DEV Community: Shahbaz Khan

How to Extract Business Leads from Google Maps to Excel (2026 Guide)

Shahbaz Khan — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:20:51 +0000

If you sell to local businesses, Google Maps is the biggest free lead database you have. Restaurants, clinics, real estate agents, gyms, CA firms and repair shops all list their name, phone, website and address there. The hard part is getting those details into a spreadsheet quickly. Copying and pasting by hand works for 20 businesses. It does not work for 2,000.

This guide covers three ways to extract business leads from Google Maps to Excel in 2026, and how to pick the right one.

What data you can get from Google Maps

A typical business listing shows:

Business name and category
Phone number (often a WhatsApp number too)
Website and, through the website, an email address
Rating and number of reviews
Full address, city, state and pincode
Latitude and longitude
Opening hours
The Google Maps URL of the listing

That is enough to build a cold-calling list, a WhatsApp campaign, an email outreach sheet or a market map of competitors in a city.

Method 1: Copy and paste by hand

Search "dentist in Pune", open each result and copy the details into Excel.

Pros: free and needs no tools.
Cons: very slow, about 1–2 minutes per lead, with easy typing mistakes. Google Maps also shows only a limited number of results per search, so you miss many businesses.

Use this only when you need a handful of leads.

Method 2: Write your own scraper

Developers can write a Python script with Selenium or Playwright to scroll the results and read each listing.

Pros: fully customisable.
Cons: you need coding skills, and the script breaks whenever Google changes its page layout. You also have to handle scrolling, duplicates, CSV export and email lookup yourself. For most marketers and small agencies it is not worth the time.

Method 3: Use a desktop lead extractor (fastest)

A dedicated tool does the scrolling, collecting and exporting for you. One example is Google Map Lead Extractor by MediaByteX, a Windows app built for this exact job.

You type a keyword and a location, press start, and it collects:

Name, phone, WhatsApp and email
Website, rating and review count
Address, city, state and pincode
Latitude/longitude, category, opening hours and the Google URL

Then you export everything straight to Excel.

Features that matter

Multi-city search. Run one keyword across many cities in a single job, such as "interior designer" in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Deep Coverage. Google Maps normally caps how many results one search shows. Deep Coverage digs further into an area so you collect far more of the businesses that are actually there.
Speed. It extracts around 1,000–1,200 leads per hour.
No coding. Everything is point-and-click.
Runs on Windows 10 and 11.

Step-by-step

Download and install Google Map Lead Extractor.
Enter your keyword, for example "real estate agent".
Add one or more cities.
Turn on Deep Coverage if you want the widest coverage.
Click start and watch the leads fill the table.
Export to Excel.

The free trial returns 10 results per search, so you can test it on your own niche before buying. The full licence costs USD 40 a year.

How to use your leads well

Getting the data is only half the job. A few tips:

Filter by rating and reviews. Businesses with few reviews often need marketing help. Highly rated ones may have budget for premium services.
Segment by city and pincode. Local messages convert better than generic ones.
Check for a website. Businesses with no website are ideal prospects for web designers and digital agencies.
Personalise the first message. Mention their area, category or a recent review.
Respect the rules. Follow local laws on calls, WhatsApp and email marketing, give people an easy opt-out, and don't spam.

Which method should you choose?

Need	Best method
Fewer than 20 leads	Copy and paste
Custom engineering project	Your own scraper
Hundreds or thousands of leads, no coding	A desktop extractor like Google Map Lead Extractor

Conclusion

Google Maps is a goldmine of local business data, and you don't need to be a programmer to use it. For anything beyond a few dozen leads, a dedicated tool saves hours each week. Try Google Map Lead Extractor free with 10 results per search. With multi-city search, Deep Coverage and Excel export, you can build a targeted lead list for any niche and any city in minutes.

Disclosure: I built Google Map Lead Extractor.

How to Check Your Child's Screen Time on Android (3 Easy Ways)

Shahbaz Khan — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:58:23 +0000

Disclosure: I'm the developer of TrueNotification, mentioned below.

Step-by-step instructions using Digital Wellbeing, Google Family Link and a parent-side app, plus how to read the numbers without starting a fight

"How long was I on my phone? Barely an hour!"

Most parents have heard some version of this. The truth is that nobody, adult or child, is good at estimating screen time. Minutes disappear into short videos, group chats and games. The good news is that Android already tracks this for you. You just need to know where to look and what to do with the numbers.

This guide covers three ways to check your child's screen time on an Android phone, from completely free and built-in to real-time from your own phone. It then explains how to make sense of the data and talk about it calmly.

Method 1: Digital Wellbeing on the child's phone (free)

Almost every modern Android phone includes Google's Digital Wellbeing tools. Menu names vary a little between brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme and Motorola, but the steps are similar.

Steps

Open Settings on your child's phone.
Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. On Samsung phones, it may be called Digital Wellbeing and parental controls and sit near the bottom; on some Xiaomi phones, look for Screen time.
The dashboard shows a chart of today's screen time.
Tap the chart to see:
- Total screen time per day
- Time spent in each app
- Number of unlocks
- Number of notifications received
Use the arrows or the day selector to go back through the past week.

Tip: if you can't find it, open Settings and search for "wellbeing" or "screen time".

Pros: free, accurate and already installed.
Cons: you have to hold your child's phone to check, and the history only covers recent days.

Bonus: turn it into a shared habit

Rather than checking secretly while your child is asleep, which erodes trust, sit together on Sunday evening and open the dashboard together. Ask your child to guess their total before you look. The gap between the guess and the real number is often a better conversation starter than anything you could say.

Method 2: Google Family Link (free, from the parent's phone)

If your child has a supervised Google account, Family Link lets you see activity from your own phone.

Steps

Install Google Family Link on your phone from the Play Store.
Follow the setup to supervise your child's Google account. You'll need access to their phone during setup.
Once linked, open Family Link and select your child.
Look for the activity or screen time section to see daily usage and the apps used most.
From the same place, you can set daily limits and a bedtime if you want to.

Pros: free, works remotely, and includes limits and Play Store approvals.
Cons: setup requires a supervised Google account, and older children may be able to end supervision depending on their age and your country's rules.

Method 3: A parent-side app like TrueNotification

Some parents want to see screen time from their own phone in real time, without setting up supervised Google accounts, and with extra context such as alerts. That's where an app like TrueNotification comes in.

What you see on the parent's phone

Screen time: how long your child's phone has been in use
App usage: which apps take up that time
Real-time alerts for incoming calls, SMS and notifications from any app
Battery level and online status of the child's phone

How setup typically works

Install TrueNotification on the parent's phone and the child's phone.
Pair the two phones using the code shown in the app.
On the child's phone, grant the permissions the app explains, such as usage access and notification access. Do this together with your child, so they see every step.
Exclude the app from battery optimisation so data stays up to date (important on many budget phones).

Monitoring is always visible on the child's phone. That's deliberate: transparent tools build trust, and Google Play requires monitoring apps to be open about what they do.

Pros: real-time view from your own phone, with alerts and battery status in one place.
Cons: you need to install an app on both phones, and like every background app, it needs battery-optimisation exceptions on some brands.

How to read the numbers (without panicking)

Seeing "6 hours 40 minutes" for the first time can be a shock. Before reacting, look a little deeper.

1. Separate "good" time from "drifting" time

Online classes, homework apps, video calls with grandparents and reading apps are all screen time, but they aren't the same as three hours of short videos. Group apps into rough buckets:

Bucket	Examples	Usual approach
Learning	School apps, dictionaries, educational videos	Protect it
Connection	Calls with family, school groups	Allow, with sensible hours
Creative	Drawing, music, coding	Encourage
Entertainment	Games, short videos, streaming	Agree limits

2. Look at when, not just how much

An hour at 4 PM and an hour after midnight have very different effects. Late-night use eats into sleep, which matters enormously for growing children. The World Health Organization and paediatric bodies consistently emphasise good sleep and physical activity for children's health.

3. Watch unlocks and notifications

A high number of unlocks often means a child is being pulled back by notifications. Reducing notifications, for example by muting busy group chats during study time, can cut screen time without a single argument.

4. Look for trends, not single days

A long day during exams or a holiday is normal. A steady rise over several weeks is worth a conversation.

What's a reasonable amount?

There's no single magic number. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend age-appropriate limits: very little or no recreational screen time for the youngest children, limited and co-viewed time for young children, and a consistent family plan for older children and teens that protects sleep, study, physical activity and family time. Use those principles rather than a number from social media.

Checklist: your weekly screen time review

[ ] Check total screen time for the week
[ ] Identify the top 3 apps
[ ] Note any late-night use
[ ] Ask your child how they felt about the week
[ ] Agree on one small change, such as no phone at dinner or charging outside the bedroom
[ ] Praise what went well

Keep it short, around 10 minutes. The goal is a habit, not an interrogation.

Common problems and fixes

"Digital Wellbeing isn't showing any data." Make sure usage tracking is turned on. In the Digital Wellbeing settings, look for an option such as "Show icon in app list" or "Usage data access", and confirm it's enabled.

"The numbers in two apps don't match." Different apps count differently, for example counting screen-on time versus foreground app time. Pick one source and use it consistently.

"My child's phone stops sending data overnight." Battery savers on many brands close background apps. Add your parental control app to the "no restrictions" or "allow background activity" list.

"My teenager is upset about being checked." Revisit the agreement. Explain what you look at and why, and agree on a path to more independence.

Frequently asked questions

Can I check my child's screen time without touching their phone?
Yes, with Google Family Link or a parent-side app like TrueNotification, after an initial setup on the child's phone with them present.

Is it okay to check screen time without telling my child?
We don't recommend it. Hidden checking damages trust and, for apps, goes against Google Play's rules for monitoring apps. Be open about it.

How often should I check?
A weekly review works for most families. Real-time alerts are there for safety, not for constant watching.

Does checking screen time drain the battery?
Built-in Digital Wellbeing has a negligible effect. Third-party apps use some battery in the background; well-built ones keep this small.

Final thoughts

Checking screen time is easy. Using it well is the real skill. Treat the numbers as a mirror for the whole family (parents included), not as evidence for a trial.

If you'd like to see your child's screen time, app usage and alerts from your own phone, openly and with their knowledge, take a look at TrueNotification or download it from Google Play.

About the author — **TrueNotification Team: We're a small team in India building TrueNotification, a transparent parental control app for Android that shows parents screen time, app usage and real-time alerts, always visible on the child's phone. We write practical guides for families navigating kids and smartphones. Questions? truenotification.help@gmail.com