore be missed. Missing information can still limit this conclusion. The Actor cannot establish ownership or know Google's internal duplicate status.

Real example and validation

In a cloud check on 15 October 2026, Waterstones Oxford's Queen Street profile led to a separate Broad Street profile marked permanently closed. The profiles shared the same public phone and website. Other Waterstones locations in Witney and Didcot had different phone numbers and addresses; the final rules classify those as separate locations.

The abbreviated answer has this shape:

{
  "verdict": "1 likely duplicate and 0 possible matches found among 3 candidates.",
  "type": "business",
  "status": "checked",
  "businessName": "Waterstones Oxford",
  "likelyDuplicates": 1,
  "possibleDuplicates": 0,
  "candidatesChecked": 3
}

A 30-business cloud suite completed all checks in 19 minutes, with 65 candidate profiles and no exhausted retries. It included 20 moved or historical-duplicate cases and 10 controls. Ten profile rows were independently checked in a signed-out Maps browser for identity, address, contact details and closure information where displayed. These checks validate examples; they do not establish universal duplicate precision or exhaustive recall.

Pricing and spending limits

Completed checks	List-price business charges
1 business	$0.05
10 businesses	$0.50
20 businesses	$1.00
40 businesses	$2.00
100 businesses	$5.00

Apify's Actor start fee is additional: $0.00005 at the default memory. Bronze pricing is $0.0475 per business, Silver $0.045 and Gold $0.04. Apify shows the applicable price before a run. A completed check can legitimately find no duplicates; resolving the main profile and completing the searches is the useful unit being purchased.

Invalid inputs, unresolved primary profiles, ambiguous location selections and incomplete checks have no business check charge. The small start fee can still apply. The Actor checks the available spending allowance before starting the next business and stops when another check will not fit. Candidate rows never incur a separate charge.

API examples

Use an Apify token with access to this Actor. The synchronous endpoint suits small runs; use asynchronous runs for large batches.

curl -X POST \
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/moggedhq~google-maps-duplicate-listings/run-sync-get-dataset-items' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"businesses":["Quinto Bookshop, London"]}'

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/moggedhq~google-maps-duplicate-listings/run-sync-get-dataset-items",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]},
    json={"businesses": ["Quinto Bookshop, London"]},
    timeout=300,
)
response.raise_for_status()
checks = [r for r in response.json() if r.get("type") == "business"]

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/moggedhq~google-maps-duplicate-listings/run-sync-get-dataset-items',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.APIFY_TOKEN}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ businesses: ['Quinto Bookshop, London'] })
  }
);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Apify returned ${response.status}`);
const rows = await response.json();

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Connect your agent to Apify's MCP server. Ask it to check duplicate Google Maps listings for named businesses and their locations, fetch this Actor's input schema, and start a small run with your spending limit. Supply the exact Actor name if a general Maps scraper is selected instead.

Ask the agent to read business rows first, retain candidate links and explain each finding. It should treat possible matches as a review queue and preserve incomplete-check notes. It should not automatically request profile removal from a numerical score.

Limits and FAQ

Does it find every duplicate? No. Each public search returns a limited result set. At most 40 candidates are included by default, and up to 12 promising candidates receive detail verification. Limits are recorded in the output. Hidden, suppressed or poorly indexed profiles may not appear.

Does a moved business always have an old listing? No. Google may have updated the original profile or consolidated it already. A documented relocation is not proof that two live listing IDs still exist.

Can it audit a whole chain from one name? Supply one entry per known location. A chain name alone can match several active shops, in which case the Actor asks for a more precise reference. It does not enumerate every branch worldwide.

What if a business moved outside the radius? Increase radiusKm, up to 100 km, or check the old and new locations separately. An arbitrary nationwide search is not an exhaustive relocation history.

Can it merge or remove profiles? No. It reads public data only. Confirm identity, ownership and Google's current procedures before taking any action yourself.

Are opening hours evidence of permanent closure? No. The Actor uses the explicit permanent-closure signal, not a normal closed-today message. Missing closure data remains unknown.

What happens when Google refuses a request? Requests are paced and retried. A transient refusal that succeeds on retry can complete normally. If required searches or detail verification remain unavailable, the check is marked incomplete and has no business check charge.

Are reviews downloaded? The rating and review count are profile metadata. This Actor does not collect review text or reviewer identities. Use a dedicated review Actor for a separate review-analysis task.

Can a shared telephone number prove identity? No. Chains, departments and service businesses can reuse a number. The number is considered alongside name, address, website, category and closure status. A reviewer must confirm the real-world relationship.

For profile completeness rather than duplicates, see Google Business Profile Audit. For local search visibility, see Google Maps Rank Tracker.