Unlimited Searches: Use Your Own Google Key

A search checks Google Maps for a trade in a city and shows businesses with no website on their Google Business Profile. Google charges for those searches, so you use your own Google account and quota. Setup takes about 10 minutes, once. A credit card must be on file with Google, but with the caps in Step 6 you control exactly what you can be charged. Most people searching a few niches a week stay inside Google's free monthly allowance. One search = 3 calls to Google.

Read Step 6 first — that's the one that protects you.

Create a Google Cloud account

Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with any Google account. A billing account with a card is required; you aren't charged for having one, only for usage above the free allowance. Any free trial credit is optional, but don't skip Step 6.

Create a project

Click the project dropdown at the top → New Project → name it anything (e.g. "lead finder"). Make sure it's selected in the top bar before continuing.

Turn on the Places API (New)

In the top search bar, search "Places API (New)", click it, and click Enable. Pick the one that says (New); the older "Places API" won't work with this tool. If it asks for billing, that's normal. When the button changes to "Manage", it worked.

Create your key

Left menu → APIs & Services → Credentials → + Create credentials → API key. Copy the long string starting with AIza. If asked about "authenticate API calls through a service account," leave that off.

Lock the key down

On the key's settings page: Application restrictions → None. API restrictions → Restrict key → tick Places API (New) only → Save. An unrestricted leaked key can be used against your billing account; a restricted key can only do this one job.

Cap it so you can't get a surprise bill (do not skip)

Go to console.cloud.google.com/google/maps-apis/quotas, confirm the project selector shows your new project, open the "All Google Maps APIs" dropdown → Places API (New), find SearchTextRequest per day, click the three dots → Edit quota, untick Unlimited, type 150, submit, and confirm it shows 150 (150 requests/day = 50 searches/day).

This is a hard stop; Google refuses requests past it, and it resets daily. Also set GetPlaceRequest, AutocompletePlacesRequest, SearchNearbyRequest and GetPhotoMediaRequest to 1.

Then set a billing alert: Billing → Budgets & alerts → create a budget (a small amount like $10). The alert only emails you; the quota is what actually caps spending. Do both.

Use it

Paste your key into Settings in this app and click Test key. Your searches now run on your key and your quota.

What it'll cost you

Google gives a free monthly allowance. Check current rates at console.cloud.google.com → Google Maps Platform → Pricing. Multiply by 3 calls per search, and with the 150/day cap your worst case is that number × 150. (We do not hard-code any prices so you always see Google's exact live rates).

Worth knowing before you paste a key anywhere

The key is sent to the server only to run your search, is stored encrypted with AES-256-GCM, is never logged and is never visible to anyone, including admins. As a habit, be careful pasting keys into any site; Step 5 (restricting the key) is what makes this safe.

If something goes wrong

"The server has no API key configured" → The key didn't save; paste it again and check you copied the whole thing.

"REQUEST_DENIED" or 403 → Places API (New) isn't enabled, the older Places API was enabled instead, or billing isn't set up.

"It worked and now it doesn't" → You've probably hit your daily quota; it resets the next day.

"I can't find the quota rows in Step 6" → Wrong project selected, or Places API (New) isn't enabled yet in that project.

"Zero results on every search" → Usually a real answer. Some trades are saturated; try newer or lower-margin trades.

Note: Google moves things around in the console; if a menu isn't where this says, search for it in the top bar — the names usually stay the same.