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To build a dependable Google review pipeline, first get Business Profile API access for a Cloud project, then authorize a user for each profile you need to read. Backfill reviews from verified locations by following every page token. For faster change detection, configure Cloud Pub/Sub notifications and use each notification to trigger an API synchronization—not as a substitute for retrieving review data.
How do I get Google Business Profile API access?
Business Profile API access is restricted; creating a Cloud project alone does not grant it. Google lists a Google Account, a legitimate business reason, a valid Google Cloud project, and a valid business website among the requirements for applying. Google says requests are reviewed within 14 days, but that is a review window, not a promise of approval. See Google’s Business Profile overview and API access FAQ.
- Create a Google Cloud project for the application and configure OAuth credentials for the intended authorization flow.
- Request Business Profile API access for that project. After approval, confirm that the project has the APIs required by the features you plan to use enabled.
- Have the business user authorize the application with the required Business Profile management access. Check the live method reference for the exact OAuth scope required by the review-list method.
- Confirm that the authorizing user can access each account and location in scope. For a third-party tool, Google documents OAuth authorization or having the business add the provider as an owner or manager.
These are two separate gates: approval belongs to the Cloud project; permission to see a particular profile belongs to the user and that profile. Project approval does not grant access to arbitrary businesses or locations.
How do I retrieve all reviews from a profile?
First enumerate the accounts and locations the authorized user can access, then verify that each target location is verified. Google’s review-list method applies only to verified locations. For each eligible location, call GET https://mybusiness.googleapis.com/v4/accounts/{accountId}/locations/{locationId}/reviews. The method reference documents page size, page token, and ordering controls; when another page is available, the response supplies a token for it.
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- Request the first page for the location.
- Persist the returned review data and the next-page token, if present.
- Request the next page using that token, and continue until the response has no next-page token.
- Record that the location’s backfill reached the end. If a request fails, resume from the last safely persisted page rather than marking the location complete.
The response includes review details, average rating, total review count, and a next-page token when more results are available. A single successful response is not necessarily a complete review history: the backfill is complete only after pagination ends.
Choosing a retrieval method
For a single location, the list endpoint gives direct control over pagination. Google’s review-data tutorial also documents fetching one review by its resource name and using POST .../locations:batchGetReviews to retrieve reviews for multiple locations. The batch method accepts location names, page size, page token, ordering, and an option to ignore rating-only reviews. Use the exact request and response fields in Google’s review-data tutorial.
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For a durable ingestion store, retain the review resource identifier and the fields your application needs, such as content, rating, creation and update times, and reply state. These are implementation choices: use the API reference to confirm the available fields and represent missing or changed values correctly. Make writes idempotent so processing the same review again updates its stored record rather than creating a duplicate.
Should I poll reviews or use Pub/Sub notifications?
Polling and notifications solve different operational problems. Polling is simpler to operate; notifications can signal changes sooner, but require additional cloud setup. Google documents new and updated reviews as supported notification events, but does not establish a delivery-time guarantee.
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| Approach | Setup and freshness | Request volume and recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Polling/list synchronization | Less infrastructure; freshness depends on how often you schedule checks. | Requests recur on each check, and a complete list sync must follow page tokens. Run another sync to catch changes since the prior check. |
| Pub/Sub signal plus API reconciliation | Requires a topic, permissions, a push or pull subscriber, and account notification settings. A notification signals a change but carries no documented latency promise. | Use notifications to prompt API retrieval, then periodically reconcile by fetching current review data to recover from missed or delayed processing. |
The comparison reflects the documented mechanisms and practical implementation trade-offs, not a Google-published performance benchmark. Choose polling when a scheduled freshness interval is sufficient and you want fewer moving parts. Consider Pub/Sub when you monitor multiple locations or need change signals between scheduled checks and can operate a subscriber.
How do I configure review notifications?
Google’s notification setup guide describes connecting a Business Profile account to a Cloud Pub/Sub topic. The setup requires topic publishing permission for Google’s service account, a subscriber, and an account notification setting.
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- Create a Cloud Pub/Sub topic in the project used for notification handling.
- Grant
pubsub.topics.publishon that topic tomybusiness-api-pubsub@system.gserviceaccount.com. - Create and operate a push or pull subscription so your application can receive published messages.
- Use
accounts.updateNotificationSettingto connect the Business Profile account to the configured topic and enable the desired supported event types, including new and updated reviews. - When a message arrives, validate and record it, then fetch current review data through the API and apply the result idempotently.
Keep a periodic reconciliation job even when notifications are enabled. This is a reliability recommendation based on the notification and retrieval mechanisms, not a guarantee from Google about notification delivery or timing.
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Google’s quota documentation, last updated 2026-08-28 UTC, says that a quota limit of zero means API access has not yet been granted. In that case, request basic API access rather than a quota increase. Requests beyond applicable limits can return HTTP 429 Too Many Requests or gRPC RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED; Google recommends pacing requests evenly. See the quota limits documentation.
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- Keep request pacing under application control, especially during a multi-location backfill.
- On 429 or
RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED, retry with backoff rather than immediately repeating the request. - Persist pagination progress only after the corresponding page has been safely processed, so a transient failure does not skip reviews.
- Track failures by project, account, and location so authorization problems can be distinguished from quota or transport errors.
The quota page also lists a standard quota of 300 queries per minute (QPM) for the Notifications API. It lists 300 QPM for several other Business Profile APIs, but these are not review-method-specific limits; check the current quota documentation for the API and project relevant to your implementation.
The same page gives separate Business Information API limits—300 QPM for default requests, 300 queries per day (QPD) for Create Location, 300 QPD for SearchGoogleLocation, 10,000 QPD for Update Location, and an edit limit of 10 per minute per profile that cannot be increased. Those limits concern Business Information operations, not review retrieval.
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