How to Find Your Google Place ID (and Make a Review Link)

Every place on Google Maps has a Place ID: one long code of letters and numbers that identifies it. Your business has one too. You rarely need it day to day, but it's handy for a few jobs, like making a direct link to your Google review box.

This guide shows how to find yours in a couple of minutes, for free, without any technical setup.

Use Google's Place ID Finder

Google publishes a free Place ID Finder on its developer site. It looks technical, but you only need the search box.

1. Open the Place ID Finder.
2. Type your business name into the search box at the top of the map. Add your city if the name is common.
3. Pick your business from the suggestions that drop down.
4. A small box appears on the map showing your business name, address and Place ID.
5. Copy the Place ID. Business Place IDs often start with ChIJ.

Check that the name and address in the box match your business. If you have more than one location, each has its own Place ID, so repeat the steps for each one.

Can't find your business on the map?

The Place ID Finder often doesn't suggest businesses without a public street address. If you go to your customers, like a plumber, a cleaner or another trade with a service area and a hidden address, your business may not show up. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with your profile. You can still check how you show up across your service area.

You can get your Place ID from your review link instead:

1. While signed in, open your Business Profile on Google. Search your business name, or go to business.google.com. Choose Ask for reviews. It may be called Get more reviews.
2. Copy the link Google gives you and open it in a new browser tab.
3. Look at the address bar. Your Place ID is the code after placeid=, and it usually starts with ChIJ. Copy everything up to the next &, or to the end if there isn't one.

For example, if the address bar shows placeid=ChIJexample123&, your Place ID is ChIJexample123.

Tip: the link from step 1 already works as a review link you can share. You only need the Place ID for tools like our Google review link generator.

Other reasons it might not show up

If you have a public street address and the Finder still doesn't suggest your business:

• The name on Google is different. Try the exact name from your Business Profile, or search by your street address instead.
• Your profile is new or unverified. New profiles can take a little time to appear in search. Check that your Business Profile is verified and published.

Using a Google Maps share link

You may have seen the Share button on your listing in Google Maps. It gives you a short link, usually starting with maps.app.goo.gl. When someone opens it, Google sends them on to a much longer address for your listing.

That long address usually has your business name and map coordinates in it, plus a block of other codes. It usually doesn't contain your Place ID. It's easy to mistake one of those codes for your Place ID, but they aren't the same thing.

A share link is good for two things. You can send it to someone who needs to find your listing. And you can open it to check you're looking at the right business before you go further.

Here's how to use a share link as a check:

1. Open your business in Google Maps and choose Share.
2. Copy the link and open it in a private browser window.
3. Confirm it lands on your listing, with the right name and address.

If it does, you know which listing you're working with. That matters when a similar business or an old duplicate has a name close to yours.

If you want the Place ID itself, the Place ID Finder above is still the reliable route. The review link method works too.

CID versus Place ID

You may also run into a CID. It's a long number, all digits, that Google uses to identify a business listing. Opening maps.google.com/?cid= followed by that number takes you to the listing.

Google doesn't officially document the CID, so don't build anything important on it. Some SEO tools show it, and it's fine for jumping to a listing. It's a different code from your Place ID, and the two aren't interchangeable.

You need the Place ID instead when you:

• make a direct review link
• use Google's Places API, the service developers use to pull in Maps data
• build a Google Maps link that points at one exact place, the way Google documents it

Think of it this way. A CID is a handy way to point a person at your listing. A Place ID is the code that other tools and Google's own services expect. When in doubt, use the Place ID.

If a tool asks for a Place ID and you only have a CID, look up the Place ID with the Finder. Remember that Place IDs can change, as covered below.

Put your Place ID to work

The most common reason owners look up a Place ID is to make a review link: a link that opens the review box for your business, so customers don't have to search for you first.

Paste your Place ID into our free Google review link generator and it builds the link in your browser. Open the link once to check your business appears, then add it to your follow-up emails, texts and receipts.

Google also gives owners a review link directly. In your Business Profile, open Read reviews, then Get more reviews, to copy a link or download a QR code. Either works.

Keep your Place ID up to date

Google says Place IDs can change as its map data is updated, and recommends refreshing any ID that's more than a year old. If a link you made stops opening your business, look up your Place ID again and make a new one.

Ask for reviews the right way

Once you have a link, send the same simple request to every customer. Google's review policies don't allow offering discounts, gifts or payment for reviews, or asking only the customers you expect to be happy. And when reviews come in, reply to them. Our guide on how to respond to Google reviews covers what to say.