Tips for reducing your map key usage
Stockist uses services provided by Google Maps or Mapbox to power the map on your store locator. These services are provided directly to your website, not through Stockist - for more details, please see our articles about choosing a map provider and how Google Maps licensing works.
Both Google and Mapbox provide a generous amount of free map usage to all websites, so very few clients need to worry about the map usage on their website. However, if you find that your site is nearing this limit, we've collected a few suggestions to help reduce your usage while still maintaining a functional and visitor-friendly store locator.
#1. Enable automatic geolocation
Our geolocation feature will automatically display stores near your visitor by estimating their location using their IP address or GPS. Your visitors will see relevant search results without any typing, and because this feature doesn't use the address lookup (geocoding) or address suggestion services, your costs will be reduced as well.
You can enable automatic geolocation from the Search settings page of your Stockist dashboard.
#2. Display all stores
We've heard that some clients don't want to use automatic geolocation in case there aren't nearby stores to display. If you have less than 500 stores, you can consider showing all of your stores on the locator as soon as the page loads. Visitors who click on a store directly or zoom into the map won't use any address lookup (geocoding) or address suggestion services.
You can enable this feature from the Search settings page of your Stockist dashboard.
#3. Turn off address suggestions
The address suggestion service (which displays address matches as the visitor types a search query) can be useful, but is often the most expensive component of map usage. Disabling the address suggestion feature may help reduce your map service costs, while still allowing visitors to search your store locator by typing in a full city or postal code.
You can turn off address suggestions from the Search settings page of your Stockist dashboard, under Address suggestions.
#4. Move your locator off of your homepage
If your store locator is being shown on your website's homepage, consider moving it to a separate page on your site. This will avoid map usage from visitors who aren't interested in the locator. Consider adding a screenshot or a "Find us near you" button to your homepage which links to your store locator on a separate page.
#5. Reduce the map size
The interactive map is made up of a grid of square map images (called 'tiles') that load automatically as you pan and zoom the map. If your map is using Mapbox, charges are based on the number of individual tiles loaded. Making the map smaller on the page can reduce the number of tiles loaded at one time, which can lower your usage. We're happy to assist with this if you contact us.
For Google Maps, usage is calculated based on the number of visits to the map page, not based on the individual tiles, so the size of the map has no effect on the cost.
Questions?
If you have any questions or need help setting up any of these suggestions, please get in touch with us using the Contact Us link at the top of this page.