Google Maps local business scraper

What it is

This n8n workflow holds the pieces for collecting local businesses from Google Maps with an Apify Actor. Four nodes do the work, and none is joined to another. The first, Google Maps Actor, starts the Compass Google Maps extractor with a JSON body that names a place, a kind of business and how many results to collect. Then Wait pauses while Apify scrapes, and Get Results reads the places from the Actor’s last run. A fourth node, Sync Run, starts the Actor and waits in one call. The file has no trigger node and no lines, so you run the nodes from the editor or join them yourself.

Who it suits

Freelancers, small agencies and sales teams that build prospect lists of local businesses, and analysts who count competitors by area.

You need some n8n and a little JSON, plus an Apify account. The nodes arrive unjoined, so you draw the lines. Skip it if you want a finished lead pipeline that ends in a sheet or a CRM: this stops at the raw list. Its author puts setup at about 5 minutes.

Where to use it

Any n8n you run will do, as long as it can reach Apify, because the workflow does nothing beyond sending web requests and reading what comes back.

• n8n Cloud: import the file into a new workflow there
• Your own n8n server: the same file, the same steps
• A sheet or a CRM: add a node after Get Results to save the places
• A schedule: put a Schedule Trigger before Google Maps Actor for a regular scrape

Setup

Get it saves a zip with workflow.json and Mindket’s setup notes in your downloads folder. Have these ready before you import it.

1. In n8n, create a workflow, open its menu, choose Import from File and pick workflow.json.
2. In Google Maps Actor, Get Results and Sync Run, replace <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN> in the address with your token.
3. Set your search in the JSON body of Google Maps Actor, and copy it into Sync Run if you use that route.
4. Draw the lines Google Maps Actor to Wait to Get Results, and add a trigger in front if the chain should start by itself.
5. Open Wait and set its unit and amount to the length of your scrape.
6. Save and run the chain from the editor.

The body in Google Maps Actor is this:

{
  "language": "en",
  "locationQuery": "New York, USA",
  "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 50,
  "searchStringsArray": ["plumbers"],
  "skipClosedPlaces": false
}

Wait stores only its amount, 25, and n8n’s default unit is seconds, so it pauses 25 seconds. A large scrape needs longer: set minutes there.

How to use it

Run Google Maps Actor once. Apify answers at once with the run’s details and keeps scraping. When the run has finished, Get Results returns the places as items, one per business, which you can save to a sheet, filter by rating or pass to another workflow. In a chain started by a trigger, Wait is what gives Apify time to finish.

Example

This body in Google Maps Actor:

{
  "language": "en",
  "locationQuery": "Austin, USA",
  "maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch": 20,
  "searchStringsArray": ["yoga studios"],
  "skipClosedPlaces": true
}

Get Results returns up to twenty items, one per studio. On the Actor’s Apify page, read on 2 November 2026, each place carries fields such as title, phone, website, totalScore and reviewsCount, and an address.

For newcomers and experts

If you are new. n8n draws a workflow as boxes joined by lines, and each box, a node, does one job. An Apify Actor is a ready-made scraper that you start through a web address. Starting it takes a moment. Scraping takes longer, which is why Wait sits between starting the run and reading it. Run one node at a time from the editor, and each shows what it received and what it sent.

For experts. Three calls reach three Apify endpoints, and one is easy to misread. Apify’s documentation, read on 2 November 2026, says run-sync returns the run’s OUTPUT record, which an Actor need not store, and times out after 300 seconds.

Good to know

Each scrape costs money, and the token sits in plain view in the file’s addresses.

• Billing: Apify bills per scraped place, so a large maxCrawledPlacesPerSearch costs more
• The token: it sits in the address of each node, and addresses show up in logs and exports, so move it into an HTTP Header Auth credential
• Personal data: a sole trader’s phone number is personal data in many places, so check the rules for cold calls and email where you market
• As shipped: the nodes have no lines and no trigger, so nothing runs until you run or join them
• Credentials: the JSON holds none, and nothing from its author’s account