Using Apify for Lead Generation: Google Maps + LinkedIn Scraping

Most B2B lead generation platforms are charging you for infrastructure you could access directly — at a fraction of the price.

Apollo charges $49–$149/month for lead data. ZoomInfo charges $15,000+/year. What they're actually doing: running scrapers against Google Maps, LinkedIn, company websites, and other public sources, then marking up the data significantly and serving it through a subscription interface.

Apify is the infrastructure layer those tools often use. And you can access it directly.

This guide covers how to use Apify for B2B lead generation — specifically for Google Maps and LinkedIn scraping — including what Apify actors are, how to set them up, what data you get, and how Suplex automates the entire workflow so you get enterprise-grade lead generation at $0.025 per lead.

What Is Apify?

Apify is a web scraping and automation platform. It hosts a marketplace of pre-built "actors" — cloud-based automation programs that scrape specific websites and return structured data. The platform handles the infrastructure: proxy management, rate limiting, error handling, output storage, and scaling.

Apify's actor marketplace includes thousands of actors for hundreds of websites. For lead generation, the relevant ones are:

• Google Maps Scraper — extracts business listings with contact data, reviews, categories, and hours
• LinkedIn Profile Scraper — extracts professional profiles with name, title, company, and contact info
• LinkedIn Company Scraper — extracts company page data including employee counts and recent updates
• LinkedIn Jobs Scraper — extracts job postings with company and posting data
• And hundreds of others for specific use cases

Apify charges based on compute usage (Actor Compute Units) and proxy/dataset access. For most lead generation use cases, the cost works out to approximately $0.02–$0.03 per extracted lead record.

The BYOK Advantage: Why You Pay $0.025/Lead Instead of $0.50+

BYOK — Bring Your Own Key — means you connect your own Apify API key to the tool instead of using the tool's shared Apify account.

When you BYOK, you pay Apify directly at their actual cost. There's no markup. No intermediary taking a cut. You get the same data quality at actual infrastructure cost — which is roughly $0.025/lead for Google Maps and LinkedIn scraping.

When a lead generation platform charges $0.50–$3.00/lead, they're often using Apify or similar infrastructure at $0.025, then adding their margin, their SaaS overhead, their customer success team, and their investor expectations. BYOK cuts all of that out.

Suplex is built on BYOK architecture. You bring your Apify key. Suplex provides the workflow — search interface, data parsing, enrichment, verification, and outreach. You pay Apify at cost. Suplex charges for the product, not a per-lead markup.

Setting Up Apify for Lead Generation

Step 1: Create an Apify Account

Sign up at apify.com. The free tier gives you $5/month in free compute credits — enough to test with a few hundred leads. For ongoing lead generation, a $49/month plan gives you $49 in compute (roughly 2,000 leads/month at Google Maps pricing).

Step 2: Get Your API Key

In your Apify account settings, go to Integrations → API Key. Copy your Personal API Token. This is the key you'll use in Suplex's settings to connect your Apify account.

Step 3: Connect to Suplex

Open Suplex (desktop app — Mac, Windows, or Linux). In Settings → Lead Sources, paste your Apify API key. Suplex validates the connection and you're ready to mine leads.

Google Maps Lead Generation with Apify

What the Google Maps Actor Returns

Apify's Google Maps Scraper (actor ID: nwua9Gu5YkAT85Mhs) extracts:

• Business name
• Category/type
• Address (street, city, state, ZIP)
• Phone number
• Website URL
• Email address (if listed on Google Business Profile)
• Google Maps rating (1–5 stars)
• Number of reviews
• Business hours
• Price range indicator ($, $$, $$$)
• Google Maps URL

Running a Google Maps Scrape in Suplex

In Suplex's lead mining interface:

1. Select "Google Maps" as your source
2. Enter your search query: e.g., "HVAC contractor" or "Italian restaurant"
3. Enter your location: city name, ZIP code, or coordinates
4. Set your result limit (100–10,000 depending on your campaign)
5. Click "Mine Leads"

Suplex calls the Apify actor with your parameters, waits for results, parses the output, and stores leads in your local SQLite database. For 500 leads, the process takes 10–15 minutes. Results are immediately available for enrichment, verification, and outreach.

Filtering and Prioritizing Google Maps Results

After mining, Suplex lets you filter results by:

• Minimum review count (e.g., only businesses with 50+ reviews)
• Minimum rating (e.g., only 3.5+ stars)
• Has website (vs. no website)
• Has email (immediately contactable)
• Geographic sub-filter (specific neighborhoods or zip codes)

LinkedIn Lead Generation with Apify

What the LinkedIn Actor Returns

Apify's LinkedIn Scraper extracts from public LinkedIn search results and profiles:

• Full name
• Current job title
• Current company name
• Company website domain
• LinkedIn profile URL
• Location (city/country)
• Profile headline
• Connections count (approximate)
• Recent activity signals (if publicly visible)

Running a LinkedIn Scrape in Suplex

1. Select "LinkedIn" as your source
2. Enter job title filter: e.g., "Marketing Director"
3. Enter industry filter: e.g., "Technology"
4. Enter location: city or country
5. Set company size range if needed
6. Click "Mine Leads"

Suplex triggers the Apify LinkedIn actor, collects results, and stores structured profiles locally. Then you can enrich with emails through the email finding workflow.

Advanced Apify Actors for Lead Generation

Job Postings Scraper

Apify has actors for LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed, and Glassdoor. Scraping job postings for specific roles reveals companies actively hiring for functions that indicate buying intent. Companies hiring for SDRs need outbound tools. Companies hiring for IT security need security vendors.

Suplex can run job posting scrapes and filter by posting date, job title, and company size — giving you a list of companies showing active buying signals.

Company Website Scraper

For industries with publicly accessible directories (healthcare, legal, construction), Apify actors can scrape those directories and return structured contact data. Custom actors can be built for specific sources not covered by the marketplace.

The Full Apify Lead Generation Workflow with Suplex

Here's the end-to-end workflow that runs inside Suplex:

1. Define your target — category + location for Google Maps, or title + industry + location for LinkedIn
2. Mine leads — Suplex calls Apify using your API key at $0.025/lead
3. Store locally — results saved to local SQLite on your machine
4. Enrich emails — email finding for contacts without emails
5. Verify emails — check validity before sending
6. Write sequences — AI-personalized email templates using lead data
7. Send and track — integrated email sending with open/reply tracking

The entire chain — lead sourcing through email sending — runs in one desktop app. No stitching together tools. No cloud data exposure. No per-seat fees on top of per-lead fees on top of sending fees.

Cost Comparison: Apify BYOK vs. Lead Gen Platforms

For 10,000 leads/month:

• Apollo.io: ~$150/month (limited exports, data quality varies)
• ZoomInfo: ~$1,200+/month (enterprise-focused, overkill for most)
• Apify BYOK via Suplex: ~$250 in Apify compute + Suplex subscription

For 1,000 leads/month:

• Apollo.io Basic: $49/month (often insufficient exports)
• Apify BYOK via Suplex: ~$25 in Apify compute + Suplex subscription

The math gets more compelling at scale: at 50,000 leads/month, Apify BYOK at $0.025/lead is $1,250 in compute. Enterprise data platforms would charge $5,000–$10,000+ for equivalent volume.