Featured Photos Success: Analysis & Gratitude 🙏

Connections & celebrations
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Hello fellow Local Guides,

I am absolutely thrilled to share a recent milestone: in the past few months, many of my photos have been featured on Google Maps! It’s incredibly rewarding to see my contributions helping millions of users.

This success wouldn’t be possible without the knowledge and amazing spirit of sharing right here on Connect. I especially want to thank the community for the helpful tips on photo editing and quality, like this great post by @MortenCopenhagen on the new Google Photos editor: New Google Photos editor interface - make your photos look their best. Thank you to everyone whose articles, tips, and insights have guided budding Local Guides like me! :folded_hands:

My Key Takeaways for Getting Featured

After analyzing the photos that were featured, here are the main factors I believe led to the recognition. I hope this helps others in their contributions:

  • Filling the Gaps: Several photos were featured because they were either the first to depict the storefront or the POI (Point of Interest) had a very low number of existing photos. Filling a photo gap is very valuable!
  • Quality Frontage: The remaining featured photos focused on showcasing the storefront clearly. This included proper lighting, alignment, and ensuring the business’s sign board was clearly visible and legible.

Check Out Some Recent Featured Shots

I am happy to share a few examples of my prominent featured photos below:

  • Continental Coffee: Posted [10/30/2025] | Views: [74] - Google Maps
  • The Juicery: Posted [10/27/2025] | Views: [59] - Google Maps
  • IndianOil: Posted [10/26/2025] | Views: [49] - Google Maps
  • Fashion Factory: Posted [10/20/2025] | Views: [29,127] - Google Maps
  • Chai Bliss: Posted [10/06/2025] | Views: [752] - Google Maps
  • McDonald’s: Posted [10/05/2025] | Views: [4,459] - Google Maps
  • R K Collections: Posted [10/01/2025] | Views: [40,121] - Google Maps

Thank you again to the entire community for your spirit of sharing and encouragement! It keeps me motivated to capture the best shots for the maps.

Happy Contributing! :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:

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Herzlichen GlĂĽckwunsch :balloon: @palmad1 es sieht sehr gut aus :folded_hands:

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I’m glad you found my photo posts useful.

Cheers

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That’s a fabulous achievement, dear @palmad1
Many congratulations :bouquet:

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Very good @palmad1. That’s a strategy that I use. It always amazes me to see food photos on a POI and no external photo of the place where the food is being obtained. I’m not seeing the “featured photo” notifications recently, but technically a lot of my photos are featured, if the POI has less than 10 photos.

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Thank you, @Annaelisa for your wishes :folded_hands:. It means a lot :slight_smile:

Thank you, @MortenCopenhagen for sharing your knowledge, which is helping the community improve Google Maps :folded_hands:

Thank you so much for your kind wishes and encouragement! dear @TusharSuradkar . It means a lot :folded_hands:

Thank you, @tony_b, for sharing your experience and confirming the value of that strategy. :folded_hands:
I completely agree - it’s amazing when a popular POI has great food photos but is missing a clear image of the storefront or entrance. Filling that simple visual gap is often the most valuable contribution.

I always focused on adding those essential external photos, but only recently, after becoming active on Connect, I started fine tuning photos for lighting and alignment, which is helping them get featured.

I hope those “featured photo” notifications return for you soon, even though you know your photos are technically being highlighted. It’s always a nice bit of extra motivation to see that pop-up!

One thing I would like to highlight here, that I’m currently only able to see about the last 28 days of notifications in my tab, which is frustrating. I’ve actually mentioned this on Connect before, we definitely need a better way to filter these notifications and access a complete history on the Maps!

I’m curious: Are you also limited to seeing just the last few weeks in your notifications tab?

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I haven’t been in the habit of looking back at past notifications. I only see them when they come in initially.

Yes. I just checked and the oldest notification in the list is 28 days ago.

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Thank you for checking and confirming that 28-day limit, @tony_b :folded_hands:

I understand that many of us only glance at the notifications when they come in, and they certainly bring a smile to our faces! :slight_smile:

However, for those who need to track the specific contribution history - looking back to see when a photo was featured or analyzing the impact of media, that 28-day history really limits our scope. This highlights the need for Google Maps to provide better Notification Management, specifically for filtering or viewing the complete history.

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Congratulations @palmad1 on having your photos featured. It truly showcases your dedication and the quality of your shots. Thank you for sharing your experience and helpful tips with the community.

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Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement, @PrasadVR :folded_hands:t2:

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