Use Yelp Business Search & Review Scraper with Python

Search Yelp by keyword and location, or scrape specific business pages directly, to collect business details, ratings, categories, contact details, and customer reviews.

1. Choose the data you need

Review the published README for supported collection modes, examples, and limits. The recipe below uses the current published input definition.

2. Prepare a source-based input

This JSON contains published prefills and required-field defaults. Review every value for your task before running it; it is not a promise of successful collection.

{
  "categories": [],
  "includeReviews": true,
  "location": "",
  "maxItems": 1,
  "maxReviewsPerBusiness": 5,
  "minRating": 0,
  "mode": "direct",
  "price": [],
  "reviewLanguage": "en",
  "reviewRatings": [
    "5",
    "4",
    "3",
    "2",
    "1"
  ],
  "reviewSort": "DATE_DESC",
  "searchQuery": "",
  "sortBy": "recommended",
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.yelp.com/biz/prince-street-pizza-new-york-2"
  ]
}

Download input.example.json and save your reviewed copy as input.json.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`mode`	string	required	Search Yelp by keyword and location, or look up specific business URLs, aliases, or 22-character business IDs.
`searchQuery`	string	optional	Keyword to search for in mode=search, for example 'pizza', 'plumber', or 'coffee shop'.
`location`	string	optional	City, neighborhood, or ZIP code to search in mode=search, for example 'New York, NY' or '10012'.
`startUrls`	array	optional	In mode=search, paste Yelp search URLs. In mode=direct, paste business URLs, aliases, or 22-character business IDs.
`categories`	array	optional	Optional Yelp category aliases or names used to narrow search results, for example 'pizza', 'coffee', or 'home_services'. They are combined with the search query.
`sortBy`	string	optional	Ordering for mode=search result pages.
`price`	array	optional	Optional price levels for mode=search. Leave empty for every price level.
`minRating`	number	optional	Drop businesses rated below this value. Set to 0 to keep every rating.
`maxItems`	integer	optional	Hard cap on business records in the dataset. Search is limited to Yelp's 240-result ceiling per query.
`maxReviewsPerBusiness`	integer	optional	Maximum reviews collected for each business. Reviews are paged 49 at a time from Yelp's public review feed.
`includeReviews`	boolean	optional	Turn off to collect only business profiles and skip the review feed.
`reviewSort`	string	optional	Ordering applied to each business's review feed.
`reviewRatings`	array	optional	Only collect reviews with these star ratings. Choose one or more values.
`reviewLanguage`	string	optional	Language for the review feed. Choose 'all' to page through every language Yelp reports for the business.
`proxyConfiguration`	object	optional	Optional. The actor automatically uses Apify Proxy when Yelp blocks a request; add a country or custom proxy here only when you need a specific route.

3. Start an Actor run

Set APIFY_TOKEN in your environment. Python 3.10 or newer is sufficient; this recipe uses no third-party packages.

Execution may incur charges. Review current pricing on Apify. The request asks for a 120-second timeout and a charge limit; these settings are subject to Apify’s pricing and do not guarantee an all-inclusive spending cap.

import json
import os
import urllib.request

# Save the schema-derived example as input.json; review and edit it first.
with open("input.json", encoding="utf-8") as stream:
    actor_input = json.load(stream)

token = os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"]
request = urllib.request.Request(
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/7GbUL6yEkG5aFcZSk/runs?timeout=120&maxTotalChargeUsd=0.50",
    data=json.dumps(actor_input).encode("utf-8"),
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer " + token, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    method="POST",
)
# This starts a potentially billable run. Do not automatically retry this POST.
with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=40) as response:
    run = json.load(response)["data"]
print("Run ID:", run["id"])
print("Status:", run["status"])
# Inspect and download results in Apify Console once the run succeeds.

4. Inspect the actual results

Open the run in Apify Console and wait for a successful completion. Use the published output schema to locate results and the dataset schema to understand declared views. Missing or optional record fields must not be treated as guaranteed values.

Yelp business profiles with nested review rows, ratings, hours, contact details, and explicit status records for blocked or missing businesses.

Questions before you run

Which inputs are required?

The published required fields are mode

What does this guide verify?

The fields, prefills, and schema links are rendered from the published build. This is a usage recipe, not a paid live extraction test. Source availability and collection results can vary.

What if the run request times out?

Check Apify Console before retrying. The first request may already have created a run. Do not automatically repeat a run-creation POST.

Open on Apify Full Actor reference

Generated from source build u5WBu7wbluwWdJnfh and its README and schemas. Source changes regenerate this guide; no third-party editorial claims are inferred.