Google

Integrate Google with Strapi

Why Use Google?

Google dominates the search landscape, handling over 8.5 billion searches daily. By integrating Google with Strapi, you can harness its smart algorithms that serve up personalized results through a clean interface that works flawlessly across devices. Strapi's headless CMS benefits allow developers to efficiently manage content and deliver it across multiple platforms, enhancing the integration with Google's services.

Integrating Google with Strapi opens up a world of possibilities. Google's ecosystem includes Maps for finding places, Images for visual searches, and Scholar for academic content—each helping you find exactly what you need. Search pros love the advanced operators for pinpoint filtering, while Knowledge Panels give instant answers right on the results page.

Developers wanting to build with Google tech can dive into the official Google developer documentation to integrate Google services with Strapi effectively.

Why Use Strapi?

Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS offering features, like customizable APIs, role-based permissions, multilingual support, etc. It simplifies content management and integrates effortlessly with modern frontend frameworks.

Explore the Strapi documentation for more details.

Strapi 5 Highlights

The out-of-the-box Strapi features allow you to get up and running in no time:

  1. Single types: Create one-off pages that have a unique content structure.
  2. Draft and Publish: Reduce the risk of publishing errors and streamline collaboration.
  3. 100% TypeScript Support: Enjoy type safety & easy maintainability
  4. Customizable API: With Strapi, you can just hop in your code editor and edit the code to fit your API to your needs.
  5. Integrations: Strapi supports integrations with Cloudinary, SendGrid, Algolia, and others.
  6. Editor interface: The editor allows you to pull in dynamic blocks of content.
  7. Authentication: Secure and authorize access to your API with JWT or providers.
  8. RBAC: Help maximize operational efficiency, reduce dev team support work, and safeguard against unauthorized access or configuration modifications.
  9. i18n: Manage content in multiple languages. Easily query the different locales through the API.
  10. Plugins: Customize and extend Strapi using plugins.

Learn more about Strapi 5 feature.

Setup Strapi 5 Headless CMS

We are going to start by setting up our Strapi 5 project with the following command:

🖐️ Note: make sure that you have created a new directory for your project.

You can find the full documentation for Strapi 5 here.

Install Strapi

npx create-strapi-app@latest server

You will be asked to choose if you would like to use Strapi Cloud we will choose to skip for now.

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We can't find any auth credentials in your Strapi config.

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- ✦ Blazing-fast ✦ deployment for your projects
- ✦ Exclusive ✦ access to resources to make your project successful
- An ✦ Awesome ✦ community and full enjoyment of Strapi's ecosystem

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❯ Skip

After that, you will be asked how you would like to set up your project. We will choose the following options:

? Do you want to use the default database (sqlite) ? Yes
? Start with an example structure & data? Yes <-- make sure you say yes 
? Start with Typescript? Yes
? Install dependencies with npm? Yes
? Initialize a git repository? Yes

Once everything is set up and all the dependencies are installed, you can start your Strapi server with the following command:

cd server
npm run develop

You will be greeted with the Admin Create Account screen.

003-strapi-5.png

Go ahead and create your first Strapi user. All of this is local so you can use whatever you want.

Once you have created your user, you will be redirected to the Strapi Dashboard screen.

004-strapi-5.png

Publish Article Entries

Since we created our app with the example data, you should be able to navigate to your Article collection and see the data that was created for us.

005-strapi-5.png

Now, let's make sure that all of the data is published. If not, you can select all items via the checkbox and then click the Publish button.

Strapi Articles Published

Enable API Access

Once all your articles are published, we will expose our Strapi API for the Articles Collection. This can be done in Settings -> Users & Permissions plugin -> Roles -> Public -> Article.

You should have find and findOne selected. If not, go ahead and select them.

007-strapi-5.png

Test API

Now, if we make a GET request to http://localhost:1337/api/articles, we should see the following data for our articles.

008-strapi-5.png

🖐️ Note: The article covers (images) are not returned. This is because the REST API by default does not populate any relations, media fields, components, or dynamic zones.. Learn more about REST API: Population & Field Selection.

So, let's get the article covers by using the populate=* parameter: http://localhost:1337/api/articles?populate=*

vuejs strapi integration - api request.png

Getting Started with Google

Combining Google services with Strapi creates robust, feature-packed applications. If you're new to Strapi or considering migrating to a headless CMS, this guide will help you integrate Google services effectively.

For secure Google integration with Strapi, add these variables to your Strapi .env file:

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_here
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_here
GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:1337/connect/google/callback

Understanding how API authentication works is crucial when securing your application. To enhance security, consider using Strapi security plugins when configuring your Strapi environment for Google integration. Never share these credentials or commit them to version control.

Installing and Adjusting Settings for Google Services

To prepare your Strapi application for integrating Google services and other API integrations, you need to adjust your settings accordingly.

Install the Google authentication package:

npm install strapi-google-auth

Setting up the plugin in your config/plugins.js file enables efficient management of Strapi third-party integrations.

module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
  'strapi-google-auth-with-token': {
    enabled: true,
    config: {
      clientId: env('GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID'),
      clientSecret: env('GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET'),
      redirectUri: env('GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI')
    }
  },
});

Adjusting your settings accordingly can also help with automating tasks with Strapi. Additionally, you might consider using Strapi plugins for SEO to enhance your application's visibility alongside Google integration.

To integrate Google Maps with Strapi, you need to configure the Content Security Policy in config/middlewares.js. Ensure your settings allow scripts and images from maps.googleapis.com and maps.gstatic.com for proper functionality.

Code Implementation: Integrate Google With Strapi

Let's add Google services to your app by integrating Google with Strapi. This process harnesses the power of a headless CMS for frontend developers, allowing you to build dynamic applications.

To customize the auth controller for Google Authentication in Strapi, you can modify the auth.js file. Here's a basic structure you might consider:

// extensions/users-permissions/controllers/auth.js
module.exports = {
  async callback(ctx) {
    const provider = ctx.params.provider || 'local';
    const params = ctx.request.body;

    if (provider === 'google') {
      // Implement your custom logic for Google authentication here
    }

    // Proceed with the default callback
    const callback = strapi.plugins['users-permissions'].controllers.auth.callback;
    return callback(ctx);
  }
};

For more details on setting up Google authentication, you can refer to this guide.

Whether you're building a chat application or a content platform, implementing Google authentication in chat apps can enhance user engagement.

For integrating Google Maps in a React frontend connected to Strapi, consider this code example:

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { GoogleMap, LoadScript, Marker } from '@react-google-maps/api';

const MapComponent = () => {
  const [locations, setLocations] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    fetch('http://localhost:1337/api/locations')
      .then(response => response.json())
      .then(data => setLocations(data.data));
  }, []);

  return (
    <LoadScript googleMapsApiKey="YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY">
      <GoogleMap
        center={{ lat: 0, lng: 0 }}
        zoom={2}
        mapContainerStyle={{ width: '100%', height: '400px' }}
      >
        {locations.map(location => (
          <Marker
            key={location.id}
            position={{
              lat: location.latitude,
              lng: location.longitude
            }}
          />
        ))}
      </GoogleMap>
    </LoadScript>
  );
};

By combining Google Maps and Strapi, you can build interactive maps with Strapi for your application. Alternatively, to enhance location-based features in your app, consider implementing geolocation in React apps.

For integrating Google Analytics with your Strapi application, add tracking to your frontend:

// Add to your main layout component
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag() { dataLayer.push(arguments); }
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

// Track custom events
function trackArticleView(articleId, articleTitle) {
  gtag('event', 'article_view', {
    'content_type': 'article',
    'content_id': articleId,
    'content_title': articleTitle
  });
}

Your Strapi application now taps into Google's authentication, mapping, and analytics capabilities by integrating Google with Strapi. Check out the Google Cloud Console for more services you might want to add later.

Strapi Open Office Hours

If you have any questions about Strapi 5 or just would like to stop by and say hi, you can join us at Strapi's Discord Open Office Hours Monday through Friday at 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm CST: Strapi Discord Open Office Hours

For more details, visit the Strapi documentation and Google documentation.