Alright, let’s dive into 15 Google Maps functions that are super useful for Local Guides, framed as tips and tricks:
Local Guide Focused Tips & Tricks:
1. Maximize Review Impact:
Tip: Write detailed reviews exceeding 200 characters. This earns bonus points and provides valuable insights to others.
2. Photo and Video Power:
Tip: Upload high-quality photos and videos of places. Visual content significantly enhances listings and earns you points.
3. Answer Questions Proactively:
Tip: Regularly check and answer questions about places you’ve visited. This helps others and boosts your contributions.
4. Fact-Check and Edit:
Tip: Use the “Suggest an edit” feature to correct inaccurate information. This improves map accuracy and earns points.
5. Add Missing Places:
Tip: If you discover a new business or landmark, add it to Google Maps. This is a high-value contribution.
6. Utilize Q&A Responses:
Tip: Respond to other peoples questions within the Q&A sections of locations. This helps build a strong information base, and increases your interactions.
7. Photo Tagging:
Tip: When posting photos, use the photo tagging (adding a descriptive caption) features. This adds extra information to the photo, and adds to your contributions.
8. Ratings Matter:
Tip: Even simple ratings contribute. Consistently rate places you visit to build your points.
9. Stay Updated:
Tip: Keep your Google Maps app updated to access the latest features and contribute effectively.
10. Explore “Contribute” Tab:
Tip: Regularly check the “Contribute” tab in Google Maps for suggestions on places to review, edit, or add.
11. Local Guides Connect:
Tip: Engage with the Local Guides Connect forum. This is a great place to learn, share tips, and connect with other Guides.
12. Verify Information:
Tip: If you have local knowledge, use it to verify information on Google Maps, helping to ensure accuracy.
13. Use Lists:
Tip: Create and share lists of your favorite places. This helps others discover hidden gems and showcases your local knowledge.
14. Check Business Hours:
Tip: When visiting a business, double-check its hours and report any inaccuracies. This helps prevent others from wasting time.
15. Be Thorough:
Tip: When reviewing a place, be thorough and provide specific details about your experience. This helps others make informed decisions.
By utilizing these tips, you can maximize your contributions to Google Maps and enhance your experience as a Local Guide.
@Hein_Thaw These are fantastic tips for maximizing contributions as a Local Guide! Writing detailed reviews, adding high-quality photos, and verifying information truly enhance the Maps experience for everyone. Engaging with the Local Guides Connect community also makes a big difference! Thanks for sharing these valuable insights! #LocalGuides
Remove immediately photos posted more than once, and never post a photo in more than one place. This is a violation and, according to the policies, “Users who duplicate photos across locations or post images that infringe on copyrights will be removed from the program.”
Sometimes it happens to upload by mistake a photo more than once, but when this become a behavior the ban cannot be avoided, that’s why I think that every user should be sure to adhere to the policies, first of all
Hello @ErmesT , You are right and thanks for your kind suggestions.Policy is highly important .This is a post about some tips and tricks regarding maps function.
Sure, @Hein_Thaw , and they are important, but forgetting the policies will make everything else equal to zero.
This apply to your contributions too.
I am always happy when someone is posting tips about how to improve our contributions, because this help me to grow. In this case the first thing I do is to see how is contributing the person who shares the tips. And you take great photos, really beautiful, especially the photos of food.
But, why you post them two or three times, sometimes in different locations?
This may end in a ban, if not fixed asap, that’s why respecting the rules must be always on the top of the priorities.
Hello @ErmesT, I’m totally agreed with you. Thanks for your care to me regarding about photos. I believe that Google might accept for same photos upload if it is for different purposes (Let’s say there is a stall in a supermarket, and it has its own brand and stall, photos might be uploaded to both supermarket location and to a location of stall map, as it is totally helpful to users, and it provides additional value) and I am aware that it is not breaking that content policy so far, although it looks spamming just seeing from a list of photos without getting its purpose. Plus, it does the same for Update and Photo sessions of Google map. After your kind suggestion which is from experienced connect moderator like you, I would try to get different angle photos for different sessions.
Cheers!
The way to improve the information about, let say, a stall in a supermarket, is to edit the stall listing, putting it “located within” the supermarket.
This will improve the information in the main place, where a directory will be created for showing all the places inside the main one, and also the information on the listing of the stall.
Time ago I wrote a detailed post to explain how this work: Local Guides Tips: How to add “Located Within” in Google Maps.
Another bad behavior is to add the same photo more times in the lame listing:
In the review
In the photo update
In the “photos” section of the listing
This is against the rules too. A photo should be added only once
Hope this will help you to better understand rules and policies of Google Maps
Writing detailed reviews, adding high-quality photos, and verifying information truly enhance the Maps experience for everyone. Engaging with the Local Guides Connect community also makes a big difference! 
Thanks for sharing these valuable insights! 
