Google Maps competitor scan to Slack with n8n

Method

1. Get an Apify token

   Sign in to Apify and copy a personal API token from Console: Settings, API and integrations. The workflow keeps it in an n8n credential, never in the file.

2. Import the workflow

   In n8n choose Workflows, Import from file, or paste the JSON onto an empty canvas.

   • Run by hand
   • Every day
   • Run Apify Actor
   • Only records not sent before
   • Send to Slack

   n8n workflowgoogle-maps-competitor-scan-to-slack.n8n.json

   Copy Download Actor on Apify

   Show the file (172 lines)

   {
     "name": "Google Maps competitor scan to Slack",
     "nodes": [
       {
         "id": "ea4133ce-95ea-4df1-a8fa-eecc3740318b",
         "name": "Run by hand",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.manualTrigger",
         "typeVersion": 1,
         "position": [
           0,
           0
         ],
         "parameters": {}
       },
       {
         "id": "5c6ed486-418e-4593-a0f3-c46e1ece836b",
         "name": "Every day",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger",
         "typeVersion": 1.2,
         "position": [
           0,
           200
         ],
         "parameters": {
           "rule": {
             "interval": [
               {
                 "triggerAtHour": 8
               }
             ]
           }
         },
         "notes": "Activate the workflow to run on this schedule."
       },
       {
         "id": "e388b762-d99c-44a8-ae2c-58b53fcc218f",
         "name": "Run Apify Actor",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
         "typeVersion": 4.2,
         "position": [
           260,
           100
         ],
         "parameters": {
           "method": "POST",
           "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/dataspryva~google-maps-grid-based-market-saturation-scanner/run-sync-get-dataset-items",
           "authentication": "genericCredentialType",
           "genericAuthType": "httpHeaderAuth",
           "sendBody": true,
           "specifyBody": "json",
           "jsonBody": "{\n  \"searchQuery\": \"coffee shops\",\n  \"boundingBox\": {\n    \"north\": 40.77,\n    \"south\": 40.73,\n    \"east\": -73.97,\n    \"west\": -74.01\n  },\n  \"zoomLevel\": 15,\n  \"maxPlacesPerCell\": 5,\n  \"maxPagesPerCell\": 13,\n  \"maxTotalResults\": 40,\n  \"deduplicateResults\": true,\n  \"enrichDetails\": false\n}",
           "options": {
             "timeout": 310000
           }
         },
         "notes": "Actor: dataspryva/google-maps-grid-based-market-saturation-scanner. Select a Header Auth credential: name Authorization, value Bearer + your Apify token. Edit the JSON body to change the input.",
         "notesInFlow": false
       },
       {
         "id": "0874ce7e-313a-4891-a0ab-0564f500458b",
         "name": "Only records not sent before",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.removeDuplicates",
         "typeVersion": 2,
         "position": [
           500,
           100
         ],
         "parameters": {
           "operation": "removeItemsSeenInPreviousExecutions",
           "logic": "removeItemsWithAlreadySeenKeyValues",
           "dedupeValue": "={{ $json.placeId }}",
           "options": {
             "scope": "node",
             "historySize": 10000
           }
         },
         "notes": "Remembers each placeId it has passed on (up to 10,000) across runs, so a record is sent once. Needs n8n 1.64 or later."
       },
       {
         "id": "0a033efe-cc14-4eb3-a1fa-b97a257d1573",
         "name": "Send to Slack",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.slack",
         "typeVersion": 2.3,
         "position": [
           740,
           100
         ],
         "parameters": {
           "select": "channel",
           "channelId": {
             "__rl": true,
             "value": "",
             "mode": "list"
           },
           "text": "={{ [$json.name, $json.totalScore, $json.reviewsCount, $json.website].filter(v => v !== undefined && v !== null && v !== '').join(' | ') }}",
           "otherOptions": {}
         },
         "notes": "Pick your Slack credential and channel."
       },
       {
         "id": "5aca3036-9d9a-400f-ac4d-2cf6913c35b3",
         "name": "Setup",
         "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
         "typeVersion": 1,
         "position": [
           0,
           -370
         ],
         "parameters": {
           "content": "## Google Maps Grid-Based Market Saturation Scanner\n\nSource: [dataspryva/google-maps-grid-based-market-saturation-scanner](https://apify.com/dataspryva/google-maps-grid-based-market-saturation-scanner) on Apify.\n\n1. In **Run Apify Actor**, create a Header Auth credential: name `Authorization`, value `Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN` with your token.\n2. Open **Send to Slack** and connect your Slack account.\n3. Edit the JSON body of **Run Apify Actor** to change the input.\n\nGenerated by recipeforagents.com. Validated, not executed: runs are billed to your Apify account.",
           "height": 340,
           "width": 460,
           "color": 6
         }
       }
     ],
     "connections": {
       "Run by hand": {
         "main": [
           [
             {
               "node": "Run Apify Actor",
               "type": "main",
               "index": 0
             }
           ]
         ]
       },
       "Every day": {
         "main": [
           [
             {
               "node": "Run Apify Actor",
               "type": "main",
               "index": 0
             }
           ]
         ]
       },
       "Run Apify Actor": {
         "main": [
           [
             {
               "node": "Only records not sent before",
               "type": "main",
               "index": 0
             }
           ]
         ]
       },
       "Only records not sent before": {
         "main": [
           [
             {
               "node": "Send to Slack",
               "type": "main",
               "index": 0
             }
           ]
         ]
       }
     },
     "pinData": {},
     "active": false,
     "settings": {
       "executionOrder": "v1"
     },
     "meta": {
       "templateCredsSetupCompleted": false
     },
     "tags": []
   }

   Validated, not executed: 11 of 11 checks pass

   • It has a nodes array and a connections object
   • Every node has a name, type, typeVersion, position and parameters
   • Node names are unique
   • Every node type is a known n8n core node (or the Apify node)
   • Every node uses a typeVersion that n8n ships
   • Every connection points at an existing node
   • At least one trigger starts the workflow
   • Every working node is reachable from a trigger
   • Apify calls use POST and a credential for the token
   • Actor input matches the Actor's published input schema
   • No token or credential value is embedded

3. Add the Apify credential

   Open Run Apify Actor. Under Credential, create a Header Auth credential with the name Authorization and the value Bearer, a space and your token.

4. Set the input

   The request body holds the Actor input: the Actor's Store prefill with maxTotalResults set for this recipe. Change maxTotalResults to your own.

   {
     "searchQuery": "coffee shops",
     "boundingBox": {
       "north": 40.77,
       "south": 40.73,
       "east": -73.97,
       "west": -74.01
     },
     "zoomLevel": 15,
     "maxPlacesPerCell": 5,
     "maxPagesPerCell": 13,
     "maxTotalResults": 40,
     "deduplicateResults": true,
     "enrichDetails": false
   }

   Every input field is documented on the Google Maps Grid-Based Market Saturation Scanner page.

5. Only new records go through

   The Only records not sent before node (n8n's Remove Duplicates, set to remove items processed in previous executions) remembers each placeId it has passed on, so a record reaches Slack once even when the next run returns it again. It needs n8n 1.64 or later; clear its history from the node to resend everything.

6. Connect Slack

   Open Send to Slack, select your Slack credential and pick the channel. Each message shows name, totalScore, reviewsCount, website.

7. Run once, then turn it on

   Click Execute workflow and check the first records in Slack. When they look right, activate the workflow so the daily trigger runs it at 08:00 in your instance's timezone.

Where it breaks

• The first run posts every business in the area, so start with a small box or a low total limit.
• Closed businesses can stay on Google Maps for a while and will still be reported once.
• Slack limits how fast one app can post; very large areas are better sent to a sheet.
• The workflow uses Apify's synchronous endpoint, which waits up to 300 seconds. Bigger runs answer HTTP 408: lower the limit or switch to an asynchronous run.
• Each run is billed to your Apify account at the Store price ($0.99 per 1,000 results (pay per event)).

Bigger runs: the long-run workflow starts the run, waits for it and reads the dataset, so it never hits the 300-second limit.

If the workflow fails

Why does the workflow or script stop with HTTP 408?

The synchronous endpoint waits at most 300 seconds. After that it answers 408 while the run keeps going in Apify. Lower the result limit, or start the run asynchronously, wait for it to finish and then read its dataset.

Source: Apify API: run Actor synchronously and get dataset items

What do 400, 401, 402 and 403 from the Apify API mean?

Read error.type in the response body. 400 is invalid Actor input. 401 (user-or-token-not-found) means a token reached Apify but it is wrong or revoked. 402 with x402-payment-required means no token reached Apify at all: the n8n credential or the Authorization: Bearer header is missing, and Apify is offering its pay-per-run x402 route for agents instead; any other 402 is an exhausted usage limit on the account that pays for the run. 403 is a token without permission for that Actor or storage.

Source: Apify API: authentication; Apify documentation: agentic payments with x402; Apify API: run Actor synchronously and get dataset items

n8n says Install this node to use it after import. Why?

The workflow names a node or node version your instance does not have, usually a community node. The workflows here use only built-in nodes at versions n8n has shipped since 1.80, so they import on n8n Cloud and older self-hosted instances without community nodes.

Source: n8n issue: unrecognized node type after import

Why does the HTTP Request node time out before Apify answers?

Set the node's Timeout option to at least 300000 ms so n8n waits as long as Apify's synchronous endpoint. The workflows here already set 310000. A failure at exactly 30 seconds points to a proxy in front of n8n.

Source: n8n HTTP Request node documentation

Every fix in one place

Same data in an agent

Want Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT to call the Actor directly instead of on a schedule? The Google Maps Grid-Based Market Saturation Scanner page has MCP configs for eight clients and a SKILL.md. The Google Maps MCP server bundles every Google Maps Actor in one URL.