Google Maps API for Lead Generation: Technical Guide (2026)

Why Google Places API beats SaaS databases

Apollo has 275M contacts. Lusha has 200M. ZoomInfo has 260M. Sounds impressive until you realize most of these are ENTERPRISE contacts: CMOs at companies with 100+ employees, listed on LinkedIn. For local businesses — the dentist in Manchester, the HVAC contractor in Dallas — these databases are mostly empty.

Google Maps knows about every verified local business on Earth. 200 million+ local business listings, all geo-tagged, most with verified contact info, reviews, hours, and website links. For agency lead gen, this is gold.

Getting started: API key + free credit

Go to console.cloud.google.com, create a project
Enable the "Places API" (new version) and "Geocoding API"
Create an API key (Credentials → Create Credentials → API Key)
Restrict the key by HTTP referrer or IP for security
Enable billing (required to use APIs, but you get $200 free credit/month)

The two API calls you need

Text Search — finds businesses matching a query:

GET https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText
  -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY"
  -H "X-Goog-FieldMask: places.id,places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.nationalPhoneNumber,places.websiteUri,places.rating,places.userRatingCount"
  -d '{
    "textQuery": "dentist in Manchester, UK",
    "maxResultCount": 20
  }'

Place Details — get full info for a specific place:

GET https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places/PLACE_ID
  -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY"
  -H "X-Goog-FieldMask: id,displayName,formattedAddress,rating,regularOpeningHours,websiteUri"

Pricing and budget math

Google Places API pricing (as of 2026):

Text Search: $0.032 per call (with Field Mask optimization)
Place Details: $0.017 per call
Free monthly credit: $200
Effective free quota: ~6,000 Text Searches + ~10,000 Place Details per month

For an agency finding 500 leads per month, total cost: ~$15-25. Most agencies never exceed the $200 free credit. This is significantly cheaper than paying any SaaS lead database.

Why LeadHunt wraps this for you

Writing your own Places API wrapper is doable but tedious. LeadHunt wraps Places API with: automatic geo-coordinate conversion from city names, batched requests for performance, caching of Place IDs, website quality audit on every result, contact enrichment, CSV export, CRM integration. You bring your own Google API key so Google charges YOU directly (no markup), and LeadHunt adds the workflow layer on top for $49/month.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to scrape Google Maps?

Scraping Google Maps HTML is against Google TOS and can get your IP blocked. Using Google Places API with a valid API key is completely legal and encouraged. Google charges you directly for API usage and provides 10,000 free requests per month which is plenty for most agency workflows.

How much does Google Places API cost?

Google Maps Platform gives $200 in free credit each month (equivalent to ~10,000 Text Search calls or ~5,000 Place Details calls). Beyond the free tier: Text Search is $0.032 per call, Place Details is $0.017 per call. For an agency doing 500 leads per month, expected cost is $10-30/month.

What data can I get from Google Places API?

Business name, address, phone, website, opening hours, rating, review count, Google Business Profile photos, business category, price level, location coordinates, place ID. For contacts beyond public business info (individual employees, decision maker emails), you need additional enrichment tools.

How do I avoid hitting the Google Places API rate limit?

The default rate limit is 100 queries per second which you will never hit in normal agency workflows. If you hit it, batch your requests, use server-side caching (Place IDs are stable), and use Field Masks to only request fields you need (reduces billing). LeadHunt implements all of these automatically.

Can I resell Google Maps data?

You cannot resell raw Google Maps data, but you CAN use it to generate lead lists for your own business or your own agency clients. The key distinction: Google data as a tool for your operations = legal. Reselling the raw data = TOS violation. Building an audit on top of the data and charging clients = legal.