Google Maps is the world’s largest verified database of local businesses. Once you set up the right query logic, you can compress weeks of list-building work into minutes. This guide walks through the entire process, from defining your audience to exporting the list into your CRM.
Turn your target audience into a clear query
A good lead list starts with a good definition. Instead of broad phrases like “small businesses,” break it down into three components a search engine can understand: industry, location, and qualifier. For example, “dental clinic in Brooklyn, New York” produces a far more useful result set than “healthcare industry.”
Try different naming variants for the same industry too. Searches for “dental clinic,” “dental office,” and “orthodontist” return largely different businesses; combining all three gives you the real scope of the market.
- Industry: service name, product category, or an NAICS-like business description
- Location: start at the neighborhood level, then widen to the whole city
- Qualifier: rating, review count, whether they have a website
Collect the data and clean out duplicates
Once you run the search, fields like business name, address, phone number, website, rating, and review count are collected into a single table. The most critical step here is deduplication: the same business can appear multiple times under slightly different spellings.
Scalino automatically filters out records your organization has already collected, so your team never reaches out to the same business twice and damages your brand image.
Get the list sales-ready
A raw list isn’t yet a sales asset. First, remove records you can’t work with: no phone number, permanently closed, or chain-store branches. Then prioritize what’s left.
A practical prioritization rule: businesses without a website but with a strong review count are the hottest segment for digital services, while those with a low rating and few reviews are prime candidates for reputation management services.
- Move missing phone/website fields into a separate tab
- Create A/B/C segments based on review count
- Decide your first contact channel by segment (phone, email, in-person visit)
Export the list to your CRM or Google Sheets
A list only becomes valuable once your team can actually use it. Export it as CSV or Excel to upload into your existing CRM, or use Google Sheets sync so every new search automatically lands in the shared spreadsheet your team works from.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to collect leads from Google Maps?
Publicly published business information on Maps (name, address, phone, website) can be used for commercial outreach. That said, you still need to comply with your country’s data protection and commercial messaging regulations (such as GDPR and ePrivacy rules in the EU, or CAN-SPAM/TCPA in the US).
How many business results can I get from one search?
The number of results depends on how dense the industry is and how wide your chosen location is. Combining neighborhood-level searches yields more and cleaner results than a single city-wide search.