Google's 30-day rule
what happens to Google's details after a month.
Google's terms for the Places API allow keeping its place details for a limited time; only the place id may be kept. Leadlantern therefore marks every lead from a Google search with an end date 30 days after the search, and removes Google's details when that date passes. Leads from OpenStreetMap or added by hand are not affected.
01When it happens
- A Google search saves each business with an end date: the time of the search plus 30 days. Running the same search again sets a new date.
- The lead page shows it under Business: "Google's terms allow keeping its details for 30 days: until <date>. After that an untouched lead is removed and a lead you worked on keeps only its name, website and e-mail. Run the search again to refresh them."
- Once an hour the server looks for leads past their date and acts on them (next section). The server's messages say how many: "Google details past 30 days: N untouched leads removed, M cleared".
02What happens to a lead
| The lead | What happens |
|---|---|
| Still New, with no notes, tasks or messages (nobody worked on it) | It is removed, with its website checks and report link. |
| Anything else (you moved it, wrote a note, a task or a message) | It stays with its name, website, the e-mail found on the business's own site, its stage, notes, tasks, messages and score. Google's address, town, map position, phone, rating and review count are cleared, and the history says "Google details removed after 30 days; run the search again to refresh them". |
The CSV export never contains Google's address, town, country, phone or website in the first place (CSV export).
03Getting the details back
Run the same search again (Find businesses, source Google Places). The business is matched by its place id: Google's details come back with a new 30-day date, and your stage, notes and messages are kept. Google bills that search like any other.
04Pausing it
LEADLANTERN_WORKERS=0 in .env stops the hourly job, for example during maintenance. Switch it back to 1 afterwards: while it is off, Google's details are kept past 30 days. The read-only demo mode never runs it.