This Page Can’t Load Google Maps Correctly. Do You Own This Website? [2023 Solution]

Previously, I wrote the importance of Google Maps in the marketing of a business through its rating feature. Current clients could rate the product or service you offer through Google Maps to increase your website’s ranking in search engine results.

This feature provides possible clients the information they need to gauge your credibility as a business aside from easily locating your office or store for their purchase.

This time let me help you understand why the error message “This page can’t load google maps correctly. Do you own this website?” occurs and what you can do about it.

Why won’t Google Maps load on my website?

The MuffinGroup explains that the error, “This Page Can’t Load Google Maps Correctly,” was first encountered by website owners after Google made changes to their procedures on June 11, 2018. The changes entailed a new requirement when using Google Maps. Website owners particularly must have a Google Cloud Platform billing account and a Google API key.

The 2018 changes also caused website owners to experience other API-related problems such as incompatibility, invalidity, inactivation, and inexistence. Website owners encountered these error messages concerning this: “The API key is invalid,” “The API key is not activated,” “The API key is not compatible with your URL,” and “Missing API key error – the Google Maps API does not exist.”

Accordingly, the changes encompassed website owners with more than 100,000 monthly views. These website owners were then billed for their high-volume usage. Those with less than 100,000 monthly website views retained the free use of Google’s Map feature.

High-traffic website owners were then required to have a linked billing account to all projects using Google Maps and use a valid API key. Simply setting up a billing account in the Google Platform is not enough. The billing account must use a valid credit card linked to it to avoid the error message from recurring. While a valid API key is necessary to keep the Google map from being displayed either with a watermark on it or a low resolution.

You might be confused about what APIs are and how they work. Let me take a step back to help you understand this further.

What are APIs and their relationship to Google Maps not loading correctly on my website?

API or Application Programming Interface is a set of protocols and definitions used to build and integrate an application software. The API is a means for the components of two different application software to communicate with each other. The protocols pertain to a set of standards on how the software works and is to be integrated by programmers or developers so that it will function accordingly.

There are several kinds and types of APIs that you may want to read more about on Amazon.Com. But of the types of APIs worth looking into regarding Google Maps are the REST APIs or the Representational State Transfer APIs. This type of API is flexible, making them often used online for data exchange among servers. The main reason behind this it does not store client information on the server whenever requests are made.

Through API keys, REST APIs are made more secure in addition to the standard monitoring and authentication APIs are equipped with. So now, let’s talk about API keys.

What are API keys?

API keys work as verifiers of applications or programs requesting for information through identification and access rights. They allow API monitoring during data gathering. API keys can be seen as a string of numbers and characters located at the end of a website browser whenever you visit various websites.

What is a Google Maps API key?

A Google Maps API key is an application verifier particularly used for Google Maps. This is different from A Google Place API key and can not be used interchangeably. But by function, both a Google Maps API key and a Google Place API key verify programs and applications that request data or information through the said respective application software.

When the API keys of Google Maps did not receive the necessary data to verify an application’s identity and its corresponding access details, the request for information would then be blocked. That’s when error messages would be encountered or displayed on a website.

The Google Maps JavaScript API Error Messages

Besides the aforementioned reasons why Google Maps are not loading on a website, Google has a list of Map loading errors due to the API key. These are:

1. the API is not loaded directly from  their Maps Platform
2. non-compliance to Google Maps Platform Terms of Service
3. using an invalid or expired JavaScript API
4. not adding the current address of the Maps JavaScript API to the list of authorized URLs

Let’s now move on to the resolution of these error messages.

How to solve, get rid of, or fix the “This page can’t load Google Maps correctly. Do you own this website?” error message?

Timely provides two main solutions to websites encountering a Google Maps loading problem: edit the API key settings in Google Maps or create a new one. While MuffinGroup recommends setting up your billing in the Google Maps Platform. Let me talk about each one in more detail.

Edit API Key Settings

Here’s how to edit your API key settings:

1. Log in to your Google Cloud account and open the console for developers on how to locate an existing API key.

2. Once located, click the name of your key.

3. Ensure that “None” is selected under the “Key Restrictions” option.

4. Next click the “API Restrictions” to check if the map features from the drop-down menu are not selected.

5. Finish off by clicking on “Save.”

Create New API Key

If you’ve already edited your API key settings yet still encounter Google Maps loading errors, the next step to undertake is to create a new API key.

1. Log in to your Google Cloud account then open the Google Maps Platform.

2. Click “Get Started” to open the “Enable Google Maps Platform” popup window.

3. In the popup window, click “Maps,” “Routes,” and “Places” before you click “Continue.”

4. Enter your website’s name under the “Enter New Project Name” field and click “Next.” This will redirect you to a new web page to set up your billing account.

5. On the Billing page, a popup window will prompt you to set up your billing account for your website. Just click “Set Account” to proceed.

6. Supply the information needed on your credit card even if Google provides a “Free Credits” option. Save it to proceed. Again, make sure the credit card information you provide is valid.

7. Open your API Console and choose the “Application Restrictions” tab.

8. In the “Application Restrictions” tab, choose “HTTP referrers (web sites)” option. Then write your domain name under the “Accept requests from these HTTP referrers (web sites)” field. Clicking “Save” will open a new popup window.

9. Copy the API key displayed in the popup window in your word processor or notepad before clicking on “Done.” Make sure you save the word processor or notepad where you pasted your new API key for future reference.

10. Incorporate your new API key into your website.

Setup Google Maps Platform Billing

To set up your Google Maps Platform billing account, simply do steps #1-#6 mentioned in creating a new API key above.

Wrap Up

There are several reasons why websites encounter the error message, “This page can’t load Google Maps correctly. Do you own this website?” But it all boils down to compliance with the 2018 procedures set by Google in using their Maps feature on a website.

The solution lies in adhering to the protocols following the steps in creating a new API key, editing an existing one, or setting up your billing account with Google Maps.

FAQs

What advantages does Google Maps have for my website?

Google Maps have three main advantages or benefits to your business. It serves as a locator for your business. It promotes your business by encouraging people to visit it and giving people a preview of your products, Finally, it aids your business’ credibility through customer ratings.

How to add Google Maps to my website?

Adding a Google Map to your website is easy. You can use an online generator for the code needed to be embedded in your website such as Google’s Map Generator where you input your business’ address and simply set the width and height to “Get HTML-Code.”

Another way to generate the code is by opening Google Maps and typing your business address. Then click Share and select Embed before choosing the “Copy HTML” option. Once you have the code, simply paste it into your website.

If these seem complicated for you, just send me a message and I’ll be happy to assist you further.

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