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What does Bbb.org Business Search Scraper do?

Introduction

The Better Business Bureau (BBB.org) serves as North America's most trusted business directory, maintaining comprehensive profiles of millions of businesses across the United States and Canada. BBB helps consumers find trusted BBB Accredited businesses and provides ratings, customer reviews, and business information. For businesses, researchers, and marketers, accessing this wealth of structured business data manually is time-consuming and inefficient.

BBB's mission is to advance marketplace trust, making their database an invaluable resource for lead generation, market research, competitive analysis, and business validation. Our BBB.org Business Scraper automates the extraction of this critical business intelligence, enabling users to gather comprehensive business data at scale.

Overview of BBB.org Business Scraper

The BBB.org Business Scraper is a professional-grade data extraction tool designed to systematically collect business information from the Better Business Bureau's extensive database. This scraper leverages advanced web crawling technology to extract detailed business profiles, including accreditation status, ratings, contact information, and operational details.

The scraper excels at handling BBB's complex search interface and business profile pages, ensuring accurate data extraction while respecting rate limits and anti-bot measures. It's particularly valuable for sales teams building prospect lists, researchers conducting market analysis, and businesses seeking competitive intelligence within specific industries or geographic regions.

Target users include lead generation specialists, market researchers, business development professionals, and data analysts who require reliable, up-to-date business information for their strategic initiatives.

Input and Output Details

Input Format

The scraper accepts a JSON configuration that allows precise control over data collection parameters:

{
  "max_retries_per_url": 2, // Maximum waiting time when accessing the links you provided.
  "proxy": { // Add a proxy to ensure that during the data collection process, you are not detected as a bot.
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL" 
    ],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "SG" // You should choose an Country that coincides with the Country you want to collect data from
  },
  "country_code": "us",
  "category_codes": [],
  "state_codes": [],
  "from_position": 0,
  "to_position": 5,
}

Input Parameters Explained:

• Country code - The country code representing the target country for scraping. For example, 'us' for United States, 'ca' for Canada.
• State Codes - Provide a list of state or region codes for targeted scraping. Each code should follow the list code from link here or a relevant format recognized by the target site. Example: ['ca', 'ny', 'tx'] for scraping California, New York, and Texas.
• Category codes - Enter a list of category codes that specify the types of businesses or data categories to be scraped. Each code should follow the list code from link here. Example: ['online-retailer'].
• From position - Specify the starting index of the data scraping process. Used for pagination or to continue scraping from a specific point. Example: 0 means starting from the very first item.
• To position - Specify the ending index for the data scraping process. Defines the maximum position to scrape up to. Example: 5 means scraping items from the starting position up to the 5th item.
• Limit the number of retries - Maximum number of retries for each URL when collecting data when an unexpected error occurs.
• Proxy configuration - Add a proxy to ensure that during the data collection process, you are not detected as a bot.

Note: The state code and category code are filter conditions, and if you do not want to filter by both conditions, just add one of the two inputs. If you want to filter by both, please enter both inputs; if you do not want to filter by these conditions, leave them empty.

Output Format

You get the output from the Bbb.org Business Search Scraper stored in a tab. The following is an example of the Information Fields collected after running the Actor.

[ // List of business information
  {
    "id": "71173316_733610",
    "bbb_id": "1296",
    "business_id": "90276928",
    "breadcrumbs": [
      {
        "href": "/us",
        "title": "Home"
      },
      {
        "href": "/us/ca",
        "title": "California"
      },
      {
        "href": "/us/ca/bakersfield",
        "title": "Bakersfield"
      },
      {
        "href": "/us/ca/bakersfield/category/remodeling",
        "title": "Remodeling"
      },
      {
        "href": null,
        "title": "Foothills Home Services, LLC"
      }
    ],
    "url": "https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/bakersfield/profile/remodeling/foothills-home-services-llc-1296-90276928",
    "website": "https://foothillshomeservi.wixsite.com/foothillshomeservice",
    "accredited_date": null,
    "accreditation_revoked_date": null,
    "bbb_file_opened_date": "2020-08-11T00:00:00",
    "business_start_date": "2020-06-03T00:00:00",
    "business_local_start_date": null,
    "incorporated_date": null,
    "new_owner_date": null,
    "categories": {
      "links": [
        {
          "title": "Remodeling",
          "url": "/us/ca/bakersfield/category/remodeling",
          "entity_type": null,
          "entity_id": null,
          "id": null
        }
      ],
      "has_high_risk_category": false,
      "primary_category_name": "Remodeling",
      "primary_tob_id": "10177-200"
    },
    "phone_number": "(720) 646-4729",
    "contacts": [
      {
        "is_principal": true,
        "is_management": true,
        "role": 1601,
        "title": "Owner",
        "name": {
          "prefix": "Mrs.",
          "first": "Ashley",
          "middle": null,
          "last": "Padilla",
          "suffix": null
        },
        "is_primary": true,
        "is_customer": true,
        "is_searchable": true,
        "position": null,
        "labels": []
      }
    ],
    "additional_fax_numbers": [],
    "additional_phone_numbers": [],
    "postal_address": {
      "address_line1": "4512 Coronado Ave",
      "address_line2": null,
      "city": "Bakersfield",
      "state_code": "CA",
      "zip_code": "93306"
    },
    "formatted_address": "4512 Coronado Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93306",
    "latitude": 39.530599,
    "longitude": -105.164662,
    "operating_hours": null,
    "is_us_based": true,
    "is_accredited": false,
    "media": {
      "logo": null,
      "carousel_items": null,
      "image_carousel_item_ids": null,
      "video_carousel_item_ids": null,
      "sorted_carousel_item_ids": null
    },
    "name": "Foothills Home Services, LLC",
    "hq_information": null,
    "num_employees": 0,
    "description": null,
    "years_in_business": 4,
    "reviews_complaints_summary": {
      "suppress_reviews": false,
      "average_of_review_star_ratings": 0,
      "display_review_star_rating": true,
      "reviews_total": 0,
      "complaints_total": 0,
      "display_average_of_review_star_ratings": false,
      "submit_review_error_message": "Unable to save review. Please try submitting the review again.",
      "total_closed_complaints_past_three_years": 0,
      "total_closed_complaints_past_twelve_months": 0
    },
    "rating": {
      "bbb_rating": "A+",
      "rating_reason_not_rated": null,
      "rating_reasons": []
    },
    "from_url": null
  }, // ... Many other business details
]

The scraper returns comprehensive business data in structured JSON format with 31 distinct fields:

Core Business Identifiers:

• ID: Unique internal identifier for the scraped record
• BBB ID: Official BBB identification number for the business
• Business ID: Additional business identifier used by BBB systems
• URL: Direct link to the business's BBB profile page

Business Details:

• Name: Official business name as registered with BBB
• Description: Business description and services offered
• Categories: Industry classifications and business categories
• Website: Official business website URL

Accreditation & Trust Indicators:

• Is Accredited: Boolean indicating BBB accreditation status
• Rating: BBB letter grade (A+ to F) indicating trustworthiness
• Accredited Date: Date when BBB accreditation was granted
• Accreditation Revoked Date: Date of revocation (if applicable)
• Reviews Complaints Summary: Aggregated review and complaint statistics

Temporal Data:

• BBB File Opened Date: When BBB first created the business file
• Business Start Date: When the business began operations
• Business Local Start Date: Local business establishment date
• Incorporated Date: Legal incorporation date
• New Owner Date: Date of ownership changes (if applicable)
• Years in Business: Calculated business tenure

Contact Information:

• Phone Number: Primary business contact number
• Contacts: Key personnel and contact roles
• Additional Fax Numbers: Secondary fax contacts
• Additional Phone Numbers: Alternative contact numbers

Location Data:

• Postal Address: Complete mailing address
• Formatted Address: Standardized address format
• Latitude/Longitude: GPS coordinates for mapping applications
• Is US Based: Geographic classification boolean
• HQ Information: Headquarters location details

Operational Information:

• Operating Hours: Business hours and availability
• Number of Employees: Staff size indicator
• Media: Associated images, logos, and promotional materials
• Breadcrumbs: Navigation path and category hierarchy

Usage Guide

Step 1: Configuration Setup Configure your input parameters based on your specific needs. For broad market research, use empty category and state arrays. For targeted lead generation, specify relevant category codes and geographic restrictions.

Step 2: Proxy Configuration Always enable proxy usage with residential IP addresses to avoid detection. Match the proxy country with your target market for optimal results.

Step 3: Batch Processing Use the position parameters to process data in manageable chunks. For large datasets, increment the position range across multiple runs to avoid timeouts.

Step 4: Data Validation Review extracted data for completeness, particularly checking the "Is_Accredited" and "Rating" fields for quality assessment.

Best Practices:

• Start with small position ranges (0-10) for testing
• Monitor retry rates and adjust max_retries_per_url accordingly
• Implement data deduplication using the BBB ID field
• Validate phone numbers and addresses before use in campaigns

Common Error Handling:

• Rate limiting: Increase delays between requests
• Geographic blocks: Adjust proxy country settings
• Incomplete data: Review category_codes specificity

Benefits and Applications

Time Efficiency: Manual extraction of BBB business data could take hours per hundred businesses. This scraper processes thousands of records in minutes, delivering immediate ROI through time savings.

Lead Generation: Sales teams can build targeted prospect lists with pre-qualified, accredited businesses that demonstrate credibility and operational stability. The accreditation status and ratings provide built-in qualification criteria.

Market Research: Analysts can quickly assess market density, competitive landscapes, and business demographics across specific industries or geographic regions.

Business Intelligence: The comprehensive data fields enable sophisticated analysis, from mapping business clusters using GPS coordinates to tracking industry trends through establishment dates and employee counts.

Due Diligence: The accreditation dates, complaint summaries, and ratings provide valuable insights for partnership evaluations and vendor assessments.

Conclusion

The BBB.org Business Scraper transforms the labor-intensive process of business data collection into an automated, scalable solution. With its comprehensive output fields and flexible configuration options, it serves as an essential tool for professionals requiring reliable business intelligence.

Whether you're building sales pipelines, conducting market analysis, or performing competitive research, this scraper provides the structured, actionable data needed to make informed business decisions efficiently.

Relate Actors

Bbb.org Business Details Page Scraper: An intelligent automated data extraction system designed to capture comprehensive business credibility information from America's most established business watchdog organization.

Your feedback

We are always working to improve Actors' performance. So, if you have any technical feedback about Bbb.org Business Search Scraper or simply found a bug, please create an issue on the Actor's Issues tab in Apify Console.