Industry workflows
Google Maps scraper for local SEO
Local SEO runs on comparisons, and most audits sample three competitors because checking forty by hand is unrealistic. Capturing the whole category in a service area changes what an audit can say, and repeating it monthly turns review velocity into something you can actually chart.
What you get
- Full-category capture across a defined service area
- Name, address and phone captured for NAP consistency checks
- Category assignments visible across the whole competitive set
- Rating and review counts for velocity tracking over time
- Listing completeness signals: hours, website, booking links
- Dated exports that build into a reportable time series
Audit the whole category, not three competitors
A sample of three tells you about three businesses. The full set tells you the median rating in the category, the review count you need to reach to sit in the top quartile, how many competitors have no website, and which categories they have claimed. Those are the numbers a client strategy should be built on, and they are only available if you capture everything.
NAP consistency starts with what Google shows
The name, address and phone on the Maps listing is the reference point every citation should match. Export it, and you have the canonical string to check directories against. Differences that look trivial, a suite number formatted differently or an abbreviated street type, are exactly the kind of inconsistency that fragments a business citation profile.
Category assignment across competitors
Primary category is one of the strongest local ranking factors and business owners choose it themselves, often badly. Seeing which primary categories the top-performing businesses in a service area have chosen is directly actionable for a client. It is also one of the few audit findings that can be implemented in an afternoon and shows movement within weeks.
Review velocity is the metric worth charting
Total review count says how long a business has been collecting. Velocity, the rate of new reviews, says who is actively working on it right now. You can only get velocity by capturing the same set repeatedly and diffing it. Monthly captures across a year give you a client review growth against the market, which is the single most persuasive local SEO chart there is.
Finding listing gaps worth fixing
Missing hours, no website, no booking link and no assigned category are each a completeness gap. Across the competitive set they show you what is normal in that category and which gaps actually differentiate. If every competitor has hours published and your client does not, that is a concrete fix. If none of them has a booking link, adding one is an opportunity rather than catching up.
Frequently asked questions
Why capture the whole category instead of a few competitors?
Because medians, quartiles and distributions need the full set. Three competitors tell you about three businesses, not about the market a client competes in.
How does this help with NAP consistency?
It gives you the exact name, address and phone Google displays, which is the canonical string every directory citation should match.
Can I see competitor primary categories?
Yes. Seeing which categories the strongest listings in a service area have chosen is one of the fastest-acting audit findings available.
How do I measure review velocity?
Capture the same competitive set monthly and diff the counts. Velocity cannot be read from a single snapshot, only from a dated series.
Which listing gaps are worth reporting?
The ones that differ from the category norm. Missing hours matter if every competitor publishes them; a missing booking link is an opportunity if nobody has one.