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What counts as the same business
Repeats slip through when the tool compares the wrong columns. Each way of combining has its own idea of a match, and the Map URL column is the trap: Maps writes the search that found a business into its link, so the same business from two searches never has the same Map URL.
| Method | Two rows match when | What it misses |
|---|---|---|
| The combine card in chat | Business Name and Address both match | A business whose address is written differently on two listings |
| Remove repeats by a column, on the results page | That one column matches, ignoring case | Rows where the column is empty, which are all kept |
| Bulk, as it saves a run | Every field matches | Almost every real repeat, because Map URL differs |
| Excel's Remove Duplicates | The columns you tick match | Whatever you didn't tick; tick all and nothing matches |
Within one search, repeats are already gone: Settings → Results has Remove duplicates on by default, so a business that appears twice in a search is saved once. The methods below are for businesses that two searches, two runs or two files both found.
Combine searches in chat, each business once
When the searches haven't been run yet, run them in one chat conversation and let the card do the work. It joins the latest 10 searches and removes the repeats as it goes.
Step 1: Run the first search
Open the side panel, choose Chat and ask for the first list, such as "Find 100 plumbers in Denver, CO". Let it finish.
Step 2: Run the others in the same conversation
Type the next search, such as "Now HVAC contractors in Denver, CO" or "Now plumbers in Boulder, CO". From the second search on, chat ends each one with a card that offers to combine them.
Step 3: Click the card after the last one
Combine the 3 searches into one table opens a new list with every business once, and chat says how many rows were in more than one search. The first column says where each row came from: Location when every search named a different place, Search when they didn't.
The searches themselves stay in History as they were, so you can combine them again with a fourth later. The card appears only for a conversation's own searches: a list collected from the side panel or with Bulk doesn't get one, and the next section covers those.
How chat runs a Maps search covers the count card and the area search that comes before combining.
Remove repeats from one list
A Bulk run saves every search in one list, and a business that two searches both found can be in it twice. Open the list on the results page and tell chat which column decides a repeat.
| Type this in chat | What it keeps | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| remove repeats by Phone | The first row with each phone number; rows with no phone stay | Most lists: a phone is the same however the name is written |
| remove repeats by Address | The first row with each address | Chains, where branches share a name but not an address |
| remove repeats by Website | The first row for each website | Lists where one business has two listings but one site |
| remove repeats by Emails | The first row with each email cell | An email list, where one address should appear once |
| remove repeats | The first of each identical row | Only when the list has no Map URL column |
The repeats are hidden, not deleted, and a download has what the page shows. Reload the page, or ask chat to reset the view, and they're back.
Rows that are empty in the column you chose are all kept, because an empty cell isn't a match. For a list where many businesses have no phone, remove repeats by Address instead, or do both one after the other.
For a whole city built from zip-code searches, listing every business in a city covers where the overlaps come from.
Combine files you've already downloaded
Lists you've downloaded as CSV files combine in Excel. Keep the files in a folder of their own, with the same columns, and Excel does the joining.
Step 1: Put the files in one folder
Download each list as CSV with the same columns showing. A file with extra or renamed columns still joins, but its extra columns come through empty for the other files.
Step 2: Combine them with Power Query
In Excel for Microsoft 365, choose Data → Get Data → From File → From Folder, pick the folder, then Combine → Combine & Load. Excel matches columns by their header names, as Microsoft's page on importing a folder describes, and adds a column naming each row's file.
- Two or three files? Paste each one's rows under a single header row instead.
Step 3: Copy the table before you remove anything
Remove Duplicates deletes rows for good. Copy the combined table to a second sheet first, which Microsoft's page on removing duplicates also advises.
Step 4: Remove the duplicates on two columns
Select the table, choose Data → Remove Duplicates, untick every column except Business Name and Address, and click OK. Excel reports how many duplicate rows it removed and how many unique rows remain.
Watch out: Leave Map URL and the file-name column unticked. Each search gives the same business a different Map URL, and each file has its own name, so with those ticked no two rows ever match.
To see the repeats before deleting them, select the Address column and choose Home → Conditional Formatting → Highlight Cells Rules → Duplicate Values. The highlighted rows are what Remove Duplicates will take out.
Exporting a Maps search to Excel covers what else happens to the file in Excel, such as phone numbers and accented names.
Find what's new since last month
Run the same searches again next month and the new businesses are the ones in the second list but not the first. Excel finds them in three steps.
Step 1: Put both months in one sheet
Paste last month's rows, then this month's, under one header row, and add a Month column that says which run each row came from.
Step 2: Count each address
In a new column, enter =COUNTIF(E:E,E2), where column E holds Address, and copy it down. Microsoft's page on COUNTIF explains the formula: it counts how many rows share that row's address.
Step 3: Filter for this month's 1s
Filter the Month column to this month and the count column to 1. What's left are the businesses that weren't in last month's list: the new openings, and listings that changed their address.
The same filter the other way round, last month's rows with a count of 1, shows businesses that have gone from the search. Neither is exact, because a business can change how its address is written, so check a few by their Map URL.
Lead lists for clients is where a monthly refresh pays off: the file you send is the new rows, not the whole list again.
Match an old or bought list against a fresh one
A list you already have joins a fresh Maps list the same way, as long as both have a column with the same kind of value: a phone written the same way, or a website domain. Business names are the weakest key, because the two lists will spell them differently.
Put both lists in one sheet with a Source column, as above, and remove duplicates on Phone or Website. Keep the Maps row where the two match, since it carries the rating, the hours and the emails read from the website today.
What a fresh list adds to an old one is its date. The old list's businesses that no longer appear in the Maps search are the ones to check before anyone calls them.
Problems and fixes
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The combined list still shows a business twice | Its address is written differently on the two listings, so name and address didn't both match | Remove repeats by Phone on the results page, or in Excel on Phone |
| Remove Duplicates removed nothing | Map URL or every column was ticked | Run it again with only Business Name and Address ticked |
| A chain's branches collapsed into one row | Duplicates were removed on Business Name alone | Use Address, or Business Name and Address together |
| No combine card after a search | The list came from the side panel or Bulk, or the search is the first in the conversation | Run the searches in one chat, or remove repeats on the results page |
| Rows with no phone survived "remove repeats by Phone" | Empty cells never match each other | Remove repeats by Address as well |
| Power Query's columns don't line up | The files have different headers, such as a renamed column | Rename the headers to match before combining, or paste the rows by hand |
Questions people ask
How can I remove duplicates from a list in Excel?
Select the table, choose Data → Remove Duplicates, and tick only the columns that identify a business, such as Business Name and Address. Copy the table first, because the removal can't be undone after you save.
How can I remove duplicate emails from my email list?
On the results page, ask chat to "remove repeats by Emails": the first row with each address stays. In Excel, use Remove Duplicates with only the Emails column ticked.
Is there a way to combine multiple CSV files into one?
Yes. In Excel for Microsoft 365, Data → Get Data → From File → From Folder joins every CSV in a folder whose headers match. For searches you haven't run yet, chat's combine card joins them and removes repeats too.
How do I merge two lists without duplicates?
Put both under one header row, then remove duplicates on a column both lists share, such as Phone or Website. Keep the fresher row where two match.
Why does my combined list still show a business twice?
The two rows differ in the column that was compared: a different Map URL, or an address written two ways. Compare on Phone instead, which is the same however a listing is written.