A locator is an interactive map and search experience that helps visitors find the nearest location. Visitors can search by city, zip code, or current location, or explore by moving the map. Results appear as a list alongside the map — each location shows calls to action for Get Directions and View More Information, linking directly to the corresponding location page.

The locator is built into Yext Pages, so there's no need to configure a separate Search experience or involve a developer.

Note: The locator map is currently powered by Mapbox. Support for additional map providers is planned for future releases.

What Gets Created

When you generate a locator, the system automatically:

1. Creates a pre-configured Yext Search experience optimized for location finding
2. Creates a locator entity in the Knowledge Graph that powers the locator page
3. Creates a locator page group

Generate a Locator

You have two options for setting up a locator:

1. Add a locator to a page group
2. Create a standalone locator

Add a Locator to a Page Group

The easiest time to add a locator is when you create a page group — the Generate Locator checkbox is selected by default. If you skipped it at setup, you can add one at any time.

If you add a locator to a page group, the locator search experience uses the same entity scope as its parent location page group. This means that visitors can only find locations included in your page group. For example, if your page group includes only locations in New York City, the locator only shows those same locations.

To add a locator to an existing page group:

1. Navigate to Pages > [Your Site] > Page Groups.
2. Click the menu icon in the row of the page group you want to add a locator to.
3. Select Create Locator.
4. Confirm you want to create a locator.

After deployment, which may take a few minutes, a new locator page group appears on the Page Groups screen.

Create a Standalone Locator

When you create a standalone locator, you have the option to add entities, whether they are included in your page group or not. 

To create a standalone locator:

1. Navigate to Pages > [Your Site] > Page Groups.
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to the +Create Page Group button.
3. Fill out the Locator Name.
4. Fill out the Locations field. You can select:
   • A page group. All entities contained in the selected page groups, entity types, and saved filters will be available as search results.
   • Entities. All entities of the selected entity type will be included, or you can utilize saved filters to include a select set of entities from that entity type.
5. Select the locale(s) and primary locale (if more than one)

Customize the Locator

The locator page group functions like any other page group. Click Edit Layout to open the layout editor and preview the locator.

Map style: Click on the locator section in the layout editor and update the map style property in the right panel.

Location styles: You can customize the map pin color and icon for each entity type to help differentiate results on the map. For example, you can display a unique icon for ATMs versus Branches

Result Card: You can decide how result cards for each entity are displayed. For example, you can display static text like “Authorized Retailer” on a specific set of result cards.

Facets: The locator comes pre-configured with facet fields appropriate for location filtering — amenities, services, hours, and similar fields. To control which facets are visible to visitors:

1. Open the layout editor for the locator page group.
2. Click on the locator component in the preview.
3. Toggle facets on or off in the properties panel.

This lets you show only the filters most relevant to your visitors without modifying the underlying search configuration.

Preview and Test

Click Preview Changes in the layout editor to open the locator in a new tab and test the full search experience — map interaction, search by location, and the directions and detail links. Use View Live Site to check the published version.

Note: If you added your locator to a page group, the locator links to your individual location pages. Make sure your location page group is published before directing visitors to the locator.