Most small business websites have a Google Map on the contact page. Someone added it when the site was built, it sits under the address, and nobody has thought about it since. Then a speed test flags it, or a web designer suggests removing it, and you wonder whether it was ever doing anything useful.
The honest answer is that an embedded map helps some visitors and costs a little on every page it sits on. Whether it earns its place depends on how your customers reach you.
What an embedded map actually does for visitors
A map on your site is a convenience for people who already want to visit. It answers “where exactly is this?” without them leaving your page. For a shop, clinic, salon or restaurant in a lane that is hard to find, that matters. A visitor can see which side of the main road you are on, which landmark you are near, and roughly how far it is from where they are.
The most useful part of a Google Map embed is usually the small link that opens the full map. On a phone, that link generally hands over to the Google Maps app if it is installed, where the visitor can tap for directions from their current location. That is the action you want. The embedded map itself is mostly a picture that leads there.
What a map does not do well on its own:
- Explain the last few metres. “Second floor, above the pharmacy, entrance from the side lane” is something a map cannot show. Write it in plain text next to the map.
- Tell people about parking or public transport. If there is a car park behind the building or a metro stop nearby, say so.
- Work if it is in the wrong place. If your pin on Google is slightly off, the embed shows the same error to every visitor. Check it from the visitor’s side.
What it does not do for ranking
You will find claims online that embedding a Google Map on your site improves your local ranking. Be cautious with those. Google has not said that an embedded map is a ranking factor, and we would not expect adding one to move your position in Maps or local results in any dependable way.
Google describes local results as depending mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. The things that feed those are your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your website’s content about what you do and where, and consistent business details across the web. A map embed is not a substitute for any of them. Our guide to getting local customers online covers where that effort is better spent.
So treat the map as a visitor feature, not an SEO feature. If it helps people find you, keep it. If it does not, removing it will not cost you rankings.
The speed cost
A standard Google Maps embed is an iframe. When the page loads, the visitor’s browser fetches map tiles, scripts, fonts and styles from Google’s servers. None of that is under your control, and on a slow mobile connection it adds noticeable weight, especially if the map is on your home page or in the footer of every page.
This is the same problem as any third-party widget: chat boxes, review feeds, social embeds. Our post on third-party scripts slowing your website explains how to check what each one is costing you.
A few ways to keep the map without paying for it on every visit:
- Put it on the contact page only. A map in the site-wide footer loads for people reading a blog post who will never visit. One page is enough.
- Lazy-load the iframe. Modern browsers support a
loading="lazy"attribute on iframes, which delays loading until the visitor scrolls near it. Many caching and performance plugins can add this for you. - Use click-to-load. Show a placeholder, such as a simple image with a “Show map” button, and load the real map only when someone taps it. Visitors who want the map get it in a second; everyone else never downloads it.
Simpler alternatives that often work better
For many businesses, the best “map” is not a map at all.
A directions link
Open your business on Google Maps, use the share option, and copy the link. Put it on your contact page as a clear button or text link: “Get directions on Google Maps”. On a phone it opens the map app with your business already selected. It costs almost nothing in page weight and does the one job most visitors need.
Link to your business listing rather than to a bare address, so people see your name, hours and reviews when it opens. Some visitors, particularly on iPhones, may prefer Apple Maps, and you can offer a second link if you want to.
A static map image
A plain image of the area with your location marked loads quickly and never breaks. If you use one, check the terms of whichever map provider it comes from. Google, for example, has rules about how its map images can be used, and screenshots are not automatically allowed. Some providers offer static map images designed for this, and some open map projects allow reuse with attribution.
Good written directions
A short paragraph with the nearest landmark, the floor, the entrance and parking often helps more than any map. Put your full address in text as well, written exactly as it appears on your Google Business Profile, so people can copy it into whatever app they use.
Privacy, in general terms
When a visitor’s browser loads a Google Map embed, it connects to Google’s servers. That means Google receives information such as the visitor’s IP address and can set or read cookies, depending on the visitor’s settings and the type of embed. This happens before the visitor has done anything with the map.
If your site has visitors from places with strict cookie and consent rules, such as the UK or EU, loading third-party content like this may need to wait for consent. A click-to-load map handles this neatly: nothing is fetched from Google until the visitor chooses to load it. Wherever your visitors are, it is sensible to mention embedded third-party content in your privacy policy. If you are not sure what applies to your site, ask someone qualified rather than guessing.
When not to embed a map
- You visit customers and they never visit you. Plumbers, electricians, home tutors and cleaners often work from home. A map pointing at your house helps nobody and tells strangers where you live. List the areas you serve in plain text instead. Our post on service-area businesses on Google Maps explains how to handle this on Google too.
- You work online only. A map adds nothing for a business people never visit in person.
- The map shows the wrong place. Fix the pin on Google first. A map that sends people to the wrong lane is worse than none.
- You have many locations. One map with ten pins is hard to read on a phone. A list of branches, each with its own address, hours and directions link, is easier to use.
If your map is broken
A grey box, a “This page can’t load Google Maps correctly” message, or a “For development purposes only” watermark usually means the map was added through a plugin or theme that uses a Google API key, and something is wrong with the key, its restrictions or the account behind it. Our post on a WordPress Google Map not showing walks through reading the error and fixing it. Often the quickest fix is to replace the plugin map with a plain embed or a directions link.
A sensible setup
For a business customers visit: your address in text on the contact page, written directions with a landmark, a “Get directions” link to your Google listing, and, if you want a map, a click-to-load embed on that page only. For a business that visits customers: no map, a clear list of areas you serve, and your phone number near it.
If you would like someone to tidy up your contact page, replace a slow or broken map, or check what your third-party embeds are costing you, our website services cover that kind of small, practical fix.
Next in this series: An Email Newsletter for a Small Local Business
