Pull Yelp Data into Google Sheets - Yelp API Tutorial

How to connect Yelp with Google Sheets

Yelp is a data base of user reviews for local businesses. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to connect the Yelp API to Google Sheets in 5 steps:

Install the Apipheny Add-on
Create a Yelp API App
Choose your Yelp Endpoint URL
Enter Yelp API Request into Apipheny
Run the Yelp API Request in your Google Sheet

Step 1.) Install and open the Apipheny add-on for Google Sheets

Apipheny is an API connector for Google Sheets. You can use Apipheny to connect your Google Sheets to unlimited API data sources, make unlimited API requests, and more. There is a 30 day free trial included.

1.) Install Apipheny by opening the following link on desktop and then clicking the Install button in the Google Marketplace: https://apipheny.io/install

2.) After you’ve installed Apipheny, open a Google Sheet and then click on the Extensions dropdown in the menu at the top.

In the dropdown list you should see Apipheny. Click Apipheny then click Import API to open the Apipheny sidebar in your Google Sheet.

Tip: you can open a new Google Sheet by entering this URL in your browser: sheet.new

Step 2.) Create a Yelp App

Your next step is to make sure you’re logged in to your Yelp account, then go to https://www.yelp.com/developers/v3/manage_app and in the Create App section, complete the App Name, Industry, Contact Email and Description fields:

After filling out the fields, click the Create New App button:

Your app has been created and your client id and API Key will be displayed:

Copy your Client ID and API Key somewhere safe because you will need them in the next steps.

Step 3.) Choose a Yelp API Endpoint

In this section, we’ll show you how to browse the Yelp API documentation to find an API endpoint URL that retrieves the information you need from Yelp.

If you already know your Yelp API URL, or you want to use the same example URL as us, just skip to Step 4.

First, open the Yelp API documentation page: https://www.yelp.com/developers/documentation/v3/

The main page contains a structured view of the available endpoints for the Yelp API:

An example endpoint is the Transaction Search endpoint, that returns a list of businesses which support food delivery transactions:

https://api.yelp.com/v3/transactions/{transaction_type}/search

The documentation for this endpoint contains a short description of the endpoint’s purpose, the HTTP method used (GET), the request URL, a table describing the accepted parameters and the expected response body:

Yelp API - Transaction Search Endpoint — Yelp API – Transaction Search Endpoint

Step 4.) Enter your Yelp API URL Into Apipheny

After choosing your Yelp API endpoint, go back to your Google Sheet and make sure that the Apipheny add-on is open on the “Import” tab. With the Import Tab open, enter these details into the add-on:

Method: At the top of the Apipheny sidebar, select the HTTP method (GET or POST) required by your API endpoint. For this example, we are using the GET method.

API URL: In Step 3, we explained how you can find the Yelp API endpoint that you need. Now copy the complete URL into the Apipheny add-on, where it says API URL Path (JSON / CSV), followed by any GET parameters required for your query.

For this example, we are using the Business Search endpoint that returns up to 1000 businesses based on the provided search criteria. The corresponding URL for this endpoint is:

https://api.yelp.com/v3/businesses/search?categories=fishing&location=NYC

With this endpoint, you can modify the categories and location parameters according to your preference.

In the Headers section of the Apipheny add-on, add one row with the following key and value:

Header:
Key:
Authorization
Value:
Bearer your_API_key

For this header, your_API_key value is the token you generated previously, in Step 2. There should be a space between Bearer and your_API_key.

Yelp API URL and Headers entered into the Apipheny add-on

Step 5.) Run the Yelp API Request in your Google Sheet

Finally, click the Run button at the bottom of the Apipheny add-on and then wait for the Yelp API data to be imported into your Google Sheet:

Yelp API data imported into Google Sheets using the Apipheny add-on

After making a successful request to the Yelp API, try querying a different Yelp API endpoint, or try using one of the more advanced features in the Apipheny add-on.