The Google My Business API is now the Business Profile API, here's what US local businesses need to know, what it can automate, and when it's worth using.
Every time a business owner asks me "what can the Google My Business API do?", I know the next 10 minutes will involve a lot of "not quite what you're thinking."
The Google My Business API, now officially called the Business Profile API, can do some powerful things. It can also not do several things people assume it can. And the difference between those two lists matters enormously if you're building a workflow, integrating a platform, or evaluating whether API access is even necessary for your situation.
This guide covers what the API actually does in 2026, who needs it, how to get access, and how the integration works in practice, without assuming you're a developer.
The Google My Business API (now called the Business Profile API) is a set of programmatic interfaces that allow software systems to read and write data in Google Business Profile, without requiring manual interaction through the GBP dashboard.
In practical terms: instead of a staff member logging into Google Business Profile, clicking through menus, and making updates by hand, an API integration allows software to make those updates automatically, in bulk, and on schedule.
For single-location businesses doing manual management, the API provides little direct benefit, the GBP dashboard accomplishes the same tasks. For agencies managing 20+ locations, multi-location franchise groups, or any business that needs to sync GBP data with another system (CRM, POS, booking platform, or property management software), the API is how you eliminate manual workflows and introduce consistent, scalable management.
According to Google's official API documentation, the Business Profile APIs allow developers to manage business information, respond to reviews, create posts, manage media, and access performance data programmatically.
Action Step: Before evaluating whether you need API access, answer one question: "How many Google Business Profiles am I trying to manage?" If the answer is 1-3, the GBP dashboard is probably sufficient. If the answer is 10+, API access or an API-enabled platform almost certainly pays for itself.
The original Google My Business API (v4.9) was a monolithic API that handled all GBP operations through a single endpoint. In 2024-2025, Google split this into eight separate APIs, each covering a specific functional area. All eight are now active and maintained as of 2026.
The eight Business Profile APIs:
If you previously used the v4.9 monolithic API or are using a platform built on it, verify that your integration has migrated to the new structure. Old API endpoints were deprecated and are no longer reliable.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Agencies and developers who built integrations on the v4 API and assumed the transition was backward-compatible. It isn't. The endpoint structure changed completely. If your API-based GBP automation has been unreliable since 2024, the v4 → new structure migration is likely the cause.
Here's a concrete breakdown of supported operations across the 8 APIs:
Business information management: Read and write your business name, address, phone number, hours, special hours, website URL, business description, categories (primary and secondary), and service attributes. This is the core use case for multi-location businesses, keeping hundreds of location profiles updated without manual work.
GBP post creation and scheduling: Create and schedule What's New posts, Offer posts, and Event posts through the Local Posts API. This enables automated post publishing, useful for multi-location businesses that want to push the same promotional content across all locations simultaneously.
Review reading and response: Read all Google reviews for your locations and post responses through the Reviews API. This is the core automation use case for review management platforms, reading reviews as they arrive and queuing or automatically posting responses.
Performance data access: Pull impressions, search queries, click data, and call counts through the Business Profile Performance API. This enables integration with custom dashboards, BI tools, or reporting systems.
Booking and action link management: Add, update, or remove booking links, menu links, and order links through the Place Actions API.
Real-time event notifications: Set up webhooks that notify your system when a new review arrives, when a business profile edit is made, or when verification status changes.
📊 Flento Data: Flento's analysis of multi-location business accounts shows that API-driven GBP management produces 94% NAP consistency across locations, compared to 67% for businesses managing profiles manually. The gap comes from human error and update lag in manual workflows.
This is the part most guides skip, and it's where the most common misunderstandings live.
Cannot create new listings from scratch (as of 2026). New business listings still require manual creation and verification through the GBP dashboard. The Verifications API can initiate verification for existing listings, but you cannot create a net-new listing via API and immediately have it publish.
Cannot delete reviews. The API can read reviews and post responses. It cannot remove, hide, or delete reviews. Review removal still requires using the "flag as inappropriate" process in the GBP dashboard or submitting a formal removal request to Google.
Cannot change business categories in bulk without triggering review. Category changes (especially primary category changes) trigger Google's quality review process. Bulk category changes via API across many locations often result in flags and temporary ranking suppression.
Cannot bypass Google's verification requirements. API access doesn't grant elevated trust with Google's verification system. A profile that requires video verification still requires video verification, even if managed via API.
Cannot access or modify competitor profiles. The API is scoped to profiles you own or have been granted manager access to.
Cannot guarantee real-time review notification delivery. Webhook notifications for new reviews can be delayed by 15 minutes to several hours depending on Google's processing queue. Systems that require instant review notification need to account for this latency.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Assuming that API access provides "priority access" to Google's verification or review systems. It doesn't. API access changes how you interact with your own GBP data, it doesn't change Google's policies or review processes.
Direct API access is a developer-oriented capability. Evaluating whether your situation warrants it:
You probably don't need direct API access if:
You likely need API access or an API-enabled platform if:
For most local businesses that need API functionality without the development overhead, the better path is using a platform that already has the API integration built, like Flento's Business Listing Management Software, rather than building direct API access from scratch.
Getting direct access to the Business Profile API requires completing Google's access request process. As of 2026, this process has become more structured.
Step 1, Create a Google Cloud project. The APIs are accessed through Google Cloud. Create a project at cloud.google.com, then enable each of the 8 Business Profile APIs you need within that project.
Step 2, Configure OAuth 2.0 credentials. The Business Profile API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You'll need to set up an OAuth 2.0 client ID for your application. Users (business owners) grant your application access to their GBP data through the OAuth authorization flow.
Step 3, Apply for API access (if required). Some Business Profile APIs require explicit approval from Google before they're accessible. Submit your access request through the Google developer documentation with a description of your use case, expected call volume, and the businesses or accounts you'll be managing.
Step 4, Pass Google's access review. Google reviews API access requests to verify that the use case is legitimate and that the developer/business has appropriate authorization from the account owners. Typical review time is 5-15 business days.
Step 5, Build or configure your integration. Once approved, you can make API calls using the OAuth credentials. Each call requires a valid access token issued through the OAuth flow for the GBP account you're accessing.
💡 Pro Tip: The most common reason for API access denial is insufficient documentation of the use case and the number of locations managed. Be specific in your access request: "We manage 47 restaurant locations in the Southeast US. We need API access to sync menu updates, respond to reviews within 30 minutes, and pull weekly performance data for a custom dashboard."
Not every business needs the same level of API capability. Here's the progression of API usage from basic to advanced:
Rung 1, Read access for reporting. Pull performance metrics (views, searches, clicks) through the Performance API into a reporting dashboard. No write operations. Lowest complexity, immediate value for businesses that want to see GBP performance alongside other marketing metrics.
Rung 2, Review management automation. Read reviews as they arrive via the Reviews API. Queue template-based response drafts for human approval. Or set up automated responses for specific review types (5-star reviews, reviews mentioning specific keywords). This is the most popular entry point for multi-location businesses.
Rung 3, Content synchronization. Push GBP post content through the Local Posts API on a schedule. For multi-location businesses: write one post and push it to all locations simultaneously with location-specific customizations. For franchises: push corporate-approved post templates to all franchise locations from a central dashboard.
Rung 4, Full GBP management integration. Connect GBP data to your CRM, POS, or property management system. When a location updates its hours in your internal system, the API pushes that update to GBP automatically. This is the enterprise-tier use case that fully eliminates manual GBP management.
Quota limits. Each API has request quotas. The default quota is typically sufficient for normal management activity, but bulk operations (updating 500 locations simultaneously) require quota increase requests submitted to Google.
Verification requirements block new locations. If you're adding a new location to your account, API access doesn't bypass Google's verification requirements. The new location requires standard verification before it's manageable via API.
Review response delay. Review responses posted via API sometimes take 15-60 minutes to appear publicly, longer than responses posted directly in the GBP dashboard. This delay is Google-side and not something integration developers can control.
Category changes trigger manual review. Changing a business's primary category through the Business Information API often triggers Google's quality review process. The change may take several days to appear and can temporarily affect rankings during review.
Limited support for schema-rich features. Some newer GBP features (certain attribute types, specific post formats) may lag in API support. New features often appear in the GBP dashboard months before they're available through the API.
For businesses that have set up API access or are using an API-enabled platform, these are the highest-value automation use cases:
Review response automation. Automatically respond to 5-star reviews with a rotating set of response templates. Queue negative review alerts for immediate human follow-up. For multi-location businesses with 100+ reviews per month, this eliminates the most time-intensive manual GBP task.
Bulk hours updates. When your hours change (holiday hours, seasonal changes), push the update across all locations simultaneously. For a 50-location franchise, this takes 30 seconds via API versus 2-3 hours of manual work.
Synchronized post publishing. Write a post once and publish it to all locations with location-specific customizations (store address, local phone number, local manager name) automatically inserted.
Performance dashboard integration. Pull GBP views, calls, and direction requests into your own analytics dashboard alongside website traffic, ad spend, and other marketing metrics. This creates a complete marketing performance view instead of requiring you to log into GBP separately.
Citation sync. The most powerful automation: when your canonical business data (name, address, phone, hours) is updated in your master data system, that update propagates to GBP and all directory listings automatically, ensuring permanent NAP consistency without manual updates.
For businesses that need API functionality but don't have developer resources, the path is using platforms that have built the API integration already.
Flento's platform uses the Business Profile API to power several capabilities:
Listing synchronization: Changes made in Flento's dashboard are pushed to GBP and 50+ citation directories simultaneously, no manual GBP updates required.
Review management: New reviews are surfaced in Flento's dashboard as they arrive. Response templates can be set up for automatic posting or human-approved queuing. Response timing and tone are configurable without writing code.
Performance tracking: GBP performance data (views, calls, searches, photo views) flows into Flento's dashboard alongside citation health and ranking data, a single view of all local SEO performance.
Multi-location management: Businesses with multiple locations manage all profiles from a single Flento dashboard. Updates can be pushed to one location or all locations simultaneously.
Flento is built on top of the Business Profile API. Every GBP update made through Flento's platform, listing changes, post publishing, review responses, performance data, flows through the API.
For local businesses, this means: you interact with Flento's simple interface, and the API handles the technical implementation behind the scenes. No OAuth setup, no quota management, no API documentation to navigate.
For agencies managing multiple clients, Flento's API integration means all client GBP management happens through one dashboard with full audit trails, scheduled updates, and bulk operations.
What's the difference between the Google My Business API and the Business Profile API? They're the same thing, the old name was "Google My Business API" (including earlier versions like GMB API v4.9). Google rebranded it to "Business Profile API" in 2022-2023. In 2024-2025, the monolithic API was split into 8 separate functional APIs. All current documentation refers to the "Business Profile APIs" (plural).
Can I use the Google My Business API for free? The API itself is free to access, Google doesn't charge for API calls. However, you do need a Google Cloud project (which may incur charges for other Cloud services), and building or maintaining the integration requires developer time. Platforms like Flento that use the API behind the scenes charge a subscription fee for the platform, not for the API calls themselves.
How do I get my Google Business Profile API key? The Business Profile API uses OAuth 2.0, not API keys. You'll need to set up OAuth 2.0 credentials in a Google Cloud project, then have business owners authorize your application to access their GBP data. The official prerequisites documentation outlines the full setup process.
Can the API automatically respond to all Google reviews? Yes, the Reviews API allows you to read reviews as they arrive and post responses programmatically. Whether to use fully automated responses or human-reviewed queues depends on your preference. Most businesses use automation for positive reviews (standard thank-you templates) and human review for negative reviews (to ensure appropriate handling).
Does using the Google My Business API affect my GBP rankings? Using the API doesn't directly affect rankings, Google doesn't treat API-driven updates differently from dashboard updates in its ranking algorithm. What does affect rankings is the consistency and frequency of updates. Businesses using API-driven management often see ranking improvements because the automation maintains consistent, frequent GBP activity (posts, photo updates, review responses) that would be impractical to maintain manually.
How many API calls can I make per day? Default quotas vary by API endpoint. The standard quota is typically sufficient for managing up to a few hundred locations with normal update frequency. If you need to handle higher volumes (hundreds of simultaneous updates, high-frequency polling), submit a quota increase request through Google Cloud Console with documentation of your use case.
