How to read this reference
The ID scheme, the five verdicts, the verification stamps and the re-probe cadence behind Part V — and how to cite an entry so the date travels with it.
What the Places API will and will not give you
The hard limits of Google's public place data — how deep a search reads, how many reviews you get, what is missing, and what owner-only endpoints return.
The GBP capability matrix
What every Google Business Profile API actually does in 2026 — alive, dead, or never worked — with the probe, the date, and what an empty endpoint means.
Storing Google data legally
What Google's terms permit you to store from the Places and Business Profile APIs — every clause quoted with its section number and revision date.
Write limits and failure modes
The write-side catalogue — character caps, media rules, the video-in-posts 500, native scheduling, the edit budget, and why HTTP 200 is not publication.
What Google's own reporting hides
Nineteen verified facts about Google's performance and keyword data — thresholding, aggregation, omitted rows, missing days — and what each one breaks.
AI engine probe recipes
Recipes for testing whether an AI engine recommends a business — prompt construction, geo-anchoring, run counts, recording a result, and the failure modes.
The local search changelog
Dated local-search changes since 2020, each with the API or endpoint it touched and what it broke — from Google's own change logs and live probes.