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Google Maps Import lets you populate your directory with real businesses in minutes. Search for something like “plumbers in Austin, TX”, browse the results, and import the ones you want as listings — with their name, address, phone number, website, opening hours, map coordinates and, optionally, their Google reviews. Then invite those businesses to claim their listing. There are two ways to use it:
  • Import credits (recommended) — zero setup: just buy a credit pack and start importing. Directify handles the data fetching for you
  • Your own Google API key (advanced) — free and unlimited, but you need to create an API key in the Google Cloud Console
Google Maps Import is available on all paid plans.

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Importing with credits (no setup)

Go to Content → Google Maps Import in your directory panel, type a niche plus a location — e.g. coffee shops in Portland, OR — and hit Search. Use the format “niche in location”; any language works. Browse the results, tick the businesses you want (use Load more results and Select all to work faster), choose your import options and click Import selected listings. The import runs in the background and you’ll get a notification when it finishes.

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How credits work

1 credit = 1 imported listing, including its 10 newest Google reviews if you enable review import. Searching and previewing is always free (contact details stay hidden in the preview and unlock when you import).
  • Credits never expire and work across all your directories
  • Pro plans and above get 10 free credits to try it out
  • If some selected businesses can’t be imported (already imported, or you hit your plan’s listing limit), those credits are refunded automatically

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Importing ALL reviews

With credits you can import every review a business has — not just the newest ones. Choose “All reviews” in the import options; it costs 1 extra credit per 200 reviews per listing (rounded up), and the exact total is shown before you confirm, based on the review counts in the preview.
Full-review import is only possible with credits. Google’s own API — the “bring your own key” path — returns a maximum of 5 reviews per place.

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Import options

  • Assign to category — attach every imported listing to one of your categories; refine per-listing afterwards
  • Publish immediately — off by default: listings are imported as drafts so you can review and edit them before they go live
  • Import photos (credits only) — the business’s main Google photo and logo, saved into your storage
  • Google reviews — don’t import / newest reviews / all reviews (credits only)

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What gets imported

On the credits path, tick Import photos to bring in each business’s main Google photo and logo. On the bring-your-own-key path photos are not available — set a custom default listing image or add your own images per listing. Re-importing never creates duplicates: every imported listing remembers its Google place ID, and already-imported businesses are marked in search results.
Know the trade-off before importing reviews. Each review is its author’s own text, and copying reviews out of Google is outside what Google’s Terms of Service permit. The choice, and the responsibility, are yours. Directify always stores and displays the author’s name with a link to their Google profile, and you can delete imported reviews at any time from your Reviews page.

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Advanced: use your own Google API key

If you’d rather not use credits, connect your own Google API key — searches and imports are then unlimited and free of credits, billed by Google directly to your Google account (their free monthly tier covers roughly 15–20 typical search-and-import sessions; one search costs about 0.10andreviewsaddroughly0.10 and reviews add roughly 0.04 per imported listing). The trade-offs: creating the key requires a few steps in the Google Cloud Console, and reviews are capped at 5 per listing by Google’s API.

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Creating the key

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Console and sign in with any Google account
  2. Create a project (top bar → project dropdown → New project) — name it anything, e.g. “My Directory”
  3. Enable the Places API: open Places API (New) and click Enable. Make sure it’s the one called “Places API (New)” — Google also lists an older “Places API” that won’t work
  4. Set up billing if the console asks for it (Billing in the left menu). A card is required by Google even for free-tier usage — you won’t be charged within the free monthly allowance
  5. Create the key: go to Credentials → Create credentials → API key. Copy the key (it starts with AIza)
Recommended: click Edit API key after creating it and, under API restrictions, restrict it to the Places API (New) only. If the key ever leaks, it can’t be used for anything else.

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Connecting it

On the Google Maps Import page, expand “Prefer to use your own Google API key instead?”, paste the key and click Save & validate key. Directify makes a minimal test request to confirm the key works before saving it; the key is stored encrypted, and you can disconnect it at any time. If validation fails, the two usual causes are: the Places API (New) isn’t enabled on the key’s project (step 3 above), or billing isn’t set up (step 4 above).

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Good to know

  • The data becomes yours to maintain. Imported listings are regular listings — they don’t stay in sync with Google, and long-term storage of the imported details is your responsibility
  • Plan limits apply — imports count toward your plan’s listing limit; anything over the limit is skipped, reported in the completion notification, and refunded if you paid with credits
  • Free searches are rate-limited to 50 per day on the credits path; your own API key has no Directify-side limit
  • Great with claims — import the businesses in your niche, then let them claim their listing to take ownership and keep it updated