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Create your Google Maps key, step by step

Create a Google Cloud project, turn on billing and the Places API (New), and generate the key you'll paste into Pranory. About 10 minutes.

Pranory searches Google Maps for businesses using your own key. Google bills you directly, with no markup, and you stay in control of the spend. Creating the key takes about 10 minutes.

Before you start

  • A Google account (Gmail or your company account both work).
  • A card to turn on billing in Google Cloud. Google asks for it even if you stay within the free usage.
  • Owner or admin access to your Pranory workspace.

1. Create a Google Cloud project

  1. Go to console.cloud.google.com.
  2. At the top, open the project picker and click New project.
  3. Give it a name you'll recognise, such as pranory-searches.
  4. Click Create and wait a few seconds until it shows as selected.

We recommend a project just for Pranory. You'll see its spend separately and can set limits without affecting anything else.

2. Turn on billing

  1. In the left menu, open Billing.
  2. If you don't have a billing account yet, click Create account and follow the steps with your card.
  3. Link the billing account to the project you just created.

Without billing, Google rejects searches even if the key is correct.

3. Enable the Places API (New)

  1. Go to APIs & Services → Library.
  2. Search for Places API (New). Careful: not the older "Places API".
  3. Open it and click Enable.

Pranory only uses this API. You don't need to enable anything else.

4. Create the key

  1. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials.
  2. Click Create credentials → API key.
  3. Google shows you the key. Copy it.
  4. Before you use it, restrict it: under API restrictions choose Places API (New) and save. The details are in Protect your Google Maps key.

5. Paste it into Pranory

  1. In Pranory, go to Settings → Providers.
  2. On the Google Maps card, click Connect Google Maps.
  3. Paste the key and validate it. Pranory runs a test query to check it works.
  4. Save. You can now launch searches from Territories.

The key is stored encrypted, and you'll only ever see its last few characters on screen.

If something goes wrong

  • "API key not valid" or key rejected: check you copied the whole key, with no spaces at the start or end.
  • "This API is not enabled" or a permissions error: the Places API (New) isn't enabled in the same project where you created the key. Go back to step 3.
  • Billing error: the project has no billing account linked. Go back to step 2.
  • It worked and then stopped: check the restrictions. If you added a websites (HTTP referrers) restriction, remove it: Pranory calls Google from its servers, and that restriction blocks searches.

The Google Cloud console menu paths were checked on the last-updated date. Google sometimes renames things; if you can't find an option, use the search bar at the top of the console.

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