Searching Google Maps one keyword at a time is slow, and it misses businesses. A plumber might list itself as "plumbing service", "drain cleaning" or "water heater repair". Search only "plumber" and you never see the others. Repeat that across ten cities and you lose an afternoon copying rows into a spreadsheet.
A bulk keyword search fixes this. You run many keywords across many locations in one go, then clean the result once. Here is how to do it properly.
Step 1: Build your keyword list from real categories
Start with how businesses describe themselves, not how you describe them.
- Open Google Maps and search your main term in one city.
- Look at the category label under each business name.
- Write down every category that fits your offer.
- Add common service phrases customers type, such as "emergency" or "24 hour" variants.
For a pest control niche, your list might look like this:
- pest control
- exterminator
- termite control
- rodent control
- bed bug treatment
- wildlife removal
Aim for keywords that are different, not just reworded. "Pest control service" and "pest control company" will mostly return the same businesses. A rough rule of thumb: five to ten distinct keywords per niche is usually enough to cover the variations without heavy overlap.
If you are prospecting a specific trade, the pest control, auto repair shops and chiropractors pages show how those niches tend to be categorized.
Step 2: Choose locations deliberately
Keyword times location is where volume comes from, and where waste comes from too.
- Big cities: search by neighborhood or district as well as the city name. A single city query can return a capped list and skip businesses further from the center.
- Small towns: group nearby towns rather than searching each one alone, if your offer works regionally.
- Your service area: if you only work locally, do not pad the list with cities you cannot serve.
Write locations in a consistent format, like "Austin, TX" or "Leeds, UK", so results are easy to sort later.
Step 3: Run the search
You can do this manually or with a tool.
Manual method: search each keyword and location pair, scroll the results panel to load everything, and copy name, phone, website and address into a sheet. It works for a few dozen leads. It does not scale, and you get no emails.
Tool method: in GetClient, the Google Maps scraper accepts bulk keywords and several cities at once and searches live. Paste your keyword list, add your cities, and run it. Each lead can include business name, category, address, phone, website, emails found, the owner's name and title with a confidence score, and social profiles, where these are public.
Before a large run, do a test with two keywords and one city. Check that results match what you expected. If you are getting gyms when you wanted chiropractors, fix the keyword list now, not after a thousand rows.
Searches use credits, so a test run also tells you roughly what the full job will cost. See how lead generation credits work and the current plans and credits.
Step 4: Clean the results
Bulk searches always overlap. The same business shows up under "exterminator" and "pest control". Clean before you do anything else.
- Remove duplicates by phone number or website, since business names vary in spelling.
- Drop off-target categories. Filter the category column and delete anything that slipped in.
- Remove chains and franchises if you sell to owner-operators. They rarely decide locally.
- Check the owner confidence score. Use high-confidence names in greetings. For low-confidence ones, use the business name instead.
- Verify emails before sending. Bad addresses bounce and hurt your sender reputation. GetClient can run email verification on the list.
Step 5: Organize so you can use the list again
Save leads into folders by niche and city, such as "Pest control / Denver". This lets you write campaigns that match the group and come back later without searching again. Old lists still have value; reusing old lead lists covers how to refresh them.
Useful fields to keep: category, city, website, owner first name. These feed your personalization directly.
Step 6: Turn the list into a first email
A clean list is only useful if you contact it. Keep the first message short and specific to the category and city. In GetClient you can send from your own Gmail, Outlook or SMTP mailboxes using merge tags like {{params.firstname}}, {{params.name}} and {{params.city}}, then add follow-ups that branch on If Opened or If NOT Opened.
Example opener:
Hi {{params.firstname}}, I came across {{params.name}} while looking at {{params.category}} businesses in {{params.city}}...
For the full path from search to conversation, read from search to first reply.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Too many synonyms. They inflate cost and duplicates without adding new businesses.
- Too broad a keyword. "Shop" or "services" pulls in everything.
- Skipping the test run. Small errors multiply across every city.
- Sending without verifying. Bounces add up fast on bulk lists.
- Ignoring local rules. Cold email rules differ by country. Check the ones that apply to you and always include a working unsubscribe option.