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We're using a few Google APIs on our site such as embed maps, static maps and address lookup.

We were thinking about removing these and going with other services, or even saving the returned static map as an image and loading that instead of doing a Google request every time.

If we did that, would our rank in Google decrease?

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I agree with closetnoc, but remember one thing. Because you're technically using an API live from a remote computer, the speed and performance of the API may be a factor because it contributes to the overall page speed loading time. Google uses page speed time as a factor in how high you rank in search engines. Slower functioning websites are moved further down in search.

Because you're using google's own API's and you're trying to rank with google, they may give you a break in rankings, but if you use google's API's on your sites and you're trying to rank high on bing and the server google's API's run on decides to not work for several hours, then bing may lower your website rank.

Regardless of what API you try to use, tests your website in webpagetest.org using different servers from different countries from their drop down because you may notice speed differences with and without using their API's.

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  • Again! Excellent points!!
    – closetnoc
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 4:26
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While content created can help with SERP placement in that it is content and when done properly can be weighted for search, use of any Google API is not a ranking factor.

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