1 - Introduction:
As Local Guides it’s often amazing which one of all of our Google Maps photos is the one that attracts the most views. We’ve come to refer to this photo as our star photo and this post, which follows on from the Local Guides’ 2024 Album of Star Photos post, is where Local Guides can join in and share their star as we all have one. So if you’d like to share yours then jump on board because, regardless of how many views it has or how good a photo it is, or even what Local Guide level you are at, or where in the world you are located, we’d all love to see your star! Together we can build a photo album of 2025 stars in every corner of the world.
As well as adding your star photo in this album, if you wish, you can also have more fun and learn a lot more about star photos by joining the Top 100 Local Guides Star Photos leaderboards, and details on this are provided below.
2 - Questions:
We want this post to very much look like a photo album. Therefore, if you have any questions or wish to comment about star photos generally, or a specific Local Guide’s star photo in this album, or how to participate here or on the star photos leaderboards, then please do not add them in comments in this post. Instead, post them in a comment on the Discussion on the Local Guides, 2025 Star Photos post, a post specifically setup for this. Please note that any such comments added here will be moved to the special discussion post.
3 - Steps to add your star photo:
3.1 The short version
If you can’t be bothered or find it difficult to follow detailed instructions then the image below is a short version of the 4 basics when adding your star photo.
3.2 The long version
To participate, you need to take a screenshot of your star photo and add it in a comment on this post. Because we want a consistent format of entries in this album, please follow the basic formatting criteria as outlined below. A good idea is to use the steps mentioned as a checklist and make sure you cover each step. Your screenshot should:
- [20 points] include only one image of your star photo, clearly showing the current star views overlaid over it. Larger screenshots are best but do not over enlarge your screenshot at the expense of quality/resolution;
- [20 points] only be of your star photo and not show any Maps details that are not overlaid over your star photo itself on Maps;
- [10 points] preferably be taken in landscape (more wide than tall) layout as these photos look better in the album than portrait or vertical layout (more tall than wide) but portrait has its place,
- [10 points] be posted centered. The How to center Images and Text on the new Connect post might be of some help with this.
- [5 points] have only one blank line (i.e. no text) at the top between the screenshot itself and your Connect avatar and post date details,
- [20 points] include a caption using the following format Caption: Star photo by @YourConnectUsername of [name of the place] uploaded onto Google Maps on [include date uploaded] and showing star views of [enter star views] as at [include star views date] Note:
- If you’re participating on the star photo leaderboards, the caption to be used will be automatically generated for you
Simply copy and paste it with your screenshot; - If you’re adding your screenshot on a desktop PC then add the caption as part of the Insert Photos process (
) so that it is better integrated with the screenshot itself. - For a good general read on uploading a photo on Connect, read the guidelines here.
- [10 points] The caption must shows the correct star date & star views (screenshot) date.
- [10 points] The star views shown on your caption must be the same as that shown on your screenshot and if you’re a Top 100 Local Guides leaderboard participant, it must also be equal to the star views you have entered for your star photo on the Top 100 System!
- [5 point] Add one blank after your image and caption but not before! For better readability you can also add one blank line at the very end of your screenshot post
- [15 points] Add the name of the place, city and country as a heading and that heading must be the shared link of your star photo on Maps. Interested Local Guides can then simply select your heading’s link to visit and view your star photo on Maps
- [20 points] Immediately under the heading (no blank lines after the heading) tell the story about your star photo or the place or meal etc. This is important so make it interesting so others, including Search Engine robots, will enjoy reading and like your story and you just never know your star photo might be featured in other places on Connect as well as the Web and thus build on its impact
- [5 points] Include in your description details of make and model of the camera/smartphone used (e.g. Google Pixel 6a, Samsung Galaxy S24). Things you could mention include:
(a) Is this your best photo?
(b) Was this just a point and click shot?
Important Notes:
- After adding your star photo screenshot, you should check it on both mobile and a PC for formatting, layout and consistency (especially line spacing). Compare yours with others in the album;
- The points shown in brackets against each of the above requirements (maximum 150), are used to measure how well your star photo screenshot fits in with the specified formatting criteria mentioned above.
- Why did I say use your imagination and make the story about your star photo or the place or meal etc interesting so others, including Search Engine robots, will enjoy reading it? It’s because our star photos are not only shown in this album on Connect, they are also shown in the public domain and therefore end up on general Google Search Results Pages (SERPs). If we make our descriptions interesting, this will help generate generic “hits” to our photos which means more views
So when writing your description for your star photo screenshot, think of it as a mini post. Give it some thought, make it interesting but don’t go overboard!!!
4 - Updating your star photo:
From time to time you might wish to edit or update your star photo. For example, you have made a mistake in your post or the star views may have increased or you might even have a new star photo. Simple! There are two different scenarios here, (a) editing or updating your existing star photo and (b) adding a new star photo!
- When editing or updating your existing star photo, you simply re-visit your existing entry in this post, and update your star photo using either of the two procedures mentioned in Sections 5.1 and 5.2 below which as you can see, depends on whether you are or are not currently participating on the Top 100 Local Guides Leaderboards.** It’s important to note that when editing or updating your existing *star photo you must not start a new comment and add an updated screenshot showing the new star views,
- When adding a new star photo, you add it in a new comment on this post following the steps detailed in Section #3 above. A good idea is to add a permalink back to your original star post.
4.1 Participant on the Top 100 Local Guides Leaderboards
- Take a new screenshot of your new or current star photo showing the current star views that is compliant with points 1 to 3 of the formatting criteria in section 3 above.
- Update your star photo details on the Top 100 Local Guides system.
- Copy caption suggested on the Top 100 Local Guides system
- If you’re adding a new star photo then you add this in a new comment in this post following the steps detailed in Section 3 above. If you are adding a new star photo as described in point 5(b) above then go to step 16.
- If editing or updating your existing star photo (see point 5(a) above) then continue on with the following steps.
- Find your previous star photo in this album.
- Select the ellipsis menu (3 blue dots)
- Select Edit Reply
- Select the screenshot of your star photo
- Select the pencil icon to activate the edit function
- Delete your old star photo screenshot
- Add the new screenshot showing the updated star photo views
- Paste the caption copied at step 3 above.
- Select Done
- You could add in your description a table showing the changes in star views. For this example.
- Select Save Changes
- Job done! Grab a coffee!!
*** NOTES:**
(a) Should you update your album entry if the star views did not change?
If your star photo’s views did not change you must update the “as at” date on the last date in the month that you checked your star. This is important to maintain the correct history of your stars’ views in both the T100 Leaderboard System and posts on Connect, including the respective Leaderboard posts.
(b) Do you need to take and add a new screen shot, even if the number of views are the same as last month?
There is no need to update the screenshot if the star views remains unchanged, this is entirely your choice. However, it is still necessary to update the caption on the screenshot and this is to clearly indicate that the views are still what they are on the “as at” date. You will have the caption automatically generated for you after performing the step mentioned in (a) above and it will take no more than a minute or two, to add this new caption to your star post.
4.2 Non-participant on the Top 100 Local Guides Leaderboards
- Take a new screenshot of your new or current star photo showing the current star views that is compliant with points 1 to 3 of the formatting criteria in section 3 above.
- Find your previous star photo in this album.
- Select the ellipsis menu (3 blue dots)
- Select Edit Reply
- Select the screenshot of your star photo
- Select the pencil icon to activate the edit function
- Take a copy of the current caption
- Delete your old star photo screenshot
- Add the new screenshot showing the new or updated star photo views
- Paste back the old caption
- Update the star views and star views date on the caption
- Select Done
- Select Save Changes
- Job done! Grab a coffee
5 - The Top 100 Local Guides Star Photos Leaderboards:
As mentioned in the introduction above, as well as adding your star photo in this album, if you wish you can also register to participate on the Top 100 Local Guides Star Photos leaderboards. You will find the register link on the Leaderboards Index. You will also see links there to all the current Leaderboard posts as well as other related posts.
If you’re participating on the Top 100 Local Guides leaderboards then you’ll need the permalink to your post. Here are the basic steps to find your permalink:
(a) Select the "share a like to this post icon at the bottom of your post
(b) Select the copy icon on the right hand side of the link
(c) Close the Share a link to this post window
(d) Add this link when requested on the Leaderboard System
6 - Conclusion
You are invited to join the many hundreds of Local Guides from across the world to showcase your star photo. Let’s share and learn how to improve the quality of our photo contributions to Maps. Together we can do more.
This photo was taken with my iPhone 13
