Error retrieving place ID. Response code ZeroResults

Question

We use the Google Places API and on 2/14/2024, we received about 100 Error retrieving place ID. Response code ZeroResults. Does anyone have any idea what that means?

We researched a few of them that were legitimately closed businesses but, the majority of them appeared to be legitimate businesses with the correct address.

Answer 1

That is expected to happen when places are either

• removed from Google Maps, for whatever reasons, or
• converted into pure Service Area Business (location-less) establishments, which would be done by (each) business owners via Google Business Profile.

To check whether one or the other is the case, you can use Google Maps URLs: Search which accepts Places IDs in the query_place_id. Setting query to something that can't be find (e.g. %20 for a blank space) should ensure that if you get a result it is the Place ID (and not something else):

https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=%20&query_place_id=ChIJjVrE3tfBhkcR2qacmdIF9Fw

This example place is a pure Service Area Business, note how it shows on Google Maps without an address or precise location, and instead shows an (approximation) to the area they provide(d) service to.

If you are interested in retrieving pure Service Area Business via Places API, see feature request 35828187:Support service area businesses.

Note also that, although this place is also permanently closed, that alone is not enough of a reason for an establishment to go missing from Place Details; it will go missing from Place Search and Autocomplete results, just not Details.

More generally, see Places API documentation to Save place IDs for later use, which includes recommendations for refreshing stored place IDs and handling error codes when using place IDs (NOT_FOUND in Places API, ZERO_RESULTS in the Geocoding API).