Google Maps Reviews API: Everything you need to know

Google Maps reviews are pure gold for businesses and developers – they foster customer trust, shape local SEO, and inform decision-making APIs.

But how on earth do you go about accessing them safely and reliably?

This guide will walk you through all your options, from Google’s official APIs to third-party services, and show you step by step how to put them to use.

The landscape: APIs & Review access options

There are three main ways to access Google Maps reviews:

• Official Google APIs (Places API / Places Details API)
• Google Business Profile APIs (for owners and managers)
• Third-party or scraping-based APIs

Each option comes with its own rules on access limits, terms, and data formats. Let’s take a look first at what’s officially allowed.

Official Review access via places search and place details

Google’s Places API and Place Details API enable you to request data for millions of businesses, including names, addresses, ratings, and sometimes even individual reviews.

But here’s the catch: You can only access public review snippets. You can’t get the complete review history or all the user data because Google’s worried about privacy.

If all you need is review samples for a location or want to show an “average rating + total count”, the official API is your safest bet.

Google My Business / Business Profile APIs for review management

If you manage your own business listings, you can use the Business Profile API – it lets you:

• Read all reviews for your business.
• Reply to reviews.
• Get notifications when new reviews arrive.

This API requires OAuth 2.0 authentication and an approved Google Cloud project tied to your business account.

For example, agencies often use it to keep track of reviews across hundreds of client profiles, all in one dashboard.

Third-party or Scraping-based Review APIs

Third-party APIs, such as SerpApi, Outscraper, and BrightData, mimic browser requests to fetch reviews from Google Maps’ web interface.

They’re popular because they can return all reviews, not just the few public ones from Google’s Places API.

However, scraping directly from Google Maps breaks their Terms of Service – and there’s a risk of getting banned or facing the legal consequences that come with it.

Typical uses include internal analysis, data enrichment, and competitive monitoring.

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How to use the official review access (Places/Place/Details)

You can get started pulling review data officially in under 15 minutes. Here’s how to do it.

Enable APIs & Get credentials

Head to Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Library.
Enable the following:

• Places API
• Maps JavaScript API (optional for web apps)

Then, create an API key in Credentials → Create Credentials → API key.

Find the place ID

Every location in Google Maps has a unique place_id.

You can use the Place ID Finder to get it, or else make a request like:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/findplacefromtext/json?input=Central%20Park&inputtype=textquery&key=YOUR_API_KEY

The response includes the place_id.

Make a place details request

Once you’ve got the place_id, you can fetch reviews:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/place/details/json?place_id=ChIJ4zGFAZpYwokRGUGph3Mf37k&fields=name,rating,reviews,user_ratings_total&key=YOUR_API_KEY

Parse and use the result

You’ll get JSON data with fields like:

• rating
• user_ratings_total
• reviews[ ].author_name
• reviews[ ].text
• reviews[ ].time

From there, you can:

• Display reviews on your site.
• Analyze sentiment.
• Track changes over time.

Caveats & Limitations

Official APIs limit you to the five most relevant reviews per place.

They also require:

• Billing is enabled on your Google Cloud project.
• You respect rate limits (usually 100 requests per second max).
• Reviews are not real-time and may update every few hours.

Working with third-party / Scraping review APIs

When official APIs don’t give you enough data, third-party tools are there to fill the gap.

Ensure you understand their methods, pricing, and compliance risks before using their services.

Why and when you’re likely to use them

Teams often turn to scraping-based APIs when they:

• Need all reviews for sentiment analysis.
• Want to compare competitors’ review trends.
• We are building datasets for machine learning or local SEO analysis.

Typical API contracts & Parameters

Most services follow a standard REST format like:

GET /google-maps-reviews?query=Starbucks%20New%20York&limit=100&api_key=XXXX

They usually return:

• Review text
• Star rating
• Reviewer name (if public)
• Date and likes count

Integrating & Handling errors

Always include:

• Retries for rate limits or timeouts.
• Fallbacks to cached data.
• Validation for missing or malformed JSON.

Risks & Legal considerations

Scraping Google Maps breaks its Terms of Service and can lead to:

• API key bans.* IP blocklisting – a topic to be aware of.
• Clear legal warnings – please review them.

If you use these APIs, ensure that your use case is compliant (for example, avoid commercial use, such as selling the data, and instead focus on casual analysis).

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Best practices, tips, and common pitfalls – the stuff you need to know

To keep your Google Maps Review integrations running smoothly, compliant, and stable, here are some habits to adopt.

1. Only grab the info you need

Remember to include the fields parameter in your API calls; otherwise, you’ll be downloading the entire dataset.

For example, fields=name, rating, reviews instead of grabbing the whole shebang.

This makes sense, reduces the payload size, makes the response snappier, and saves you a few API credits as well.

2. Respect the API’s limits & use some common sense with retries

Google imposes strict limits on requests. If you go over them, your requests will fail with OVER_QUERY_LIMIT.

Get into the habit of using exponential backoff or queued batching to retry requests without overloading the API.

In production systems, keep an eye on retries and frequent throttling – it’s a sign you need to add some caching or quota extensions.

3. Handle missing or partial data with some finesse

Not every business will have reviews. Some may only have average ratings or out-of-date info.

Always check for missing or empty values before sticking reviews up on your frontend or dashboard.

4. Cache and store reviews locally – you can do the maths

Google charges you per request, so repeatedly calling the API for the exact location will incur additional costs.

Save reviews in a local database or cache layer with a timestamp.

Folks like once a day or once a week is fine, unless you need those real-time updates.

5. Some sanitizing and formatting of user-generated content is needed

Review text can include various elements, such as emojis, line breaks, and HTML.

Strip out HTML characters & any scripts to prevent injection attacks.

If you are displaying reviews publicly, consider using a library like DOMPurify or sanitize-html to keep your users safe.

6. Attribute the data correctly

Google tells you to display the reviewer’s name (or “Google user”) and, if you can, link to their profile.

This respects copyright and ensures your app is compliant with Google’s display guidelines.

7. Keep an eye on errors & schema changes

Google occasionally makes changes.

Set up alerting for 4xx/5xx response codes and conduct a weekly test for each endpoint.

Silent breakage can come from unexpected null fields or renamed keys in the response.

8. Keep abreast of pricing and policy changes

Google’s billing rules and quotas are subject to frequent changes.

Review your API usage in the Cloud Console at least once a month to ensure optimal performance.

Subscribe to the Google Maps Platform changelog to catch updates early.

9. Don’t expose your API key

Never put your API key in client-side code or public repos.

Restrict it by domain, IP, or service in the Google Cloud Console.

If your key gets compromised, expect a pleasant surprise in the form of a bill.

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Final thoughts

The Google Maps Reviews API isn’t just a single endpoint – it’s a set of options.

For public review data, the Places Details API is where it’s at.

For owner-managed profiles, the Business Profile API is what you need.

For deeper scraping or historical review extraction, third-party APIs are out there, but be aware of the associated risks.

Experiment with Google’s official API, stash the results locally, and build your analysis pipeline from there.

Your data will be cleaner, legal, and future-proof.

Article by

Krunal

Krunal Vaghasiya is a marketing tech expert who helps businesses get more customers by using automated reviews, social proof, and smart follow-ups. He shares practical tips on review tools, marketing automation, and improving conversions.