Misleading Google Year-End Email: 2023 Wasn't What It Seems

Google Maps contribution stories
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Hello fellow Local Guides,

I recently received an email from Google that was meant to highlight how great the year 2023 was for me as a Local Guide, especially regarding my reviews on Google Maps. While it’s always nice to receive positive recognition, I couldn’t help but find the email’s content rather amusing, and not in a good way. In fact, I’d go so far as to call it misleading for me.

The email praised the quality and quantity of my Google Local Guides reviews, painting a picture of a wonderful and successful year on the platform. However, the reality was quite different, and 2023 turned out to be one of the worst years for my experience as a Local Guide.

Throughout the year, I encountered an unprecedented increase in the number of companies attempting to illegally delete my Google reviews by making false accusations. This not only hindered my ability to provide honest feedback but also eroded my trust in the platform. It’s disheartening to see more and more businesses resorting to these unethical practices.

I’m genuinely frustrated by this situation, and I’m now seriously considering whether continuing to contribute as a Local Guide is worth it. The integrity of the Google Local Guides program is essential, and it’s disconcerting to witness such manipulation.

If anyone else has faced similar issues with their Google Local Guides reviews or has advice on how to address this problem, I would greatly appreciate hearing your experiences. It’s important for us to come together and discuss these challenges to help maintain the credibility of the platform.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize that the email I received was far from an accurate reflection of my 2023 experience as a Local Guide. Let’s hope for a better year ahead for all of us who genuinely contribute to making Google Maps a reliable resource for everyone.

Have you encountered any such challenges or frustrations in your role as a Local Guide, and how have you dealt with them?

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Posting review is a problematic issue on Google maps nowadays. Although I’m not facing the problem you are since customers and consumers in my country still don’t rely on maps reviews to make decision on visiting a business or taking a service, we are facing issues regarding spam review filtering. This filter often makes legit review go unpublished, which is really frustrating. This is why I don’t write reviews that much, but things seem to get improved in recent days.

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Hallo Dennis,

sehr schade, dass du in 2023 so schlechte Erfahrungen mit dem Local Guides Programm gemacht hast. Aber das deckt sich mit meiner Erfahrung. Die Jahre zuvor war der Wert von Google Maps für Unternehmen überschaubar bis nicht bekannt und unsere Aktivitäten wurden eher belächelt. Das hat sich seit Covid drastisch geändert. Die Welt ist digitaler geworden, Smartphones sind aus dem Alltag nicht mehr wegzudenken und man verlässt sich auch immer mehr auf Dienste wie Google Maps, die dir das Leben leichter machen sollen. Dadurch ist natürlich auch der Wert von Nutzer-Bewertungen extrem gestiegen. Und wo ein Wert dahinter steht, gibt es auch immer schwarze Schafe, die das für ihren Vorteil ausnutzen.

Ich wünsche dir für 2024, dass deine Erfahrungen wieder besser werden. Immer schön die eigenen Erfahrungen teilen und bei Bewertungen nicht verallgemeinern macht dich weniger angreifbar. Viel Erfolg!

Liebe Grüße

Ludwig.