Today we explore the best B2B lead generation platforms and strategies.
I'm François, and today we are going to draw a parallel between two popular B2B lead generation platforms: Google Maps and LinkedIn.
We're gonna figure out which one should be your go-to lead generation platform in 2025.
Table of Contents
- The Platform Battle: Google Maps vs LinkedIn
- Google Maps: The Global Lead Generation Powerhouse
- LinkedIn: The Professional Network Champion
- The Drawbacks You Need to Know
- ROI Comparison: Which Platform Gives Better Returns?
- Industry-Specific Platform Recommendations
- How to Automate Google Maps Lead Generation
- Advanced Filtering and Multi-Platform Strategy
- Data Extraction: What You Can Actually Get
- The Bottom Line: Your 2025 Lead Generation Strategy
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Platform Battle: Google Maps vs LinkedIn
If you take a look at the right corner of the boxing ring, you can see Google Maps. Google Maps is mainly known as an app to find your way around, but it's also one of the most powerful B2B lead generation platforms out there.
Google Maps: The Global Lead Generation Powerhouse
To begin with, Google Maps allows users to discover new businesses like no other platform. You type a target market in a specific area and you have access to hundreds of local leads. Secondly, the data you can retrieve is pretty valuable. You have access to data such as the business hours, the rating, the reviews, the name, the phone numbers, which ultimately will help you to contact your leads and to filter your leads as well.
As a company, you can also create a Google My Business profile, and it can be a pretty valuable asset. Finally, you can scrape data - that's the main advantage of Google Maps for business. It's a global database, it's a global platform. No matter where you are located, you have access to over 200 million businesses in around 200 countries.
You have access to the detailed pages of companies, but you can also get their email address and social media from Google Maps listings. I will tell you how to do that at the end of this video.
Google Maps Advantages:
- Massive database: 200M+ businesses globally
- Local targeting precision: City, county, state, or country level
- Rich business data: Hours, ratings, reviews, contact info
- 4,000+ categories available for targeting
- Real-time data extraction capabilities
LinkedIn: The Professional Network Champion
On the other side of the boxing ring, there is LinkedIn. LinkedIn lead generation shares some common things with Google Maps - it's also a global database, a global platform, and no matter where you are located, you have access to over 800 million users, which makes it a fantastic B2B marketing platform.
There are a couple of differences though. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, LinkedIn is a social media created for professionals, designed for professionals. It's definitely the go-to platform for B2B marketing. You can also make some advanced searches, meaning you can filter your data based on the location, based on a job title, on an industry, and a company name.
But let's be honest - there is one small drawback. Most of these filters, most of these features are much more efficient if you have the LinkedIn Premium plan.
Finally, LinkedIn is a social media, so you can practice your content marketing. You can share videos, create articles, or other kinds of content. I'm not gonna say it's an easy thing to do, but if you know how to manage it, if you know how to create effective outreach campaigns, it's pretty worth it.
LinkedIn Advantages:
- Professional audience: 800M+ business professionals
- Advanced targeting: Job title, industry, company size filters
- Decision-maker access: Direct reach to C-level executives
- Content marketing opportunities: Share expertise and build authority
- Relationship building: Engage in meaningful business conversations
The Drawbacks You Need to Know
But as with Google Maps, there are a couple of drawbacks to LinkedIn. One of them we didn't mention earlier is the idea that LinkedIn is a B2B platform. In other words, it's much less effective for B2C marketing. I guess it makes sense.
Google Maps Limitations:
- Manual data collection can be time-consuming
- Limited professional context compared to LinkedIn
- Not ideal for targeting specific job roles
- Requires technical knowledge for effective scraping
LinkedIn Limitations:
- Premium costs for advanced features
- Limited local business reach compared to Google Maps
- Not suitable for B2C businesses
- Relationship-building takes time before seeing results
ROI Comparison: Which Platform Gives Better Returns?
Here's where it gets interesting. The ROI really depends on your business model and target audience:
Google Maps ROI Metrics:
- Average cost per lead: $2-15 (depending on industry)
- Conversion rate: 15-25% for local services
- Time to first contact: 1-2 hours with automation
- Best for: Local businesses, service providers, restaurants
LinkedIn ROI Metrics:
- Average cost per lead: $50-150 (including Premium costs)
- Conversion rate: 5-15% for B2B services
- Time to relationship building: 2-4 weeks
- Best for: Professional services, SaaS, consulting
Source: Based on industry benchmarks and Scrap.io customer data analysis
Industry-Specific Platform Recommendations
Which platform should you choose? It obviously depends on what you are looking for and your specific industry:
Choose Google Maps if you're targeting:
- Local service businesses: Restaurants, contractors, architects
- Healthcare providers: Dentists, chiropractors, veterinarians
- Retail locations: Stores, shops, pharmacies
- Professional services with physical locations: Law firms, accounting offices
- Around four thousand other categories listed on Google Maps
Choose LinkedIn if you're targeting:
- Corporate decision-makers: C-level executives, managers
- Professional services: Consultants, agencies, software companies
- Remote businesses: SaaS, digital services
- Enterprise clients: Large companies with complex buying processes
Use Both Platforms for:
- Hybrid businesses: Companies with both local presence and corporate clients
- Multi-location services: Franchises, chains, enterprise services
- Complete market coverage: Maximize your lead generation potential
How to Automate Google Maps Lead Generation
Nevertheless, collecting all this data from Google Maps is not an easy task, and that is the reason why we have created a lead generation tool to automate the job: Scrap.io.
To use this tool, you go to scrap.io, or you can click on the link in the description instead. Thanks to Scrap.io, you can get unlimited leads from Google Maps, and you have access to a quick demo below.
Why Scrap.io is Different:
Scrap.io is a powerful solution for local lead generation that allows you to extract real-time business data from Google Maps. With 200 million businesses indexed across 195 countries, it's the only solution that enables you to extract all Google Maps listings at a country scale in just two clicks, without any coding required. Plus, it's completely legal to scrape Google Maps for business purposes.
Step-by-Step Process:
This lead generation tool is user-friendly. We have designed it to make it as easy as possible for you. You just need to type an activity, meaning a category. For instance, you might target restaurants, and you can select a city. In my case, it's written "France" because I'm currently located in France, but do not worry - you can obviously choose another country once you have created your account.
Let's take a look at Paris. I click on search, and I will have an overview of the number of leads I can retrieve. If I'm a bit curious and I want to know more, I need to create my account, so I click and login, and I click and sign up.
Now, once it is done, I have access to my dashboard, so I invite you to click on it, and I can retrieve unlimited leads from Google Maps. On this page, in the same way as we have done previously, I pick up an activity, and I can target my leads based on a city. But I can also choose a broader area: a level 2 division, which is the county, I believe, or a level 1 division, which are the states.
If I click on search, I will have all restaurants in the United States - so it's written about 10,000 plus results. But it's not over yet because you can also filter your data.
Advanced Filtering and Multi-Platform Strategy
It raises a couple of questions: Do I need closed restaurants? Maybe not. Am I looking for restaurants with a website, with a phone number, with an email, with social media, and which ones? And if you take a closer look, we can have access to LinkedIn profiles as well.
Ultimately, a combination of multiple platforms is the best strategy. In that way, you can grow your business faster. For example, you can target your leads through cold emails or cold calls, and if they do not answer the phone or the email, you can contact them through social media.
You've got a couple of advanced field tools as well: the price range, the ratings, number of reviews, number of pictures. If there is a contact form on the website, which is a very, very valuable asset, because if you send a message through a contact form, the message will be read, which is not necessarily the case when you send an email, because the email you have just sent might end up in the spam box.
Exporting Your Data: From Search to Success
I click on filter, then I can export my data. You can give a name to your exports, and if you click on Advanced options, you have access to 70+ data fields you can retrieve. To export your data, you need to click on export - I guess it makes sense - and all the exports you have done are indicated within the "my exports" tab. I guess it makes sense.
As a consequence, I can download my results as a CSV or Excel file. Let's jump into the Excel file in order to be aware of the fields you can retrieve.
Data Extraction: What You Can Actually Get
We have access to the name of the restaurant. We know whether the restaurant is closed or not. We can get the main type and all categories, which once again makes sense because a hotel can be a restaurant, and a restaurant can also be a hotel. Whether the company has a website, the same thing with the phone number.
We have the complete address, which is divided into different subtypes: the street 1, street 2, the city, the postal code, the state, the level 1 division (which is the state as well), the level 2 division (which is the county), and the country. You can also get the GPS coordinates, meaning the latitude and the longitude, the link of the Google Maps detail page. Let's have a look - it sounds correct.
The owner name, the email (which is something I'm sure you are interested in), the social media links: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn links related to the company. The price range, the review count, the review rating, the review pair score, the number of pictures, the URLs of some of these pictures, the occupancy data (which is related to these kinds of bar charts), whether the business has been claimed, the working hours, the characteristics (which includes all kinds of stuff, but for restaurants, you mainly have access to the service options).
Website Intelligence: SEO Characteristics and More
Then we have access to SEO characteristics. If a restaurant has a website, what is the title of the website? What are the meta keywords? The meta image? The meta generator? The other email addresses - you might find up to five email addresses. The same thing for the contact pages, and the same thing for social media links.
So in some cases, you can get multiple LinkedIn links. Of course, it's pretty unlikely you find some restaurants on LinkedIn, but depending on your target markets, this can change. The website technologies, which is a kind of software the company has been used to create their website, and we end up with website ad pixels.
Scrap.io offers comprehensive data enrichment, including website technologies detection, SEO characteristics analysis, and multiple email discovery - features that make it stand out among other lead generation tools in the market.
The Bottom Line: Your 2025 Lead Generation Strategy
This is the end of the video. I hope you have enjoyed it. The truth is, in 2025, the most successful businesses will be those that combine multiple lead generation platforms rather than relying on just one.
If you decide to get your leads from Google Maps, you can go to scrap.io, and if you have any questions regarding the tool, you can ask them in the comments, or you can directly contact our customer support.
My Final Recommendation:
- Start with Google Maps for immediate local leads and quick wins
- Build your LinkedIn presence for long-term relationship building
- Use automation tools like Scrap.io to scale your Google Maps efforts
- Develop a multi-channel outreach strategy combining email, phone, and social media
- Track your ROI from each platform and double down on what works
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best B2B lead generation platforms in 2025?
The best B2B lead generation platforms include Google Maps for local businesses, LinkedIn for professional networking, and specialized tools like Scrap.io for automated data extraction. The choice depends on your target audience and business model.
Which platform gives better ROI: Google Maps or LinkedIn?
Google Maps typically offers better ROI for local service businesses with cost per lead ranging from $2-15, while LinkedIn is more expensive ($50-150 per lead) but better for targeting enterprise clients and decision-makers.
How does Google Maps lead generation work?
Google Maps lead generation works by extracting business information from Google Maps listings, including contact details, business hours, ratings, and social media profiles. Tools like Scrap.io automate this process, allowing you to collect thousands of leads quickly.
What are the main advantages of using LinkedIn for B2B leads?
LinkedIn offers access to 800 million professional users, advanced filtering options by job title, industry, and company size, plus the ability to engage through content marketing. However, premium features require a paid subscription.
Can I combine Google Maps and LinkedIn for lead generation?
Absolutely! Using multiple platforms is the best strategy. You can use Google Maps to find local businesses and LinkedIn to connect with their decision-makers, creating a comprehensive approach to B2B lead generation.
How much data can I extract from Google Maps?
With tools like Scrap.io, you can access over 200 million businesses across 200 countries. Each business listing provides up to 70+ data fields, including contact information, social media links, and website analytics.
What's the best way to contact leads found on Google Maps?
The most effective approach is multi-channel outreach: start with well-crafted cold emails, follow up with phone calls, and if needed, reach out through social media platforms. Having a contact form on their website is particularly valuable.
Is it legal to scrape data from Google Maps?
Yes, extracting publicly available business information from Google Maps is completely legal for commercial use under US and European laws. Scrap.io ensures GDPR compliance and only accesses publicly available data.
Which industries benefit most from Google Maps lead generation?
Local service businesses benefit most, including restaurants, contractors, healthcare providers, legal firms, and retail locations. Any business with a physical presence or local service area can leverage Google Maps effectively.
How can I automate my lead generation process?
You can automate lead generation using tools like Scrap.io for Google Maps data extraction, combined with email automation platforms for outreach. This allows you to scale your efforts while maintaining personalization in your communication.