Every salesperson knows this frustrating reality: spending hours searching for qualified prospects without guaranteed results. While you waste time on obsolete directories or overpriced databases, your competitors may be developing a smarter approach.

Google Maps represents today the world's largest local business database. More than 200 million establishments are listed there, with information constantly updated by the businesses themselves. Each listing contains valuable data: name, address, phone, website, opening hours, customer reviews, and sometimes even email addresses.

This goldmine is freely accessible, but Google doesn't offer mass export. This is where scraping comes in: a technique that allows automatic extraction of this information to build your prospecting files.

Contrary to misconceptions, scraping Google Maps is neither illegal nor technically complex. With the right tools and proper method, you can generate a file of thousands of qualified prospects in minutes. No more tedious manual searches and databases sold to all your competitors.

In this guide, we detail the 4 main methods for efficiently extracting Google Maps data, their respective advantages, and how to transform this raw information into a real commercial pipeline. Whether you're a salesperson, entrepreneur, or marketing manager, you'll find here the method adapted to your needs and technical level.

What is Google Maps scraping?

Scraping, or data extraction, consists of automatically retrieving information published on a website. Applied to Google Maps, this means mass collecting business data: name, address, phone, website, business category, average rating, number of reviews, and sometimes email address.

This technique fundamentally differs from Google Places' official API. The API is paid (€0.017 per request after the first 1000 free ones), limited in volume, and only gives access to basic information. Scraping allows obtaining more data, without volume restriction, and for free.

Regarding legality, scraping public data remains authorized in Europe as long as you respect GDPR. Information on Google Maps is publicly accessible - you're just automating what a human could do manually. However, some rules apply: avoid excessive volumes that could overload servers, respect the robots.txt file, and ensure you have a legal basis for processing collected personal data.

The important nuance: you're extracting data that businesses have voluntarily made public to be contacted. This is different from intrusion into private data.

Why scrape Google Maps for your prospects?

Google Maps offers unique advantages compared to traditional prospecting sources. First, data freshness. Unlike classic directories updated once a year, Google Maps evolves in real-time. Businesses modify their information themselves: new number, move, schedule changes. You therefore access updated data.

Exhaustiveness constitutes the second major asset. Google Maps references both large chains and the small corner craftsman. This coverage allows identifying prospects your competitors ignore, especially small structures often forgotten by traditional commercial bases.

Geographic targeting offers remarkable precision. You can extract all restaurants in a specific neighborhood, all pharmacies in a department, or all auto repair shops in a region. This geographic granularity proves particularly relevant for businesses with a strong local dimension.

The economic aspect also deserves highlighting. A commercial database typically costs between €0.15 and €0.50 per contact. For 1000 prospects, count between €150 and €500. Google Maps scraping is practically free, apart from the tool used.

Finally, the richness of available information often exceeds that of paid directories. Besides basic contact details, you recover average rating, number of reviews, photos, sometimes social networks. These elements allow qualifying your prospects before even the first contact. A business with 4.5 stars, 100 reviews, and a modern website probably presents more potential than an establishment with few reviews and an obsolete site.

This approach radically transforms your prospecting: instead of looking for needles in a haystack, you directly build your own needle haystack.

The 4 methods to scrape Google Maps

Automated online tools (recommended)

Specialized platforms represent the most accessible solution for the majority of users. They require no technical skills and offer an intuitive user interface.

Génération-Prospects stands out with several unique advantages in the French market. Unlike subscription solutions, this platform works on credits, allowing punctual service use without monthly commitment. The tool integrates automatic French business registration (SIRET), enriching each listing with SIRET number, workforce, and revenue. This official data facilitates prospect qualification. Another asset: the ability to search an entire country, ideal for businesses with national coverage.

Scrap.io offers a different approach with a 7-day free trial and advanced filters. You can target only businesses without websites (interesting for web agencies) or those with ratings between 3.9 and 4.4 stars.

Outscraper positions itself on data quality with a 93% accuracy rate announced. The platform offers a renewable monthly free plan and easily integrates with Zapier to automate your workflows. Automatic email enrichment is an appreciable plus.

Map Lead Scraper focuses on simplicity with a free Chrome extension (limited to 15 results) and an unlimited paid version. The tool automatically visits business websites to recover email addresses not displayed on Google Maps.

Browser extensions

These tools install directly in Chrome or Firefox to extract data during your Google Maps navigation. Data Miner and Web Scraper are among the most popular. The advantage: complete control over the extraction process. The disadvantage: slowness for large volumes and risk of Google blocking in case of intensive use.

Python/Selenium scripts

For developers, this method offers maximum flexibility. Selenium automates a web browser to simulate human navigation. You can fully customize extraction, manage pauses, and bypass certain protections. However, this approach requires programming skills and regular code maintenance.

Basic script example:

python
from selenium import webdriver
import time
import csv
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://www.google.com/maps/search/restaurant+paris")
time.sleep(3)

Third-party API services

Services like Apify or RapidAPI offer APIs dedicated to Google Maps scraping. Intermediate solution between turnkey tools and custom development. These APIs easily integrate into your existing applications but remain paid and volume-limited.

Recommendation: To start, opt for an automated online tool. Génération-Prospects suits the French market perfectly thanks to its SIRET registration, while Scrap.io excels internationally. Reserve technical solutions for very specific use cases.

Practical guide: extract your first prospects

Step 1: Define your target

Before any extraction, clearly clarify your target. "All restaurants" remains too vague. Prefer "gourmet restaurants with terrace" or "fast food under 50 seats". This precision improves your subsequent prospecting quality.

List relevant keywords for your search. Google Maps uses terms sometimes different from your habits. "Hairdresser" will give different results from "hair salon" or "barber". Test several variants to miss nothing.

Also determine your target persona: are you looking for the manager, owner, or marketing manager? This information will guide your commercial approach.

Step 2: Choose your geographic area

Geolocation constitutes one of Google Maps' major assets. You can target by city ("Paris"), region ("Île-de-France"), department ("75"), or even neighborhood ("Montmartre, Paris").

For large metropolises, avoid searching the entire city at once. Prefer cutting by arrondissements or neighborhoods. This approach avoids timeouts and improves precision.

Beware of border areas: a search on "Strasbourg" may include German results. Specify "Strasbourg, France" if necessary.

Step 3: Launch extraction

Connect to your chosen tool and configure your search. For Génération-Prospects for example:

Select the country (France to benefit from SIRET registration) Enter your business keyword Define your geographic area Choose information to extract (name, address, phone, email, website, SIRET...)

Launch extraction and wait. Depending on volume, this can take from a few minutes to an hour. Most tools send you a notification once finished.

Step 4: Clean and qualify data

No scraping is 100% perfect. Your file will probably contain some duplicates, incorrect numbers, or closed businesses. Cleaning is necessary.

First remove obvious duplicates (same name AND same address). Then check consistency: a restaurant with 0 reviews and no photos deserves manual verification.

Enrich your data when possible. If email is missing but a website is present, a quick visit can reveal it. Tools like Hunter.io automate this email search.

Finally, segment your file by company size, geographic area, or business sector. This segmentation facilitates personalization of your subsequent commercial campaigns.

Errors to absolutely avoid

Excessive extraction volume

The classic error consists of wanting to extract everything at once. Limit your first extraction to 1000-2000 results maximum. Beyond that, Google may detect automated behavior and temporarily block your IP. Better several targeted extractions than one massive extraction that fails.

This approach has another advantage: you test data quality on a sample before investing more time. If 50% of your first prospects prove unreachable, revise your search criteria.

Non-respect of terms of use

Google tolerates scraping for reasonable use but sanctions abuse. Avoid multiple simultaneous queries, respect delays between your extractions, and never directly resell obtained data. The objective must remain legitimate commercial prospecting, not building a commercial database for resale.

Certain tools automatically manage these limitations. This is one advantage of professional solutions over artisanal scripts.

Unverified data

Using a directly extracted file without verification harms your commercial image. A bouncing email, incorrect number, or worse, contacting a business closed for months, immediately discredits your approach.

Invest in verification: 10% of your time dedicated to cleaning improves your prospecting efficiency by 50%. This is a particularly profitable ratio.

Too broad targeting

"All French merchants" generates an unusable file. Better 500 hairdressers in your region than 50,000 businesses in all sectors combined. The golden rule: always prefer quality over quantity. A targeted file of 200 perfectly qualified prospects surpasses a generalist file of 10,000 contacts.

Optimize use of your extracted data

Email verification

Email addresses recovered from Google Maps require verification before use. A high bounce rate harms your sender reputation and compromises your future email campaigns.

Several tools automate this verification: Hunter.io, ZeroBounce, or Email Checker Pro. These services check syntax, domain existence, and mailbox validity. Count between €0.001 and €0.01 per verified email.

For small volumes, free tools like MXToolbox allow manually verifying a few addresses. This step, although tedious, considerably improves your deliverability rates.

Information enrichment

Google Maps data constitutes a base you can enrich. If you have the company name and city, tools like Dataprospects, Societe.com, or InfoGreffe reveal revenue, workforce, and executive identity.

For missing email addresses, cross-reference company name with its website. Most businesses use predictable formats: contact@company.com, info@company.com, or firstname.lastname@company.com.

LinkedIn also constitutes a valuable enrichment source. Search for the company to identify decision-makers and obtain their direct contact details.

Segmentation by business sector

A homogeneous file facilitates personalizing your commercial approach. Segment your prospects by sector: a restaurant's challenges differ from an auto repair shop's.

This segmentation allows adapting your commercial message. Your approach to an individual craftsman won't resemble that developed for a 50-employee SME. Prepare different arguments according to your prospects' size and sector.

Also create geographic segments. Geographic proximity facilitates physical meetings and reinforces your local credibility. A Parisian salesperson will have more ease convincing a prospect from Paris 15th than from Marseille.

Scoring and prioritization

All your prospects don't have the same potential value. Establish a scoring system based on objective criteria: company size, Google Maps rating, number of reviews, presence of a professional website.

A company with 4.5 stars, 100 reviews, and a modern website probably presents more potential than a company with no reviews and an obsolete site. Focus your efforts on the best-rated prospects first.

Conclusion

Scraping Google Maps radically transforms your commercial prospecting approach. Rather than suffering limitations of traditional directories or prohibitive cost of commercial databases, you directly access the freshest and most complete information source on the market.

The four presented methods adapt to all profiles: the busy entrepreneur will opt for an automated tool, the developer will create their custom script, while the commercial team will privilege browser extensions for total control.

The essential lies in the methodical approach: precisely define your target, choose the right tool, extract intelligently, then optimize data exploitation. This rigor distinguishes professional prospecting from mass spam.

Google Maps probably contains coordinates of your future best customers. The question is no longer whether to use this resource, but how to exploit it more efficiently than your competitors.

For companies targeting the French market, testing Génération-Prospects presents the advantage of automatic SIRET registration and a model without subscription. A few credits suffice to validate the approach on your business sector before industrializing the process.

The era of manual artisanal prospecting is ending. Companies that master these new methods take a decisive lead on their market. While you hesitate, your competitors may already be building their prospect files.

Google Maps contains coordinates of your future best customers. 10 minutes suffice to transform them into concrete commercial opportunities. It's your turn to play now.