• DATA
  • INSIGHT
  • CONTACT
  • HUMAN

How to research local market competitors with your AI

Connect Scale SERP to your agent to pull real-time business data from Google Maps. Once connected, you can query specific locations to build competitor profiles.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I use my AI to find local competitors?

Your AI uses the google_places tool to find businesses in a specific area and pull their details. You'll get a list of names, ratings, and contact info to compare against your own business. This breakdown shows you how to set it up and what to ask.

The results

What you get from this research

The AI handles the data gathering so you can focus on the strategy.

DATA

Competitor lists

The AI pulls names, addresses, and phone numbers for businesses in your target zone. You get a clean list of who is actually operating in your area.

INSIGHT

Rating comparisons

Your agent extracts star ratings and review counts. This lets you see exactly where competitors are winning or losing with customers.

CONTACT

Direct lead info

The tool grabs website URLs and phone numbers. You'll have the direct contact details for every business found in the search.

HUMAN

Strategic analysis

The AI provides the raw data, but you decide how to use it. You'll need to interpret the gaps in their service to build your own plan.

The workflow

What your AI does when the request arrives.

The AI acts as a bridge between your chat interface and live Google Maps data.

  1. Locate businesses

    Your agent searches for specific business types or categories within a defined geographic boundary.

    google_places

  2. Extract details

    The AI pulls specific attributes like business names, phone numbers, and website links from the search results.

    google_places

  3. Analyze performance

    The agent looks at the rating and review counts to determine which businesses are the market leaders.

    google_places

  4. Format results

    The AI organizes the messy location data into a structured list or table for you to read.

    google_places

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to kick off your research.

Starting points

Swap out the bracketed text for your actual target industry and city.

Scale SERP Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_dMD2KhUmb0oaQLgYzelDgFNnqNdo9BlWTbb0K4Ek/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — Scale SERP capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scale-serp-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_dMD2KhUmb0oaQLgYzelDgFNnqNdo9BlWTbb0K4Ek/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Find all the highly rated coffee shops in Austin, Texas and list their phone numbers.

  • Search for plumbing companies in Chicago and show me their star ratings and websites.

  • Who are the top 5 competitors for boutique gyms in Miami? List their addresses.

  • Give me a table of all Italian restaurants in Brooklyn with their review counts.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect Scale SERP once, then ask.

Just link the MCP to your client. Your credentials stay encrypted and you can start querying Google Places immediately.

Connect Scale SERP to your AI

FAQ

How this task behaves

  • 01

    Can the AI change a competitor's Google rating?

    No. The AI can only read existing data from Google Places. It has no ability to modify any business information.

  • 02

    Does the AI search the whole world at once?

    No. You need to specify a location or a specific area in your prompt so the AI knows where to look.

  • 03

    Can I get the actual text of every customer review?

    No. The tool provides ratings and review counts, but it does not pull the full text of individual reviews.

  • 04

    Will the AI save this data to a spreadsheet for me?

    The AI can format the data into a table for you to copy, but it cannot directly write to or create files on your computer.

  • 05

    How fresh is the data?

    The AI pulls live data from Google Places, so you are seeing what is currently listed on the map.

  • More questions about Scale SERP? The Connector page answers them. See everything the Scale SERP Connector can do

Connect Scale SERP to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more