Starting on July 16, 2018, Google will introduce a pay-as-you-go pricing plan that will go into effect for all Maps, Routes, and Places. You’ll be required to provide a credit card in order to continue using Google Maps. The good news is you will have $200 free monthly credit, which will be enough for most people. You will just need to do a little work in order for the maps to continue showing up.

What you’ll find here:

1. What is changing with Google Maps?
2. How does this affect your website?
3. What are your next steps?

What is Google changing?

Google has announced that as of July 16, 2018, the Google Maps Platform will release streamlined mapping API services. This may not mean much to you until you are asked for your credit card, in order to show a Google Map on your website.

There are 3 big changes that are taking place:

• Free access is being reduced to a $200 credit that can be used towards any API service. This will be enough for the majority of websites using a Google Maps on their contact page.
• A credit card will likely be required to get that $200 credit. There is a good chance the embedded Google Maps will display an error.
• Premium API prices are being increased by 1,000 to 1,400%. Nope, that’s not a typo. This will apply most heavily to app developers and websites that make heavy use of Google Maps, such as real estate listings.

How does this impact your website?

If you have an embedded Google Map on your website, it will stop showing up once the new API is released and you will likely see an error message. It’s not the end of the world; however, when your website looks broken, it does look less professional.

What you should do next:

You should have received an email from Google in the past few weeks providing details regarding the price increase and whether you fit within the new free tier of $200 in credit. If you don’t have that email, you can go to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/dashboard and login to the developers console to check your current usage.

If you decide to enable billing and your credit card to your Google account, make absolutely sure that you set up a budget and limit the amount to $200. Doing so will prevent a surprise bill from Google at the end of the month.

More details from Google here:  

• https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/
• https://mapsplatform.googleblog.com/2018/05/introducing-google-maps-platform.html

Creating your Budget:

• https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets#create_a_budget

Setting up Budget Alerts:

• https://cloud.google.com/billing/docs/how-to/budgets#set_edit_or_remove_alerts

We expect that a number of business owners are not aware about this upcoming change. If they manage their own website and do not have a web company, they are going to wonder why the map on their contact page is missing come July 17.

You can read the full details right from Google here: https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/

Do you want to know how to update your Google account to continue using Maps? Contact us and we can help you through the process. hello@mediamall.ca