Monitor your key's usage before you hit a limit
Watching your quota headers as you go tells you when a limit is approaching, well before a request actually gets rejected.
Tag
#headers
Quota headers on every response: know your limit before you call
Every My Geocode response carries a full set of quota headers, so a script can know exactly where it stands without a separate usage lookup.
Send your API key three different ways (and why it matters)
The same key works as a header, a bearer token, basic auth, or a query parameter, so pick whichever mechanism fits the tool making the request.
Read the X-Quota-Used and X-Quota-Limit headers correctly
Every response carries quota headers, but reading them correctly means knowing which one reflects your key and which one reflects your network.