Maps and directions on a business site

What an embedded map costs

It loads a substantial amount of somebody else's code, often before a visitor has interacted with anything, and it frequently sets cookies at the same time. That is both a speed problem and a consent problem.

Our page on third-party scripts covers the privacy half, and our page on page speed covers the weight. An interactive map is rarely worth both.

It is also the element most likely to break a page on a slow connection, because it blocks while it fetches and the rest of the content waits behind it.

It is also the element most often left on a page that does not need it. Plenty of service businesses carry a map on every page out of template habit, paying the weight on visits where nobody is travelling anywhere.

What to use instead

A static image of the map, with the address in text beneath it, linked to whichever mapping service the visitor prefers. That loads at once, costs nothing in consent, and gets somebody to directions in one tap.

Most people opening directions want them in the application already on their phone rather than in a window on your page, so the link is frequently the better experience anyway.

Where you do embed, load it on interaction: show the static image and swap in the interactive version only when somebody clicks it.

Written directions matter more

A map shows where you are. Written directions tell somebody how to actually arrive, which is a different and more useful thing for anybody who has not been before.

Say which entrance, where to park, what the building looks like, and what landmark to look for. Those details are what prevent the call from the car park.

This is also the part a screen reader and an answer engine can use. A map is an image; the directions are text, and text is what gets read out.

Say how long it takes from somewhere recognizable. Ten minutes from the station tells somebody more about whether to walk than any distance in miles does.

What directions should say

The list below is what somebody unfamiliar with the area needs. Most business sites publish an address and a map and leave every one of these unanswered.

• The full address, in text
• Which entrance to use
• Where to park, and whether it is free
• What the building looks like from the road
• The nearest landmark people know
• Public transport, if customers use it
• Anything that makes finding it difficult

Accessibility of a map

An embedded map is often unusable with a keyboard and gives a screen reader nothing useful. Where it is the only way to find your address, that excludes people entirely.

Always put the address in text on the page as well, never only inside the map. That single habit fixes the most common version of this problem.

If you embed, give the frame a title so somebody using a screen reader knows what it is rather than landing in an unlabeled region.

Service area businesses

If customers do not visit you, a map is usually the wrong element entirely. What they need is the list of places you cover, in text, which our page on coverage pages covers.

A map showing a shaded region tells a visitor very little about whether their own street is inside it, and it is invisible to anything reading the page.

Publishing a home address you did not intend to publish is the other risk. Our page on home-based businesses covers keeping that deliberate.

Keeping it accurate

Check the pin actually lands on your building. Mapping services place businesses incorrectly more often than owners expect, and the first you hear of it is usually a late customer.

Make sure the address on the page, in your business profile and in the map all match exactly. Our page on consistent details covers why a mismatch causes real problems.

And update directions after any change to the area. Roadworks pass, but a new one-way system or a closed entrance can make written directions wrong for years.