Sometimes you’re not after every business in an area — you want one specific brand or chain. Exact Name Match is an optional filter in the Google Maps Leads Scraper that keeps only the results whose business name matches what you searched for, and drops everything else.
It’s built for one job: chasing a specific brand (like Peugeot, McDonald’s, or Starbucks) without pulling in every unrelated business that happens to appear in the search area.
Exact Name Match is off by default. Turn it on only when you’re targeting a single brand — it’s the wrong tool for broad categories like “all coffee shops.”
Where to find it
Exact Name Match is a simple on/off toggle (a checkbox) in your Squid’s settings, under the advanced / detail options.
There is no separate box to type names into. The filter automatically compares each business name against the text you already entered in the Category / Search Query field. Whatever you typed to run the search is also what the names are matched against.
Example: If your Category / Search Query is Peugeot, turning on Exact Name Match keeps only results whose name matches “Peugeot” and removes everything else.
How the matching works
This is the most important part to understand, because the name is a little misleading.
Exact Name Match keeps a result when the business name starts with your search query. It does not require the name to be exactly equal, and it does not look for your text just anywhere inside the name — it has to be at the beginning.
Before comparing, both your search query and the business name are cleaned up so small differences don’t get in the way. Matching is:
- Not case-sensitive —
peugeot, Peugeot, and PEUGEOT are all treated the same.
- Accent-insensitive —
cafe matches Café, and citroen matches Citroën (and the other way around).
- Punctuation- and spacing-insensitive — dots, hyphens, apostrophes,
&, and extra spaces are ignored. So St-Denis, St Denis, and StDenis are all treated as the same thing, and McDonald's is treated as McDonalds.
What it does not do:
- It does not expand abbreviations.
Saint Denis will not match St-Denis, and Company will not match Co.
- It does not match text in the middle or at the end of a name (see the examples below).
Starts with, not contains: worked examples
These examples assume the toggle is on.
Search query: peu
| Business name | Kept? | Why |
|---|
| Peugeot | ✅ Yes | ”Peugeot” starts with “peu” |
| Peugeot Lyon Centre | ✅ Yes | Still starts with “peu” |
| Garage Peugeot | ❌ No | ”Peugeot” is in the middle, not the start |
geot
| Business name | Kept? | Why |
|---|
| Peugeot | ❌ No | ”geot” appears inside the name, but the name doesn’t start with it |
citroen (accents and casing)
| Business name | Kept? | Why |
|---|
| Citroën | ✅ Yes | Accent is ignored, so it matches “citroen” |
| Citroën Garage Lyon | ✅ Yes | Starts with “citroen” |
| Garage Citroën | ❌ No | Matches in the middle, not at the start |
mcdonalds (apostrophes and spacing)
| Business name | Kept? | Why |
|---|
| McDonald’s | ✅ Yes | Apostrophe and capitals are ignored |
| Burger King | ❌ No | Doesn’t match the query |
If a brand name usually appears after other words (e.g. “Garage Peugeot”), those results get dropped. Search for the leading word if you can.
Using a single search term
Exact Name Match works with one search query at a time. It does not support:
- Multiple names — you can’t enter a list like
peugeot, citroen and match either one. Because the filter treats your whole query as a single phrase, a comma-separated list effectively matches nothing.
- Excluding names — there’s no way to say “remove any result whose name contains X.” The filter can only keep matches, not block them.
If you need several brands, run a separate crawl for each one.
What happens when it’s off
When the toggle is off (the default), names are not filtered at all — you get every result the search returned, subject to any other filters you’ve set.
How it works with the Category Match filter
Exact Name Match and the Category Match filter are separate settings that work together — both must pass. Category Match is flexible and understands related terms and categories, while Exact Name Match is strict and only looks at how the business name begins. When both are turned on, a result has to satisfy both to be kept.
When the filter runs
Exact Name Match is applied after results are collected. It trims down the results you get, rather than changing how the search itself is performed.
Tips and common mistakes
Use it for brands and chains, not generic categories. It shines for “only Starbucks” but is the wrong tool for “all coffee shops.”
- Remember it’s “starts with.” If the brand name usually appears after other words (e.g. “Garage Peugeot”), those results will be dropped. Search for the leading word if you can.
- Don’t expect abbreviations to be understood. “Saint” vs “St”, “and” vs ”&”, and “Company” vs “Co” are all treated as different.
- One brand per run. Comma-separated lists won’t work — split them into separate crawls.
- It matches your search query, not a custom list. You can’t match a name that’s different from what you searched for.
A note on the name
Although it’s called Exact Name Match, it’s more forgiving than a strict, character-for-character match: it ignores case, accents, and punctuation, and it accepts any name that begins with your query. Think of it as “name starts with my search term” rather than “name is identical to my search term.” 
