Yelp Business Data Scraper using Bright Data and Google Sheets - n8n Workflow

Market researchers needing timely competitive analysis.
Sales professionals building targeted lead lists from specific Yelp categories.
Data analysts requiring structured, reliable Yelp business data.
Anyone looking for a high-performance web scraping solution integrated into their n8n templates ecosystem.

Extracting large amounts of structured data from complex sites like Yelp often requires dedicated services. This powerful n8n workflow solves this by tightly integrating the n8n platform with Bright Data's scraping infrastructure. Instead of relying on manual data collection or brittle internal scrapers, this n8n automation uses a simple form interface (the n8n trigger) to initiate a high-fidelity scrape. The workflow automatically handles the asynchronous nature of the scraping job—checking the status repeatedly until the data snapshot is ready. Once complete, the data is immediately pulled and stored in a Google Sheet, providing a clean, centralized database for analysis. This robust n8n workflow is a prime example of leveraging external APIs for reliable web extraction.

This comprehensive n8n workflow operates through a dedicated polling loop to ensure data readiness before proceeding to storage.

1. Start and Trigger: The process begins with the 📥 Form Trigger n8n node, which provides a public URL for users to input the target Yelp business link.


2. Initiate Scrape: The input URL is passed to the 🔍 Trigger Bright Data Scrape n8n node, which calls the Bright Data API to start the data collection process, receiving a snapshot_id.


3. Monitor Status: The 📡 Monitor Snapshot Status n8n node immediately begins polling the Bright Data API using the received snapshot ID to check the job's current status.


4. Wait Cycle: If the status check is not successful, the workflow pauses for 30 seconds using the ⏳ Wait 30 Sec for Snapshot n8n node.


5. Conditional Loop: The 🔁 Retry Until Ready n8n node (an If node) checks if the status equals "ready".

1. Fetch Data: The 📥 Fetch Scraped Business Data n8n node retrieves the final structured JSON output from the Bright Data snapshot endpoint.


2. Store Results: Finally, the 📊 Store to Google Sheet n8n node appends the extracted business details (name, rating, review count, URL, etc.) into the designated Google Sheet, finalizing this automated n8n workflow.

To deploy and utilize this powerful n8n workflow, follow these setup steps:

1. Import: Copy the provided JSON code and import it directly into your n8n instance as a new n8n workflow template.


2. Bright Data Credentials: Configure the HTTP Request n8n nodes (🔍 Trigger Bright Data Scrape, 📡 Monitor Snapshot Status, 📥 Fetch Scraped Business Data). You must replace the placeholder BRIGHTDATAAPIKEY in the Authorization headers with your actual Bright Data API key.


3. Google Sheets Credentials: Set up your Google Sheets OAuth2 credential within n8n. Replace YOURGOOGLESHEETSCREDENTIALID with the ID of your credential.


4. Google Sheet Configuration: In the 📊 Store to Google Sheet n8n node, update the Document ID and Sheet Name to point to your desired storage sheet. Ensure the column headers (name, overallrating, reviewscount, url, imagesvideos_urls) match those expected by the Google Sheets n8n node.


5. Activation: Activate the n8n workflow. You can now access the form URL provided by the n8n trigger node to start submitting Yelp URLs for scraping.

This n8n workflow template relies on several specialized n8n node types to manage scraping and data storage:

📥 Form Trigger (n8n trigger):
Function: Serves as the starting point, allowing manual input of the target Yelp URL via a web form.
Key Configuration: Configured to accept a single input field labeled 'URL'.
🔍 Trigger Bright Data Scrape (HTTP Request n8n node):
Function: Sends a POST request to Bright Data's API to initiate the Yelp scraping job.
Key Configuration: Uses the datasetid for Yelp business data and requires an Authorization Bearer header containing the Bright Data API key.
📡 Monitor Snapshot Status (HTTP Request n8n node):
Function: Polls the Bright Data API periodically to retrieve the status of the asynchronous scraping job using the dynamic snapshotid variable.
Key Configuration: URL is dynamically set using n8n expressions: https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/progress/{{ $json.snapshot_id }}.
⏳ Wait 30 Sec for Snapshot (Wait n8n node):
Function: Pauses the execution flow for 30 seconds to prevent rapid polling and manage API rate limits during the wait cycle.
🔁 Retry Until Ready (If n8n node):
Function: Controls the workflow flow. If the returned status is 'ready', it proceeds to data fetch; otherwise, it sends the flow back to the monitoring step.
Key Configuration: Checks if the value of {{ $json.status }} equals 'ready'.
📥 Fetch Scraped Business Data (HTTP Request n8n node):
Function: Executes once the data is ready, fetching the final scraped JSON data from the snapshot endpoint.
Key Configuration: Retrieves data using the snapshot ID and sets the query parameter format to json.
📊 Store to Google Sheet (Google Sheets n8n node):
Function: Appends the structured business data items (name, rating, review count, URL) into the specified Google Sheet row by row.
Key Configuration: Operation set to 'Append'. Requires configuration of Document ID and mapping of incoming JSON fields to sheet columns.