Restricting your Google Maps API key will help to keep your account secure. Similar to key to your house or car keys, securing your API key is important so it can only be used by those you intend to it and not other people who may misuse or abuse it. This guide outlines the steps you will need to take in order to restrict your API key. My default there are no restrictions and these restrictions can be changed at anytime.
This guide will be useful for those who have up to date billing details and are experiencing an error message when viewing the map. The lack of restrictions on your API key may prevent your map from working.
Log into your Google Cloud Console account https://cloud.google.com/ , this may be the same account used for your Google Analytics account
Head to the Navigation panel and go to ‘APIs and Services’ then click on ‘Credentials’
On the credentials page under ‘Actions’ you will see 3 dots. Click on the dots and click on ‘Edit API Key’
Under the ‘Set an application restriction’ check the ‘Websites’ option from the list
A new ‘Website restriction’ section will pop up underneath
Using the ‘Add’ button you will need to add all the domain names that will be using the key
www.domainname.com
commercial.domainname.com
Once you have added all the links, save the changes. Refresh your website to check if the map has started to work. If you are still experiencing issues, please contact the helpdesk for further assistance.
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