# Local Business Change Monitor (`seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor`) Actor

Monitor Google Places listings for openings, closures, rating drops and profile changes.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Andrew](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Real estate
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 business monitoreds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Local Business Change Monitor

Track local businesses on Google Maps and get alerted when something changes — a new listing opens, a business closes permanently, a closed one reopens, a rating drops, or a phone number, website, or address gets edited. Search by area and category, then run it on a schedule and receive only the changes.

### What you get

One dataset record per detected change:

- **Change type**: `new_business`, `closed`, `reopened`, `rating_drop`, or `details_changed`
- **Severity**: `high` for closures and reopenings, `medium` for new listings and rating drops, `low` for detail edits
- **Before and after snapshots**: the full listing on both sides of the change, so you can see exactly what moved
- **Changed fields**: which of address, website, phone, or rating actually differed
- **Listing details**: place ID, name, address, rating, review count, business status, website, and phone
- **Full current snapshot** (in the key-value store) of every business monitored, ready to feed into the next run
- Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets directly from the Apify console

### Use cases

- Lead generation — catch new businesses in your area the week they appear on the map
- Local SEO and agency reporting — monitor client listings for rating drops and unauthorized detail edits
- Reputation monitoring — get flagged when a rating falls by 0.3 stars or more
- Franchise and multi-location auditing — verify phone numbers, websites, and addresses stay correct across every location
- Market research — measure openings and closures in a category or neighbourhood over time

### How to use

1. Enter your **Search queries** — the same phrases you'd type into Google Maps, like `cafes in Sydney` or `dentists in Austin`
2. Run the actor once — this establishes your baseline; every listing is reported as `new_business`
3. Open the **Key-value store** tab and copy the `SNAPSHOTS` record
4. On the next run, paste it into **Previous snapshots** — from then on the dataset contains only what actually changed
5. Put it on a schedule and repeat step 3–4 each run to build a continuous change feed

```json
{
  "queries": ["cafes in Sydney", "coffee roasters in Sydney"],
  "previousSnapshots": []
}
```

Listings are matched across runs by their Google place ID, so renames and address edits are tracked as changes rather than mistaken for new businesses.

### Output format

Dataset — one record per change:

```json
{
  "placeId": "ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4",
  "name": "Example Coffee Co",
  "changeType": "rating_drop",
  "severity": "medium",
  "changedFields": ["rating"],
  "before": {
    "placeId": "ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4",
    "name": "Example Coffee Co",
    "address": "1 Example St, Sydney NSW 2000",
    "rating": 4.6,
    "reviewCount": 812,
    "businessStatus": "OPERATIONAL",
    "website": "https://example.com",
    "phone": "(02) 9999 0000",
    "capturedAt": "2026-08-05T02:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "after": {
    "placeId": "ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4",
    "name": "Example Coffee Co",
    "address": "1 Example St, Sydney NSW 2000",
    "rating": 4.2,
    "reviewCount": 848,
    "businessStatus": "OPERATIONAL",
    "website": "https://example.com",
    "phone": "(02) 9999 0000",
    "capturedAt": "2026-08-12T02:00:00.000Z"
  }
}
```

`SNAPSHOTS` key-value store record — the current state of every business monitored, to pass into your next run.

### FAQ

**Why was my first run all `new_business`?** There was nothing to compare against yet. Feed that run's `SNAPSHOTS` back in as **Previous snapshots** and the next run reports only real changes.

**What counts as a rating drop?** A fall of 0.3 stars or more between runs.

**Where do I find the snapshots?** In the **Key-value store** tab of the run, under the `SNAPSHOTS` record.

**Can I monitor a specific list of businesses?** Yes — use narrow queries (business name plus suburb) and each resolves to the listings you care about.

**Can I run it on a schedule?** Yes — daily or weekly works well. Pair it with a webhook or Slack integration to get changes pushed to you.

**How is it billed?** Per search query run and per unique business monitored. Detected changes themselves are not charged separately.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Google Places text searches such as 'cafes in Sydney' or 'dentists in Austin'.

## `previousSnapshots` (type: `array`):

Rows from an earlier run, matched by placeId.

## `fixtureMode` (type: `boolean`):

Use deterministic sample listings without calling Google Places.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "cafes in Sydney"
  ],
  "previousSnapshots": [],
  "fixtureMode": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `snapshots` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "cafes in Sydney"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "queries": ["cafes in Sydney"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "cafes in Sydney"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/local-business-change-monitor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/cyzLJeQsMMDYO34Nz/builds/LTHbdinvtfRg3HJD2/openapi.json