How can I embed a Google Map on my Web page?

Until very recently, the answer would have been "no, sorry" or "not without some serious hacking", but Google's just opened up its terrific Google Maps application in a way that makes this task fairly straightforward, whether your target is a Facebook or MySpace profile, a blog entry, or even a traditional Web page or site.

The first step you'll need to take is to go to Google Maps and map an address, either of your office, your home, your favorite restaurant, whatever. I mapped the location of some house or the other that our tax dollars help paint every few years:

The key is to now click on "Link to this page" on the top right, which pops up a small window that contains two links:

The second of those two links is what you'd want to cut and paste, and the result would look like this:

Nice, but truth be told, I'd prefer it were a bit smaller if I am going to include it on a Web page, so click on "Customize and preview embedded map" and you'll get a new window with a variety of options:

Now I can choose "Small" and grab the resultant code at the bottom of that page. The result? Here we go:

Nicer. Anyway, whatever size you want, you now have a slick way to add a Google Map to your Web page (or blog entry, as demonstrated in this very article). Good luck!