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# Google My Business Business Information API

The My Business Business Information API manages the structured content of Google Business Profile locations - names, addresses, phone numbers, categories, attributes, hours, and service items. It exposes locations, attributes, categories, chains, and Google Locations search resources so businesses can keep listings accurate at scale across Google Search and Maps. Use it together with the Account Management API (for access) and the Verifications API (for new listings) to fully automate Business Profile operations.

## For AI agents

Edit Google Business Profile location content - addresses, hours, categories, and attributes. Use to keep listings accurate across Google Search and Maps.

## Scope

Does not handle reviews, posts, media, admins, or verifications - use for editing structured Business Profile location content only.

## Capabilities

- Update a location's name, address, phone numbers, and website
- Set primary and additional categories on a location
- Apply attributes such as wheelchair access or curbside pickup
- Configure regular and special business hours including holidays
- Search Google's location database to find or claim a listing
- Look up the canonical category list and supported attributes per category

## Use cases

### Holiday Hours Rollout

Retail and service brands need to update holiday hours across hundreds of locations before a public holiday. The Business Information API exposes special hours on the location resource, so a single workflow can patch every location with the correct closed or modified hours and confirm the change reflected on Google Search.

Example prompt: List all locations under accounts/{account}, then PATCH each /v1/{name} with specialHours containing the holiday date and openTime/closeTime fields, masking specialHours.

### Category and Attribute Cleanup

Marketing operations teams audit categories and attributes to ensure every storefront is discoverable for the right queries. The categories and attributes endpoints expose the canonical taxonomy, while a PATCH on the location updates its primary category and supported attributes. This keeps listings ranked correctly without UI clicks per location.

Example prompt: GET /v1/categories with regionCode and languageCode, choose the correct categoryId per location, and PATCH location.primaryCategory accordingly.

### Listing Discovery and Claim

Before creating a new location, businesses should search Google's existing places to avoid duplicates. The googleLocations:search endpoint returns matching Google Locations and indicates whether each is already claimed, enabling agents to start a verification flow for unclaimed matches via the Verifications API.

Example prompt: POST /v1/googleLocations:search with location body containing storefrontAddress, then for unclaimed matches kick off a verification flow.

### AI Agent Listing Hygiene

An AI agent connected via Jentic monitors Business Profile listings, detects drift between an internal source of truth and the live listing, and patches discrepancies on a schedule. Jentic isolates OAuth credentials and returns the right Business Information operation per task without browsing the discovery document.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'update Google Business location hours', load locations.patch, and execute it with the new regularHours and updateMask=regularHours.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /v1/categories | List Business Profile categories |
| GET | /v1/attributes | List supported attributes |
| POST | /v1/googleLocations:search | Search Google's location database |
| GET | /v1/chains:search | Search known chains by name |
| PATCH | /v1/{name} | Update a location's structured content |

## Key resources

- **locations** — Structured listing content including address, hours, categories, and attributes
- **categories** — Canonical Google Business categories per region and language
- **attributes** — Available attributes for a given location or category
- **chains** — Known business chains used when claiming franchise locations
- **googleLocations** — Search Google's location database to discover or claim listings

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the My Business Business Information API by hand means setting up Google OAuth 2.0 for Business Profile access, refreshing short-lived bearer tokens, and tracking the v1 surface yourself against the mybusinessbusinessinformation.googleapis.com host. Through Jentic you install once, import the My Business Business Information API from the API Directory, store the OAuth credential once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** This API puts the location name in the URL path (/v1/{name}), so a rule can pin your agent to one Business Profile location: it can read categories and attributes and search Google locations and chains there and nothing else. You choose the operations it may call, so ones like patching location content are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Google OAuth credential is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'update Google Business hours' or 'search Google Business categories', and Jentic returns the matching Business Information operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **My Business Account Management API** — Manages who can administer the locations whose content this API edits
- **My Business Verifications API** — Verifies new locations created via Business Information
- **Google My Business API (v4)** — Older monolithic API with overlapping location editing endpoints
- **Google Places API** — Read-only place search for end users while this API edits owned listings

## FAQ

### What authentication does the My Business Business Information API use?

OAuth 2.0 with the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/business.manage scope. The user must be an admin of the target Business Profile account. Jentic stores OAuth refresh tokens in your Jentic One instance and exposes only short-lived access tokens to the agent.

### Can I update business hours for many locations at once?

Yes - the API does not have a batch hours endpoint, but a workflow can list all locations under an account and PATCH each /v1/{name} with the new regularHours or specialHours. Use updateMask to limit the fields updated.

### What are the rate limits for the My Business Business Information API?

Default quota is 0 QPM until Google approves Business Profile API access. Approved projects receive a per-minute and daily quota. Bulk PATCH operations should be paced and retry on 429 with exponential backoff.

### How do I change a location's primary category through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'change Google Business primary category', load locations.patch, and execute it with primaryCategory.name set to the chosen categoryId and updateMask=primaryCategory. Jentic handles OAuth refresh in the background.

### Where do I create or verify a brand-new location?

Create a location by POST to /v1/{parent}/locations under the parent account, then start verification via the My Business Verifications API. The Account Management API governs who can administer the new location.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the My Business Business Information API?

Yes. Because you self-host Jentic One, your own rules decide which operations and OAuth credentials the agent may use, and this API puts the location name in the URL path (/v1/{name}), so a rule can pin the agent to a single Business Profile location. You can allow it to only read categories and attributes and search Google locations and chains, while excluding write operations like patching a location's hours, categories, or address unless you explicitly add them. Nothing outside the operations you approve is callable.