Page Summary

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• Businesses with multiple locations can utilize location groups for streamlined access and management, enhancing security compared to shared login credentials.

• Third-party agencies can be granted managerial access to client locations or groups, but clients must independently apply for Business Profile API access.

• Locations with more than 10 instances require individual or bulk verification, and edits to verified locations may undergo review for quality and policy adherence.

• The Business Profile APIs offer functionalities like managing location details, special hours, attributes, and ensuring data consistency with the Business Profile interface.

• While attribute updates may not immediately reflect on Google surfaces, they contribute to improved search relevance and future local search enhancements.

Locations can be managed by business owners directly, by third party agencies. Learn more aboutagencies.

Business Groups (AKA location groups)

To share access with a group of people to a large set of locations, you can create location groups (also known as business groups). Business owners who manage only a few locations don't need to create a location group. However, if you manage a large number of locations, or you currently share your username and password with other users, we recommend that you transition to use location groups as a safer way to work together. Read more onlocation groups.

Agencies and third parties

If your client already has a Business Profile account, they can add your agency account as a manager to their individual locations or to their location group. If they don't already have a Business Profile account, they can create one, and a location group if necessary, and then add your agency as a manager.

If a third party's client needs access to Business Profile APIs, the third party shouldn't request access on their client's behalf. Instead, the client needs to apply for access themselves. A single project ID is used for the client's entire application. Once a client invites you to an existing location group, you can access their account through your generated OAuth2.0 token.

Location tests and verification

If you own more than 10 locations of the same business, the locations must beverified individually or throughbulk verification.

Only one project per business can be granted access to the Business Profile APIs. Tests of unverified locations must be performed in your primary project.

Manage locations

The Business Profile APIs allow you to see yourlocation status and any updates Google has made to your location.

The mandatory location fields for the Business Profile APIs are the same as the mandatory fields found in the Business Profileuser interface. For more information, seeGuidelines for representing your business on Google.

Edits you make with the Business Profile APIs might not be reflected immediately. If you make changes to unverified locations, the edits only appear in the Business Profile interface. You can use either verified or unverified locations to manage Google Ads location extensions.

Edits made to verified business locations are eligible to appear on other Google products. Theedited location might be subject to review to ensure that it adheres to the Business Profilequality guidelines and theGoogle user content and conduct policy.

Special hours

Google maintains a list ofHolidays on Google that are considered to be potential holidays. Maps and Search warn users that a business's location hours might differ on these dates. You can set special hours to let customers know your hours of operation on those days.

Latitude and longitude

To set up your location, you might be required to provide Google with the latitude and longitude of new locations. This helps us place them on the map. When you create a location, don't include latitude and longitude by default. We only use latitude and longitude when we can't locate your address. If they're included in subsequent update calls for existing locations, they won't be considered.

Attributes

You can use the Business Profile APIs to provide additional attributes about your business beyond the core business details for Business Profile. For more information, seeGuidelines for representing your business on Google.

Attributes are based on the business category. For example, one attribute for a restaurant might be "serves breakfast." Theattributes.list method can be used to get a list of attributes for a given category or country.

Attributes might not show up on Google surfaces like Maps or Search after you've updated them. However, if you provide attributes, you help Google develop future local search experiences, match your location to relevant searches, and better understand your business.

If you manage Google Hotel attributes, consult theGoogle Hotel APIs for how to manage attributes.