How do Geo Match and Category Match filters work in Google Maps Leads Scraper?

Lobstr.io filters the results at the crawling level to make sure you only get relevant businesses—and only pay for what you actually need.

Why do you need geo and category match filters?

Honestly, Google Maps is the problem.

When you search for businesses on Google Maps, the results don't always match what you need.

When you search for businesses on Google Maps, you often get results that don't match what you're looking for.

You often get wrong business type or wrong city/country.

For example, if you search for plumbers in Alaska, you might get results for plumbing supply stores instead of actual plumbers.

Or you search for businesses in one city and get results from another city or sometimes another country.

Even if you search for businesses in a specific area, Google Maps might pull results from outside that region.

For example, if you're searching for plumbers in Alaska but Maps might also return businesses from Canada.

That's why our Google Maps Leads Scraper has built-in filtering to automatically skip irrelevant results.

What is Filtering in Google Maps Leads Scraper?

To fix this problem, Google Maps Leads Scraper automatically filters results at the crawling level using two smart filters:

• Geo Match Filter
• Category Match Filter

Geo Match Filter

The Geo Match filter ensures all collected businesses are within 50KM of your chosen location.

If a business is outside this range, the scraper automatically skips it—it never makes it to your output file, and you're not charged for it.

Category Match Filter

The Category Match filter makes sure every business matches your search keyword or business category.

It supports:

• Translation matching: Finds matching categories even if Google lists them in different languages
• Fuzzy matching: Catches variations and similar category names (e.g., "Plumbing Service" matches "Plumber")

If a business doesn't match your category, it's skipped entirely.

These filters work before results are added to your output file.

That means you only get clean, relevant data—and you're only billed for businesses that match your criteria.

How to Enable Filters in Your Scraper

You have full control over which filters to use.

Here's how to access and enable them:

1. Go to the Squid Settings tab
2. Find Advanced Settings
3. Toggle Geo Match and/or Category Match on or off

You can use one filter, both filters, or none—it's completely up to you.

Why This Matters for Your Billing

You only pay for the unique results that pass your enabled filters.

If a business listing doesn't match your location or category criteria, the scraper skips it at the crawling level—which means:

• It never appears in your output file
• You're never charged for it
• You get a clean, ready-to-use dataset from the start

Updated on: 20/01/2026