How to Scrape Google Maps for Leads Using lobstr.io

Like every other tutorial online, I won’t waste time on the old “manual data collection” problem. Nobody’s doing that anymore. There are plenty of tools out there.

The real problem is... most of them suck.

People often go for Chrome extensions, but they’re slow, inaccurate, and often return duplicate results.

Even solid-looking cloud scrapers struggle with accuracy because Google often shows results outside your targeted region and category.

And even if you fix that, you’ll still need another tool to find and validate emails. That’s a lot of jumping around for one simple goal… getting clean, targeted leads.

This tutorial fixes all those issues with one solid Google Maps scraper.

I’ll show you exactly how to collect Google Maps listings and verified emails without writing a single line of code.

But first... what can you actually scrape from Google Maps?

What data can you scrape from Google Maps?

Google Maps doesn’t just show directions. It’s packed with business data that can supercharge your outreach.

You can collect business information like:

1. Business name
2. Category or service type
3. Address and location coordinates
4. Phone number
5. Website URL
6. Ratings and number of reviews
7. Opening hours

And if you go deeper, you can extract data points like:

1. Points of interest
2. Review text
3. Full contact info (phone, email, social links)
4. Pricing
5. Popular times
6. Operating hours
7. Owner verification status
8. Description
9. Health and safety info

All of this adds up to a rich dataset you can filter, clean, and turn into qualified leads that actually convert.

Why not use Google’s official API?

But is it the best option? Not really.

The Places API costs about $17 per 1,000 requests, and it keeps getting expensive when you add more data points and need to collect data at scale.

And even if you’re fine with the cost, the documentation isn’t exactly beginner friendly. After Google’s recent updates, finding the right parameters feels like solving a puzzle.

I’ve already explained this in detail here if you want to dig deeper:

So how do scrape Google Maps at scale without going broke?

How to scrape Google Maps data at scale affordably?

With Google’s official API out of the picture for large-scale scraping, you’re basically left with two options:

1. Build your own scraper
2. Use a ready-made 3rd-party scraper

The harder way: Build your own scraper

If you decide to build your own scraper, here’s the reality check.

First thing first, you need solid coding skills. Google Maps scraping isn’t something you can vibe code without understanding how Google structures its data.

HTML parsing alone won’t cut it. You’ll probably end up using a headless browser, which is a headache of its own.

And just when you think you’ve got it working, Google changes the structure again. You’ll spend more time maintaining the scraper than actually using it.

On top of that, Google discourages automated data collection. So expect captchas, blocked IPs, and random rate limits if you try scraping at scale.

In short... Google makes it expensive, unstable, and time consuming to do it yourself.

That’s why most people go with the second option... ready made third party scrapers. They’re more stable, scalable, and affordable.

The smarter way: Using a 3rd-party Google Maps scraper

Third-party scrapers are simply the better way to collect Google Maps data. Here’s why.

1. They’re affordable. No servers, no proxies, no hidden costs.
2. They’re maintained. You’re not chasing bugs or fixing things every Wednesday.
3. They’re easy to use. Most are no-code. Just a few clicks, and you have the data.

If you’re hunting for the right one, I’ve reviewed the 7 best options. You can check them out here:

The problem…

Since I also often need to scrape Google maps for leads or local SEO, I've seen some common issues with most scrapers online.

Even most of the users also have the same complaints.

Accuracy

Google loves to play hide-and-seek with data. You ask for “dentists in Dallas” and somehow end up with chiropractors from Houston.

Most scrapers don’t filter this mismatch properly.

So you end up with wrong locations and wrong categories. Good luck cleaning that later.

Speed

Chrome extension based scrapers specifically… are very slow.

Like, painfully slow. They rely on your browser, can’t run multiple tasks, and often crash halfway.

Incomplete or duplicate data

Google hides a lot more inside individual listings. Many tools just skip it.

On top of that, Google repeats the same business under multiple queries.

Without built-in deduplication, you’ll end up with the same lead showing up 10 times in your spreadsheet.

No email validation

Almost every scraper stops at “email found.” No one checks if it’s real. Some even collect fake ones. The result... high bounce rates and useless lists.

That’s why I’m using lobstr.io for this tutorial. It fixes every one of these problems.

Why use lobstr.io for scraping Google Maps?

Lobstr.io is a French data scraping company. It offers 20+ ready-made no-code scrapers, including a powerful Google Maps Search Export, built for both precision and scale.

Key features

1. Cloud-based... no installs, no extensions
2. Collects 35+ data points per listing
3. Adds verified business emails and social links
4. Validates emails automatically
5. Scheduling for recurring scraping
6. Concurrent scraping for speed
7. Built-in duplicate removal
8. Match filters for precise category and location targeting
9. Auto-export to Google Sheets or Amazon S3
10. Developer-ready API
11. Dedicated Google Reviews scraper included

But what data does lobstr.io give you?

What data do you actually get?

You get the full business profile and beyond, including:

1. Name, category, full address (street, city, region, ZIP, and country)
2. Contact info: phone, website, email (with validation status and validation date)
3. Socials: Facebook, Instagram, booking links
4. Location details: latitude, longitude, price range, and business status (open, temporarily closed, permanently closed)
5. Ratings and reviews: overall score, total reviews, and number of reviews per rating level
6. Business hours, last updated timestamps, Popular times and activity patterns
7. Image download links
8. Extra context: description, points of interest, health info, owner verification status

How much does it cost?

Plans start at $10/month and go up to $800/month for enterprise use.

Here’s how it breaks down per 1,000 leads:

1. Full verified lead (all data + social + email validation): starts at $6/1k leads
2. Listing data (no additional context data and images) + verified emails: starts at $4/1k leads
3. Listing data only (no emails): starts at $1/1k listings

At scale, the price drops by roughly 50%, making it one of the most cost-efficient Google Maps scrapers out there.

Alright, so now that you know why I’m using lobstr.io and what kind of data it can collect, let’s get practical.

How to scrape Google Maps using lobstr.io (no coding needed)

Using lobstr.io is pretty straightforward. You don’t need scripts, proxies, or any of that techy setup stuff. All it takes is 5 really simple steps and less than 2 minutes to set up.

You just:

1. Create Squid
2. Add tasks
3. Adjust behavior
4. Run or schedule it
5. Enjoy

Let me walk you through each step.

1. Create Squid

Your Squid is created.

2. Add tasks

A task in lobstr.io simply means your input... your target. It’s what tells the scraper what to collect.

You can add tasks in two ways:

1. Use smart filters
2. Use Google Maps URLs

Use smart filters

I personally stick with smart filters because they let me define exactly what kind of leads I want.

With smart filters, you can specify:

1. Category or query (the type of business you’re targeting)
2. Country
3. State, region, or district (if applicable)
4. City and ZIP codes

For example, let’s say I want to find tax consultants in Los Angeles, California. I can do that by specifying the category and location.

You can scrape data from an entire country, a single city, or even a specific ZIP code. lobstr.io gives you full control.

Plus, you can add multiple categories or queries at once... no limits.

The second way is by using Google Maps URLs.

Use Google Maps URLs

If you’ve already done a specific search on Google Maps and want to scrape those exact results, just paste that search URL into the task field.

And if you’ve got hundreds of URLs? Easy. Upload them all as a CSV or TXT file, and Lobstr will handle them for you.

3. Adjust behavior

The basic settings include:

Extract emails from website

When you toggle it on, lobstr.io automatically visits each business’s website listed on Google Maps and looks for emails, and adds them directly to your results.

Once the collection is done, you can verify all collected emails inside lobstr.io with a single click.

If you want to understand how lobstr.io discovers and verifies business emails, check out this short guide:

Ratings

This lets you control the quality of listings you scrape.

For example, if you want only top-rated businesses, just set the filter to 4+ stars, and lobstr.io will ignore anything below that.

Search region & language

These options define where and how lobstr.io searches.

For example, setting the region to the United States and language to English ensures your results come from the US context and displays names, descriptions, and categories in English.

It’s especially useful if you’re scraping international data or want localized accuracy.

Max results

Here you can set limits on how many listings to collect.

If you’re not sure, just leave them empty for unlimited results. But remember... Google Maps has a hard limit of 200 results per search, so anything beyond that won’t show up anyway.

Collect additional business details and images

Enable this if you want lobstr.io to go deeper into each business profile.

You can also grab all business images for a more complete dataset. Perfect if you want to analyze visuals or simply enrich your lead data.

4. Run or schedule it

This part’s simple. Once your Squid is ready and the settings are locked in, it’s time to run it.

Lobstr.io will start collecting data instantly and you’ll see your results populate in real time.

But if you want to keep pulling fresh leads or monitor businesses over time... use the Schedule feature.

You can schedule it to repeat every few minutes, hourly, daily, on weekdays, weekly, or even monthly.

By default, it runs in your current timezone, but you can easily change that if needed.

5. Enjoy

You can see the results being collected in real-time in your live console.

But honestly, you don’t really have to sit and watch. Close the window or even turn off your system and do something productive.

You can check back later or if you’ve enabled the success notification, you’ll receive an email when the data is ready to download.

You can download the data in CSV format and view it inside Excel or Google Sheet.

OK but that’s too much work.

What if I want the data automatically exported to a Google Sheet?

But what if I need leads without websites?

How to find Google Maps listings with or without websites?

Right now, Lobstr.io doesn’t have a built-in filter for listings with or without websites (it’s on the roadmap).

But that’s easy to handle once your data is exported.

To find listings with websites:

1. Apply a filter to the header row.
2. In the Website column, filter out blank cells.

To find listings without websites:

But what if I also want to collect reviews of each listing too?

How to scrape Google Maps reviews using lobstr.io?

Lobstr.io also offers a Google Maps Reviews Scraper that lets you collect all reviews from any Google Maps listing.

Right now, you can’t chain the Google Maps Search Export and Google Maps Reviews Scraper together in one workflow inside lobstr.io.

But don’t worry... there are two super simple workarounds.

1. Do it manually
2. Use workflow automation tool

Manual method

It sounds a bit boring, but it’s actually quick and simple.

Tweak the settings if you want specific reviews... like only the latest ones. Then simply run the scraper and it’ll start collecting reviews for you.

Use workflow automation tool

If you want to automate the entire process... from scraping listings to collecting reviews for each one... you can connect both scrapers using a workflow automation tool like Make or n8n.

Lobstr.io’s official Make.com integration is almost ready, and depending on when you’re reading this, it might already be live.

If you prefer other workflow automation tools, you can still make it work easily using lobstr.io’s API.

I’ve already shown how to use Lobstr’s API with n8n to build smart workflows and AI agents.

How much scraping Google Maps Reviews costs?

1. You can scrape 100 reviews per month for free
2. At start, it costs $1 per 1k reviews
3. At scale, price drops to $0.5 per 1k reviews

But is it even legal to scrape Google Maps?

Is web scraping Google Maps legal?

Let’s clear this up once and for all.

Does Google allow scraping?

Their reasons make sense:

1. It increases server costs
2. It reduces revenue from their own Places API
3. It increases competition within their platform

That said, Google doesn’t seem to enforce this discouragement very strictly.

So even if not taken seriously, Google still discourages scraping. Does it make it illegal?

Is it legal to scrape Google Maps data?

Yes! it’s actually legal to scrape publicly available data.

As per GDPR, you must:

1. Process data legally and fairly
2. Collect data for clear, legitimate reasons
3. Only gather what’s necessary
4. Have a valid reason to process any personal data
5. Let people access, correct, or delete their data
6. Keep all collected data secure

Since Google Maps listings are public business data, scraping them for research, analysis, or lead generation is generally legal... as long as you handle that data responsibly.

For a detailed breakdown, check out our full guide:

But scraping takes time, what if I need ready-to-export leads?

What if I want ready-to-export local business leads from Google Maps?

If you don’t want to scrape data every time and just need ready-to-export local business leads, that’s where Spherescout comes in.

Spherescout is a B2B local lead generation database. It's still young... but seriously powerful.

If you’re not chasing deep data like review stats or opening hour updates, Spherescout is perfect.

It gives you ready-made business leads from Google Maps and other directories... complete with phone, email, social media links, and website info.

With Spherescout, you can:

1. Filter leads by category, country, region, and city
2. Filter by contact info type like phone, email, website, or socials
3. Find listings with or without websites easily
4. Download everything as a CSV file in one click... no scraping needed

But it’s not perfect.

1. It currently covers only the US and France
2. And the emails aren’t yet validated for deliverability

Still, if you just want quick, clean, local leads without the scraping setup, Spherescout is a solid shortcut.

And that’s it.

Conclusion