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How to Find the CID Number of a Google Business Profile

TL;DR

  • A CID number is a unique identifier for a Google Business Profile.
  • To find it, open the business on Google Maps and right-click the listing.
  • Select “View Page Source,” then search for “CID” in the code to locate the number.
  • This CID can be useful for tracking performance, reporting issues, or linking directly to a business listing.

What Is A CID Number On Google?

It’s important to understand that every Google Business Profile has a unique CID number that helps Google identify its listing quickly. Which might leave you wondering – what is a CID number? A google maps CID – which stands for Customer Identification (ID) – is an identification number for a specific business listing on Google Maps.  Similar to a social insurance number or driver’s license number, it is a unique number that is only for your listing. It is good to know what your CID number is because if Google ever created a new record for you or merged listings, you would know.  It also will allow you to get to different views of the listing (like coming from the Local Finder to Maps).

A fellow Google My Business Product Expert provided me with a tip on How To Find Your CID Number of a business listing on Google Maps.

Why Should You Know Your Google Map CID Number?

The CID number is good to know and document for any business because:

finding a cid number on google sterling sky

  • It helps you connect the different views (Maps, Local Finder, Search etc) for a single listing
  • It helps you know if a listing somehow got a new record if something was merged.

Here’s How to Find a CID Number

What You’ll Need To Find Your CID Number on Google:
Time: 5 minutes
Equipment: Computer or Smartphone
Tools: Google Search
Cost: Free!

gather up chrome extension cid number sterling sky1. Using the “GatherUp” Chrome Extension to Find a CID Number

Here’s how to find a CID number for a Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) listing.  The fastest way to do this is to install the GatherUp Chrome Extension. This tool checks the listing and identifies the numbers (also called ludocid) so you don’t have to look for them yourself. If you are looking to determine how to view this and locate the CID number yourself, check option 3.

  1. Install the GatherUp Chrome extension
  2. To get the CID number of a listing pull it up in Search or the Local Finder
  3. Select the GatherUp chrome extension
  4. You can now copy the Maps URL with the CID number in it 

find company information cid finder sterling sky2. Using the “Company Information in Google” Chrome Extension to Find a CID Number

 

Tom Waddington, a fellow Google Product Expert created a Chrome extension that is another great option for how to find a CID number URL for your Google Business Listing. It is called Company Information in Google.

3. Other Methods for Finding a CID Number for a Business

If you like testing things out and tinkering with Google here are a few more methods for you to test out.

From Google Maps

Helmut Geissler & Hector (treebles) showed me that if you have the business open in Google Maps:

    • Do a search in Google Maps for the business name and make sure it’s the only result that shows up.
    • Replace http:// with view-source: in the URL
    • Click CTRL+F and search the source code for “ludocid”
    • The CID will be the string of numbers after “ludocid\\u003d” and before #lrd

Example: If this is the code, the CID is in red:

ON+L3Y+4V8\\u0026ludocid\\u003d18208190227674681406#lrd\\u003d0x882ace1b6df9d1db:0xfcb07c8a7b49d03e

From Google Maps for an SAB Listing (with hidden address)

The process for finding the google maps CID number for a service area business (SAB) is slightly different than for finding it with a business visible on Google Maps.

    • Pull up the listing on Google Maps
    • It will be some super long URL like this:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Sequoia+TreeScape/@44.0537056,-80.5823363,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x882ad2157062b6c3:0xe060d065957c4103!8m2!3d44.0591868!4d-79.4612559

    • You want to look for the super long set of characters that start with 0x (there are 2 of them and the second ends before the exclamation point). I highlighted one red and 1 blue in the above example.
    • The second of the 2 (the one in blue above) lists the CID in hexadecimal after the 0x (leave that off). In this example, you’d be talking about: e060d065957c4103
    • Throw that into a hexadecimal converter and you will have the CID number (In this example you should have ended up with 16168151796978303235)

Get SEO Help From The Best Team in the Business

If you’re a local business that needs help with how to find a CID number or with your online presence or handling technical SEO issues, at Sterling Sky we can help. We offer SEO audits,  consulting, or monthly local SEO services. Contact our office today for more information.

Check out what Kayla had to say about our local SEO services on Google.

“Everyone I have talked to and worked with at Sterling are amazing! They are great at problem-solving and always come up with straightforward solutions to any problems I’m running into. I would recommend them to any local business I know.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/5
January 22, 2021

 

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Joy Hawkins

Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006, writes for publications such as Search Engine Land, and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and State of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google Business Profile Forum.

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This Post Has 38 Comments

  1. Your article was INCREDIBLY helpful! I’ve been looking for exactly this information for months. Thank you so much.

    Reply

  2. Your article was INCREDIBLY helpful! I’ve been looking for exactly this information for months. Thank you so much.

    Reply

  5. How do you turn a CID into a placeid? I can’t find any documentation anywhere, I’m trying to use the places api, but there is no search field for cid.

    Reply

  6. How do you turn a CID into a placeid? I can’t find any documentation anywhere, I’m trying to use the places api, but there is no search field for cid.

    Reply

  7. Hi there,

    There are two parts of the following string:
    0x882ad2157062b6c3:0xe060d065957c4103

    First and second after “:”

    Second part is hex of CID , I got that, can anyone please tell me what is first part? I really need to decode that, thanks.
    I have CID and google place_id(e.g. ChIJART0faoFzkwRJyLS0gjq6Wg)
    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

    1. @hamid

      I’m not 100% sure on this but lots of tests appear to back it up.
      The 1st part of the number appears to represent the initial pin placement on Maps

      If you look at listings when they are in a very close proximity to each other the number is very similar, if 2 businesses are in the same building the number can be exactly the same.

      If a business changes location (moves elsewhere) the number doesn’t change though.
      All the places near me range from 4870 to 4879 with my town being 4870.
      89c2 appears to be New York

      No idea if they do it my name or GEO though.

      Reply

  8. Hi there,

    There are two parts of the following string:
    0x882ad2157062b6c3:0xe060d065957c4103

    First and second after “:”

    Second part is hex of CID , I got that, can anyone please tell me what is first part? I really need to decode that, thanks.
    I have CID and google place_id(e.g. ChIJART0faoFzkwRJyLS0gjq6Wg)
    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

    1. The first part is the FID number. I’m not really sure what it’s significance is anymore without MapMaker

      Reply

    2. @hamid

      I’m not 100% sure on this but lots of tests appear to back it up.
      The 1st part of the number appears to represent the initial pin placement on Maps

      If you look at listings when they are in a very close proximity to each other the number is very similar, if 2 businesses are in the same building the number can be exactly the same.

      If a business changes location (moves elsewhere) the number doesn’t change though.
      All the places near me range from 4870 to 4879 with my town being 4870.
      89c2 appears to be New York

      No idea if they do it my name or GEO though.

      Reply

  9. The first part is the FID number. I’m not really sure what it’s significance is anymore without MapMaker

    Reply

  13. Hey Mark,

    Google Plus pages don’t show the CID number at all. You need to pull up the listing on Google Maps and find it there.

    Reply

    1. Hey Mark,

      Google Plus pages don’t show the CID number at all. You need to pull up the listing on Google Maps and find it there.

      Reply

  15. Joy/colan
    thanks for covering!
    Some minor notes
    1- Our tool generates place ID as well as part of the write a review string
    2- the tool also works from within Maps

    Reply

  16. Joy/colan
    thanks for covering!
    Some minor notes
    1- Our tool generates place ID as well as part of the write a review string
    2- the tool also works from within Maps

    Reply

  17. Awesome article. Some info in here are nowhere else on the web thanks. I am using the 5Star extension and it works great.

    Recently (as you probably noticed), on Maps, each listing has its cid displayed so it is now easy peasy to get it.
    Though, is there a way to get the link to post a review to a listing (hidden address) by having its cid ?

    I have a listing that uses a target anchor for a popular term and there is no query (I found none at least) that returns it in the serp (so I cannot use the extension). Also it has no address so I guess no placeID.

    Reply

  18. Awesome article. Some info in here are nowhere else on the web thanks. I am using the 5Star extension and it works great.

    Recently (as you probably noticed), on Maps, each listing has its cid displayed so it is now easy peasy to get it.
    Though, is there a way to get the link to post a review to a listing (hidden address) by having its cid ?

    I have a listing that uses a target anchor for a popular term and there is no query (I found none at least) that returns it in the serp (so I cannot use the extension). Also it has no address so I guess no placeID.

    Reply

  20. Yep – that looks right. If you use the Chrome extension referenced in the article it will automate it for you which is easier.

    Reply

    1. Yep – that looks right. If you use the Chrome extension referenced in the article it will automate it for you which is easier.

      Reply

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