Google Maps Category Scraper

When someone opens Google Maps on the web or in the app, the category pills at the top—Restaurants, Hotels, Things to do, Museums, Transit, Pharmacies, ATMs, and more—load a ranked shortlist of businesses for the current map area. Whether your location appears in that list (and where it ranks) is a core signal for local visibility and category SEO.

This Apify Actor reproduces those pill results on Apify: pick categories from the input dropdown (or paste a category search URL from Maps), set the map center, and get structured rows with rank, ratings, addresses, and Google Place IDs—ideal for monitoring performance across neighborhoods, cities, or competitors.

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Key features

• Category pill parity — Uses the same category slug as the Maps UI (Restaurants, Hotels, …).
• Geo-targeted — Center the search on any @latitude,longitude,zoom viewport.
• Ranked output — Each row includes rank (1 = top of the list).
• Track your locations — Optional trackPlaceIds flags your Place IDs and logs their rank when they appear.
• Batch-friendly — Multiple category URLs or searches entries in one run.
• Dataset-ready — Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or wire runs via API and schedules on Apify.

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Use cases

1. Category rank audits — see who owns the Restaurants or Hotels pill for a neighborhood
2. Client GBP reporting — prove whether a location appears in the shortlist users tap first
3. Competitor benchmarking — export top 20–120 rivals with Place IDs and ratings
4. Multi-location brands — compare category visibility around each store coordinate
5. Agency pitch decks — ranked tables + thumbnails from the dataset overview
6. Scheduled monitoring — weekly runs when rankings drift after Google updates
7. Hospitality research — Hotels vs Restaurants density for a tourist zone
8. Franchise expansion — scout categories where incumbents are weak in the top 10
9. Citation & review follow-up — send placeId rows to Google Maps Place Reviews Scraper
10. Geo-grid complement — pair with Google Maps Local SEO Grid Scraper for keyword grids vs category pills

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Who is it for?

• Local SEO and GEO teams checking category visibility by area
• Multi-location brands comparing Restaurants vs Hotels rankings near each store
• Agencies reporting whether clients appear in Maps category shortlists
• Analysts building time-series monitors (schedule weekly runs per map center)

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Input

Provide categories + map center, and/or startUrls.

Categories dropdown

Pick one or more pills (Restaurants, Hotels, Museums, …) and set the map center—the same @latitude,longitude,zoom you see in Maps:

{
  "categories": ["Restaurants", "Hotels"],
  "latitude": 42.6574441,
  "longitude": 23.3498259,
  "zoom": 15,
  "maxItems": 20,
  "trackPlaceIds": ["ChIJAXxQnDyEqkARCbXRTgezCg0"]
}

Category search URLs (startUrls)

Optional: after you click a pill in Google Maps, copy the browser URL instead of using the dropdown:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Restaurants/@42.6574441,23.3498259,15z
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hotels/@42.6574441,23.3498259,15z

Field	Description
categories	Multiselect of Maps category pills
latitude / longitude / zoom	Map viewport center (required with categories)
startUrls	Maps /maps/search/<category>/@lat,lng,zoom URLs
maxItems	Max listings per search (default 20, up to 120)
trackPlaceIds	Optional ChIJ… IDs to mark isTracked and log rank
language	UI language (default en)
proxyConfiguration	Proxies if needed (default: no Apify Proxy)

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Output

One dataset row per business in the category list:

{
  "rank": 1,
  "category": "Restaurants",
  "searchLatitude": 42.6574441,
  "searchLongitude": 23.3498259,
  "searchZoom": 15,
  "categorySearchUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/search/Restaurants/@42.6574441,23.3498259,15z",
  "title": "Milano Resto Club",
  "placeId": "ChIJAXxQnDyEqkARCbXRTgezCg0",
  "featureId": "0x40aa843c9c507c01:0xd0ab3074ed1b509",
  "categories": ["Restaurant"],
  "neighborhood": "Studentski Kompleks",
  "address": "Milano Resto Club, 8, Комплекс, ulitsa \"Doctor Yordan Yosifov\" Студентски, 1700 Sofia, Bulgaria",
  "rating": 4.3,
  "reviewsCount": 1715,
  "latitude": 42.6538143,
  "longitude": 23.3443222,
  "website": "milanorestoclub.com",
  "imageUrl": "https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/...",
  "url": "https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Milano%20Resto%20Club&query_place_id=ChIJAXxQnDyEqkARCbXRTgezCg0",
  "isTracked": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-29T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Field	Description
rank	Position in the category list for that map area
category	Pill label (e.g. Restaurants)
categorySearchUrl	Maps URL for this category + viewport
isTracked	true when placeId is in trackPlaceIds
url	Google Maps link for the place

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Typical workflows

1. Grid monitoring — Run separate searches for each neighborhood center (change @lat,lng or searches).
2. Category comparison — Same coordinates, different pills (Restaurants vs Hotels).
3. Client reporting — Put client Place IDs in trackPlaceIds and schedule weekly runs.
4. Pair with review scraping — Feed placeId values into Google Maps Place Reviews Scraper for reputation depth.

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Limitations

• Results reflect Google’s public category list for the given viewport; rankings change with location, zoom, language, and personalization.
• Very high maxItems values request more rows in one call but may still be capped by Google.
• reviewsCount may be empty when Google returns a compact listing payload.
• This Actor does not log into Google accounts; only public listings are returned.

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How much does it cost?

Pricing is pay-per-event: a small Actor start fee plus one charge per result row in the dataset (each ranked business). See current tier prices on the Apify Store page. Platform usage is included at listed result rates for typical runs.

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Image Credit

Image credit: Google Maps