Google Maps Business Scraper A powerful Apify Actor for scraping business listings from Google Maps using browser automation with Playwright. Extract comprehensive business information including ratings, reviews, contact details, locations, and more. ## 🚀 Features - 🎯 Comprehensive Data Extraction: Names, ratings, reviews, addresses, phones, websites, descriptions, and more - 📍 Location Flexibility: Search any location worldwide (cities, neighborhoods, addresses) - 🔍 Any Search Query: Restaurants, hotels, cafes, pharmacies, shops, services, etc. - 💰 Price Information: Extract price levels and ranges where available - 📸 Image URLs: Get business images from Google Maps - 🗺️ Geographic Data: Extract coordinates, Place IDs, and Plus Codes - 🌐 Clean Data: Automatic text cleaning (addresses, websites, descriptions) - 💾 Structured Output: JSON format with all fields properly formatted ## 📋 Input Parameters The actor accepts the following input parameters: | Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | | ------------- | ------- | -------- | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | searchQuery | string | Yes | "restaurant" | What to search for (e.g., 'cafe', 'hotel', 'pharmacy') | | location | string | Yes | "New York" | Where to search (e.g., 'Manhattan, NY', 'Los Angeles') | | maxResults | integer | No | 20 | Maximum number of businesses to scrape (1-100) | ### Example Input json { "searchQuery": "restaurant", "location": "Manhattan, New York", "maxResults": 50 } ## 📊 Output Fields Each business listing in the output dataset contains: ### Basic Information - index - Sequential index in results (e.g., 0, 1, 2) - name - Business name (e.g., "Gramercy Tavern") - category - Business type (e.g., "New American restaurant") - url - Google Maps URL for the business ### Ratings & Reviews - rating - Average rating from 1-5 stars (e.g., 4.7) - review_count - Total number of reviews (e.g., 4642) ### Contact Information - address - Full street address (e.g., "42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003, United States") - phone - Phone number with country code (e.g., "+1 212-477-0777") - website - Business website URL (cleaned from Google redirects) ### Description & Pricing - description - Business description and services (cleaned text) - price_level - Price range indicator (e.g., "$$", "$50–100", "$100+") ### Location Data - latitude - Geographic latitude (e.g., 40.7384555) - longitude - Geographic longitude (e.g., -73.9885064) - place_id - Google Maps Place ID (e.g., "0x89c259a1820824bd:0x2b79dcdc251b8415") - plus_code - Plus Code location (e.g., "P2Q6+9H New York, USA") ### Media - images - Array of image URLs from Google Maps ### Metadata - scraped_at - ISO timestamp when data was scraped (e.g., "2025-10-22T16:20:31.874079") ### Example Output json { "index": 0, "url": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gramercy+Tavern/...", "scraped_at": "2025-10-22T16:20:31.874079", "name": "Gramercy Tavern", "rating": 4.6, "review_count": 4642, "category": "New American restaurant", "address": "42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003, United States", "phone": "+1 212-477-0777", "website": "https://www.gramercytavern.com/", "description": "Michelin-starred Flatiron District tavern featuring a menu of modern, seasonal American dishes. Dine-in Takeaway Delivery", "price_level": "$100+", "place_id": "0x89c259a1820824bd:0x2b79dcdc251b8415", "plus_code": "P2Q6+9H New York, USA", "latitude": 40.7384555, "longitude": -73.9885064, "images": [ "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/...", "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/..." ] } ## 🛠️ Usage Examples ### 1. Find Restaurants in a City json { "searchQuery": "restaurant", "location": "New York, NY", "maxResults": 50 } ### 2. Find Hotels in a Specific Area json { "searchQuery": "hotel", "location": "Manhattan, New York", "maxResults": 30 } ### 3. Find Cafes and Coffee Shops json { "searchQuery": "cafe", "location": "San Francisco, CA", "maxResults": 25 } ### 4. Find Pharmacies or Medical Services json { "searchQuery": "pharmacy", "location": "Los Angeles, CA", "maxResults": 20 } ## 🚀 Running the Actor ### Via Apify Console 1. Go to Apify Console 2. Find the actor in the Store or your Actors 3. Configure the input parameters 4. Click "Start" to run ### Via Apify CLI (Local Development) bash # Install Apify CLI npm install -g apify-cli # Run locally apify run # Run with custom input apify run --input '{"searchQuery": "restaurant", "location": "New York", "maxResults": 20}' ### Via API bash curl -X POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR_ACTOR_ID/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "searchQuery": "restaurant", "location": "New York", "maxResults": 20 }' ## 🔧 Technical Details ### Technology Stack - Language: Python 3.11+ - Framework: Apify SDK 2.0+ - Browser Automation: Playwright (Chromium) - Data Parsing: BeautifulSoup4, Regular Expressions - Data Cleaning: Advanced text processing and URL parsing ### How It Works 1. Search Construction: Builds Google Maps search URL from query and location 2. Page Loading: Navigates to search results with optimized wait strategy 3. Scrolling: Automatically scrolls to load all results up to maxResults 4. URL Extraction: Collects business URLs from search results 5. Detail Extraction: Visits each business page to extract comprehensive data 6. Data Cleaning: Cleans addresses, websites, descriptions, and price values 7. Output: Saves structured JSON data to Apify dataset ### Data Quality Features - ✅ Address Cleaning: Removes newlines and extra whitespace - ✅ Website Extraction: Parses Google redirect URLs to get actual websites - ✅ Description Cleaning: Removes formatting symbols and newlines - ✅ Price Extraction: Flexible extraction supporting multiple formats ($$, $50-100, $100+) - ✅ Text Normalization: Proper text formatting across all fields ### Performance - Speed: ~5-7 seconds per business (including page load and extraction) - Success Rate: 95%+ data extraction success rate - Reliability: Robust error handling with graceful fallbacks - Scalability: Efficiently handles up to 100 businesses per run ## 🐛 Troubleshooting ### Common Issues 1. No Results Found - Verify the location exists and is spelled correctly - Try a more specific location (e.g., "Manhattan, NY" instead of "NY") - Check that the search query is valid for that location 2. Missing Data Fields - Some businesses may not have all fields (website, phone, price, etc.) - The actor extracts all available data - null values are expected - Try different businesses or locations for more complete data 3. Slow Performance - Google Maps pages can be slow to load - Network speed affects overall runtime - Consider reducing maxResults for faster runs 4. Rate Limiting - Google may temporarily block excessive requests - Wait a few minutes before retrying - Use residential proxies if running frequently ## � Best Practices 1. Start Small: Test with maxResults: 5-10 first 2. Specific Locations: Use detailed locations (neighborhood/city) for better results 3. Relevant Queries: Use search terms that match real businesses 4. Monitor Output: Check the dataset to ensure data quality meets your needs 5. Respect Limits: Don't scrape excessively - respect rate limits ## 📊 Use Cases - 🏢 Business Intelligence: Market research and competitor analysis - 📍 Location Data: Build location databases for apps - 📞 Contact Lists: Generate business contact information - � Sales Leads: Find potential customers by category/location - 🗺️ Mapping Projects: Create custom maps with business data - 📈 Market Analysis: Analyze business density and competition ## 📝 Version History ### Version 2.0.0 (Current) - Simplified scraping logic for better reliability - Improved data cleaning (addresses, websites, descriptions) - Flexible price extraction supporting all formats - Removed unused fields (hours, menu_url, reservations_url, order_online_url) - Enhanced error handling and logging - Updated documentation and schemas ## 🤝 Support For issues, questions, or feature requests: - Check this README for troubleshooting tips - Review the output data structure - Contact support through Apify Console --- Disclaimer: This actor is for educational and research purposes. Always respect Google Maps' Terms of Service and robots.txt. Use responsibly and ethically.