How to find your Google Place ID

The short answer

Google gives every business three different identifiers, and people mix them up all the time:

1. The Place ID identifies your business on Google Maps. It is a string of letters and numbers, like Google's example ChIJgUbEo8cfqokR5lP9_Wh_DaM. Find it with the finder on Google's Place IDs page: type your business name, pick it from the list, copy the ID.
2. The Business Profile ID identifies your listing when you deal with Google. It is in your profile under Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings, and Google says you can give it to Google support.
3. The CID is the number in a classic Google Maps link to your business. Links in the form maps.google.com/?cid= followed by a long number come from Google itself, but Google doesn't publish a definition of that number.

For a review link, a review widget or almost any integration, you want the Place ID. The rest of this guide shows every way to find each one, what each is for, and what to do when an ID stops working.

Place ID, Business Profile ID or CID: which one do you need?

Start from the job. If a tool, a developer or a form asks for "your Google ID" and doesn't say which, it almost always means the Place ID, because that is the one Google's own developer tools use.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

A quick way to tell them apart: a Place ID always contains letters, and a CID is digits only. Google says a Place ID has no fixed length, so don't judge it by how long it is (Google Maps Platform, Place IDs).

There is a fourth identifier you may meet if you work with Google's Business Profile API: each location there has a name in the form locations/ followed by a number (Business Profile API reference). Only software that connects to your profile through that API needs it. Google's pages don't say whether that number matches the Business Profile ID in your settings, so don't assume it does.

How do you find your Google Place ID?

With Google's Place ID finder (free, about a minute)

Google puts a working finder on its Place IDs page, under the words "Use the place ID finder below to search for a place and get its ID". It runs in your browser, and you don't need an account or an API key of your own.

1. Open Google's Place IDs page and scroll to the map.
2. Click the search box on the map (it says "Enter a location") and type your business name and town.
3. Pick your business from the suggestions. The map jumps to it and a box opens with the name, the Place ID and the address.
4. Select the ID and copy it. Paste it somewhere safe, like a note with your other business logins and links.

Check the address in that box before you copy. If two results look alike (an old location, a duplicate listing or a business with a similar name), the address is how you tell them apart. If you see more than one listing for your own business, read our guide to duplicate Google Business Profiles before you use either ID.

You may also find Google's Place ID Finder code sample. It is the same finder published as code for developers. To run it on your own site, Google's instructions say to put in your own API key. If you just want your ID, use the finder on the Place IDs page instead.

From a review link you already have

If you already share a review link that looks like search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=..., the part after placeid= is your Place ID. The short g.page/r/ links from Google's "Get more reviews" button don't show it.

With the Places API (for developers)

Google says you can find a place ID with a Text Search (New) request to the Places API (Place IDs). That is a developer route that needs your own API key, so it only makes sense if you are building something.

With the Business Profile API (for agencies and software)

If your software already connects to profiles through Google's Business Profile API, each location's metadata includes a placeId. Google's reference says this field is filled in "If this location appears on Google Maps" (Business Profile API reference). The same metadata includes a link to the location on Maps and a link where a customer can leave a review.

How do you find your Business Profile ID?

Your Business Profile ID lives in your profile's settings, so you need to be signed in to the Google account that manages the profile. Google's steps, from its help page Manage advanced profile settings:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings.
3. Find Business Profile ID in the list and copy it.

Google describes it as "the unique identifier for your listing on Google" and says you can share it with Google support "by phone, chat, email, or other channels". That is its job: when you contact support about a suspension, a rejected edit or a duplicate, giving this number saves a round of "which listing do you mean?".

The same Advanced settings page also holds store codes, labels and a Google Ads phone number. A Place ID isn't on Google's list for that page, so if a tool asks for your Place ID, the number in Advanced settings is not what it wants.

Can't see the settings at all? You may be signed in with the wrong Google account, or you may not have access to the profile yet. Our guide on claiming your business on Google covers how to get access.

What is the Google Maps CID, and how do you find it?

"CID" is a name SEO tools and forums use for the number in a Google Maps link like maps.google.com/?cid=11885663895765773631. Google's own developer docs show links in exactly that form: when the Places API returns a business, its link to the place on Google Maps looks like this (Google Maps Platform, Google Maps links). What Google doesn't do is define the number, give it a name or promise how it behaves. Treat everything you read about the CID, including how stable it is, as other people's observations.

How people find it

We know of no Google screen that shows it. The method below is our observation, not a Google instruction. Open your business in Google Maps in a browser and look at the address bar. The long URL usually contains a piece like 0x808f778c55555555:0xa4f25c571acded3f. The second part, after the colon, is a hexadecimal number. In Google's own example on the page above, converting that number to decimal gives exactly the CID in the matching maps.google.com/?cid= link. Any hex-to-decimal converter does the conversion.

When you need it

Rarely. A maps.google.com/?cid= link opens the business on Google Maps, and some rank tracking and citation tools ask for the CID. For a review link it's the wrong number: our review link generator rejects an all-digit number, because the review form needs a Place ID.

What do you use a Place ID for?

• A link that opens Google's review form. Paste your Place ID into our free Google review link generator and it builds the link and a printable QR code. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers what to say when you send it.
• A Google Maps link that always opens your business. Google's Maps URLs accept a place ID through a parameter called query_place_id, and you don't need an API key to use them. The search text is still required; Google says it is only used if Maps can't find the place ID. For a fictional "Bean There Coffee", the link would look like https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Bean%20There%20Coffee&query_place_id=YOUR_PLACE_ID.
• Review widgets and website embeds. Many tools that show your Google reviews on your site ask for the Place ID to know which business to pull. See our guide on embedding Google reviews on your website.
• Apps and integrations built on Google Maps data. Tools built on Google Maps data use the Place ID to match your business. Google says place IDs can be stored for later use, which is why so many tools ask for it once and keep it (Place IDs).

One thing a Place ID can't do is give anyone control of your profile. It only points at the place. Editing your profile still needs access through the Google account that manages it; our guide on editing your Google Business Profile covers that side.

Can your Place ID change?

Yes. Google says "Place IDs may change over time", both because of updates to the Google Maps database and because "A place ID may become obsolete if a business closes or moves to a new location". When that happens, the place can get a new ID, and requests with the old one come back as not found (Google Maps Platform, Place IDs).

For developers, Google recommends refreshing place IDs that are more than 12 months old, and says you can do it at no charge with a Place Details request. For an owner, refreshing just means looking the business up again and comparing. A simple routine:

1. Check after a move or a closure. Google names both as reasons an ID can become obsolete. We'd also check after duplicate listings are merged.
2. Check once a year anyway. Look your business up in the Place ID finder and compare the ID with the one you saved.
3. Test your review link every few months. Open it on your phone. If the review form shows your business, the ID still works.
4. If the ID changed, update everywhere it lives. Review links in emails and texts, printed QR codes, review widgets on your site and any integrations you set up.

That last step is the expensive one if you printed a lot of QR codes. One way to soften it, and this is our advice rather than Google's, is to print a QR code that points to a page on your own website which forwards to the review link. Then a changed ID means one edit on your site instead of reprinting.

Why doesn't my Place ID work?

• It is all digits. Then it isn't a Place ID. It is probably a CID from a Maps link, or the Business Profile ID from your settings. Go back to the Place ID finder.
• It worked before and now it doesn't. The ID has probably changed or become obsolete. Look the business up again and replace it everywhere you used it.
• It opens a different business. You copied the ID of a similar listing, an old location or a duplicate. Check the address in the finder and copy again.
• Your business doesn't come up in the finder. Search the exact business name rather than an address, especially if you hide your address as a service-area business. If it still doesn't appear, the profile may not be on Google Maps yet: work through why your business isn't showing on Google.
• Part of the ID is missing. IDs are long and easy to cut short when you copy. Paste it into a plain note first and check that nothing at the start or end got lost.