How to Scrape Google Maps Business Data (Legally, Without Selenium)

#webdev #javascript #api #tutorial

Google Maps has business listings with names, addresses, phone numbers, ratings, and reviews. Here's how to extract this data.

The Legal Way: Google Places API

Google provides an official Places API. Free tier: $200/month credit.

async function searchPlaces(query, location) {
  const apiKey = 'YOUR_KEY';
  const url = `https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/textsearch/json?query=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&location=${location}&key=${apiKey}`;
  const res = await fetch(url);
  const data = await res.json();
  return data.results.map(place => ({
    name: place.name,
    address: place.formatted_address,
    rating: place.rating,
    totalReviews: place.user_ratings_total,
    types: place.types,
    placeId: place.place_id
  }));
}

What Data You Get

Business name and address
Phone number
Website URL
Rating (1-5 stars)
Total review count
Business hours
Photos
Business category/type

Common Use Cases

Lead generation — find all plumbers in Chicago
Competitor analysis — map all restaurants near your location
Market research — how many dentists per city?
Real estate — businesses near a property
Sales prospecting — build contact lists by industry

Without API Key: Alternative Approach

For small-scale research, you can use pre-built scrapers that handle the complexity:

Apify Google Maps Scraper — search by keyword + location
Handles pagination, anti-bot, and exports to CSV

Important: Stay Legal

Use official APIs when available
Respect robots.txt and rate limits
Don't scrape personal data without consent
Business listings (name, address, phone) are generally public data

More Scraping Guides

Need Google Maps data extracted? Business listings, reviews, contact info — $20-50. Email: Spinov001@gmail.com | Hire me

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