New Maps Openings Monitor for Local Agencies

What does Google Maps New Business Monitor do?

Google Maps New Business Monitor watches a city and a category on Google Maps and returns businesses that look new. Google does not publish a reliable opening date through the Maps scraper, so this Actor does not invent one. It uses two signals you can explain to a client:

• Likely new: the listing has few reviews (40 or fewer in the sample).
• New since last run: the place id was not in this monitor's saved list.

The first monitor run only learns the territory. It does not charge for leads.

Why use a new-business monitor?

A web studio, payroll SaaS, or payments rep wants the business that opened this month, not the same dentist export every Monday. Schedule one monitor per territory. Each new place id is a reason to call.

• Separate monitors (austin-cafes, dallas-dentists) so baselines do not mix.
• Closed listings are skipped.
• Phone, rating, review count, and the Maps link are on the row when Google published them.
• openingDate is filled only when Maps actually returned that field. Otherwise it is empty.
• Run it on a weekly schedule from the Apify Console. Download CSV or call the API.

What data can it extract?

Field	What it is
businessName	Name on the listing
phone	Public phone, when Maps has one
city, address	Public address
rating, reviewCount	Stars and reviews
signal	likely_new, new_since_last_run, or both
openingDate	Only if Maps sent one. Usually empty
googleMapsUrl	Listing link
placeId	Id used for the baseline
monitorId	Which saved list this row belongs to

You can download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML.

How to monitor new businesses

1. Run the sample: Austin cafes, likely-new, 6 places, stop after 3 rows.
2. Check that the rows are small listings, not downtown chains with hundreds of reviews.
3. Create a schedule: same input, mode New since last run, a stable monitor id, once a week.
4. The first scheduled run saves the baseline and charges no lead fee. The next run charges $0.015 for each place id that was not in that list.

How much will it cost?

Charge	Who bills it	Price
Saved business	This Actor	$0.015
Actor start	This Actor	$0.00005
Place returned	Google Maps Scraper	about $0.004 on the Free plan

The sample (6 places, up to 3 saves) is about $0.03 of Maps fees + up to $0.045 here. A weekly monitor of one city and one category, scanning 12 places and finding 2 new ids, is about $0.05 in Maps fees + $0.03 here.

The first run in New since last run mode writes the baseline and saves zero charged rows. You still pay Maps for the scan that builds the list. That is the setup cost.

Platform compute for this Actor is covered on the developer side. The lowest run cap is $0.05.

Input

See the Input tab. Cities and categories are required. Use a different monitor id for each territory you schedule. Likely-new is the right mode for a one-off list. New since last run is the right mode for a weekly schedule.

Output

{
  "businessName": "Little Room Coffee",
  "phone": "(512) 555-0110",
  "city": "Austin",
  "reviewCount": 4,
  "signal": "likely_new",
  "openingDate": null,
  "googleMapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/..."
}

OUTPUT in the key-value store says how many places were scanned, how many rows were saved, and whether this run created the baseline.

Tips

• Do not share one monitor id across two niches. A cafe baseline will hide a new dentist.
• Raise the review cap if a city is so new that almost every listing qualifies, or lower it in a dense downtown.
• Keep the scan at 12–20 places per category. You pay Maps for every place, including ones that are not new.
• If a week returns nothing, the territory was stable. That is a successful monitor run, not a broken one. The Store sample uses likely-new so a demo still returns rows.

FAQ, disclaimers, and support

Is openingDate the real open date? Only when Google included it. Do not tell a customer a business "opened on" a date this Actor left empty. Say "few reviews" or "not on last week's list."

Why is the same cafe in every likely-new run? That mode is a filter, not a memory. Switch a schedule to New since last run after the baseline exists.

This Actor extracts public business listings. It does not extract reviewer identities or private profiles. A sole trader's phone and address can still be personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other laws elsewhere. Use it only with a legitimate reason, and follow calling rules such as the TCPA in the United States.

Bugs and requests go to the Issues tab. The API tab has the run endpoint.