How to Get a Google Maps API Key - Quick, Easy, and Free (2021)

are you seeing an error message like this that says that your page can't load the map correctly if so you're in the right place because i'm going to help you out to display google maps on your website through a plug-in you need an api key that may sound a little scary and technical but really all it means is that you need a special code that says google lets you use its map service now you are going to have to put in your billing information but if you have a small site and you don't get a lot of visitors you're probably not going to have to pay anything as google does give a credit every month so let's get started okay so the first thing we have to do here is we have to set up a project on google cloud platform with a billing account and the maps javascript api enabled now you are required to have a billing account attached to your project if you're using the maps api but google gives you a 200 monthly credit and most small sites don't need anything more than that so it's very likely that when you're first starting out and you have a small website you won't be charged i will link the pricing table below so if you are worried if you might get charged you can reference that but for most people you're not gonna have to pay for this so first we need to go to console.cloud.google.com project create that link is in the description and this is what you should see if this is your first time coming to this website you're going to have to choose your country and agree to the terms and service and then click the agree and continue button first thing you want to do is name your project the name of your website might be a good idea here and if you have an organization you want to link your project to you can click browse and choose it or you can just leave it as no organization and then click the create button next we need to set up billing so go ahead and click billing in this left side menu right here and if you have no billing accounts added here which you probably don't if this is your first project you're ever making click link a billing account this is telling me i'm currently not an administrator of any billing account so i have to create a billing account so i'm going to click that button and you see over here this says 300 credit for free for google cloud that is a one-time credit for a google cloud project currently google does give 200 a month recurring for the maps api which is why i was saying 200 credit before next choose your country choose which best describes your organization or needs and then check the checkbox that you have read and agree to the google cloud platform terms of service and then click the continue button put in your phone number so they can verify your identity and then click the send code button put in your verification code and then click the verify button next you're going to set up your payments profile if you're an individual and you want to use your individual account that's probably pre-selected and you can use that for me i am a business so i'm going to click this drop down and then click create payments profile and it automatically switches my account type to business i'm gonna put my business name right here and then i'm going to add in my credit card details my billing address and then click the free start free start my free trial button then you'll see this little welcome pop-up it asks what brought you to google cloud i am going to uh click use specific product services and our apis and then the next button what are you interested in doing with google cloud i'm going to click websites and then also google maps and then click the next button and what describes your role for me i am the president of my company so i'm choosing that and then i'm clicking the done button and now we're back at the billing page and it does say your billing account is linked to this project so that's great next thing we need to do is enable the maps api key so go back to the menu with these three lines on the upper left side then choose api and services then click library and then maps javascript api should be right here if not you can search for it so click that and then click enable now finally we can create the actual api key so go to the google maps platform page which is developers.google.com maps also linked in the description and then click the get started button and then click to the credentials page click create credentials and then choose api key and then here is your api key so you can copy it and you can paste it where your plugin is requesting or whatever you're working with is requesting it you should keep it hidden which is why mine is blurry right now but yours will not be blurry most likely with whatever plug-in you're using you're probably going to have to pick your project name too so choose whatever one you made in google cloud platform and if you ever need to view your api key again you can just go back to the credentials page and it will be here for you to copy and it does say right here we got a little notification that our api key is unrestricted we should edit the settings and make sure to restrict it so there's no unauthorized use and people don't use up your quota and steal your free trial and cost you money so make sure to click edit settings and if you're using this for your website you can go ahead and choose http referrals and then you can add your specific website address here in this format write it just like that and then hit done and then you can also set to restrict what api this api key can call so you should go ahead and choose here what you're using here so you're using the maps javascript api so check that and hit ok and and then go ahead and hit save and we're all done hopefully that was way easier than you expected and you don't have that maps error anymore and your life is a little bit better if you are making a website make sure to look in my description i do have a free website checklist so you can make sure you're doing everything that you need to do to get your website live and running and launched properly and if i was helpful for you please don't forget to like and subscribe thank you so much for watching

Channel: Nicole Sauk - Website Help for Business Owners

Views: 1,582

Keywords: websitetips, wordpress, Google Maps API Key, google maps error

Id: rREAme4P1u0

Length: 7min 30sec (450 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021