The Great Google Maps Viewpocalypse of 2024: When Millions Became Thousands

Google Maps contribution stories
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Local Guide Old Timers,

Remember when your Google Maps photo contributions made you feel like a social media influencer? “Look at me with my MILLIONS of views!”
Well, drink one for the glory days, because they will never come back.

Like many crazy LGs, I love tracking progress, and I was tracking leaderboard activity since I became “serious” about my LG activity (October 2022).
I recently pulled my 2023 old sheet and compared some numbers and ruminated a little.
Here goes:

The Day the Media Views Died

In early 2024, Google quietly implemented what we may call “The Great View Purge.” One day we were basking in the warm glow of millions of views, and the next? BAM! View counts plummeted faster than my motivation to photograph another Starbucks bathroom.

The data doesn’t lie (though I kind of wish it would in this case). Looking at the few of top Local Guides, the carnage is brutal:

On average, view counts dropped by about 68% across the board.
If you were around in March 2024, that sound you heared? was the collective sobbing of Local Guides worldwide.

Creating an Untouchable Elite Class

Before February 2024, Local Guides accumulated views based on impressions - essentially collecting 3-4 times more views than under the current system.
This means those “early adopters” (me included) who’ve been diligently uploading photos for years have amassed truly astronomical view counts - billions in some cases.

(Some of us) love to track our leaderboard - all thanks to the amazing @AdamGT and his merry companion of dedicated tech and support team.

The leaderboard now isn’t just stagnant - it’s practically set in concrete.
Those who joined the Local Guides program after February 2024 might as well be trying to climb Mount Everest in flip-flops.
At the current accumulation rate, it would take a new joiner DECADES to reach the view counts that the old guard achieved in just a few years.

The “New Math” Explanation (That Nobody Asked For)

Google’s explanation basically boils down to: “We’re not counting impressions anymore, just unique user views within 24 hours.”

Translation: “That photo of a restaurant menu that appeared as a thumbnail 10,000 times? Yeah, that now counts as maybe 7 views.”

That change of method was drastic.
Hopefully they will not try that again, as they may just as well only count views from people who actually visited the place after seeing our photos or maybe only count views from people who wrote a haiku about their experience afterward.

How to Game the New System (Or Why Even Try?)

Still want to climb to the top of the leaderboard?
Here’s my highly scientific approach:

  1. Invent a time machine and start posting photos in 2018
  2. Focus on “high-intent” locations where people spend time looking at photos
  3. Add photos to places with fewer existing images
  4. Post photos that actually help people make decisions
  5. Accept that you’ll never crack the top 100 unless you’ve been at this for years

The Silver Lining (There better be one)

Maybe, just maybe, this new system actually rewards more meaningful contributions. Perhaps a single person deeply examining your photo of a restaurant’s signature dish is worth more than 100 people who scrolled past it while looking for something else.

Or maybe Google just got tired of displaying all those digits. Who knows?

The Fossilized Leaderboard

The leaderboard views ranking as we knew it isn’t just dead—it’s fossilized.
Those lucky enough to amass billions of views during the “impression era” (pre-February 2024) have essentially cemented their positions for eternity (I’m excluding @Herve_Andrieu - he cemented his chamionship position and will be forever our true north star for LG dedication).

With view accumulation now crawling at 25-30% of the previous rate, us lucky old timers set digital dinosaur footprints that new contributors can only gaze at in wonder.

Those joining the LG now are like them tiny mammals scurrying around after the asteroid hit. Sure, we will evolve and adapt to the new system, but we’ll be doing it in the shadow of those immovable leaderboard monuments to a bygone era.

Remember fellow Guides: in Google Maps as in life, it’s not about the quantity of views, but the quality of the experience. (At least that’s what I tell myself as I watch the view count trickle in at a third of the previous rate.)

Data collected from tracking multiple Local Guide accounts between January 2024 and March 2024.

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:joy: ein interessanter Rückblick auf die allgemeine Katastrophe im Februar 2024 mit der großen Enttäuschung aller :sob:

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That’s quite demotivating but will still keep contributing as a hobby. But I truly appreciate your dedication about keeping this track and analyzing in depth. Thank you for sharing this us, some points are really going to help us to achieve the apex. :folded_hands:

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@abermans Very nice article. I agree that the change is demotivating at all levels of the scale: you’re a beginner, you will NEVER reach the top of the ladder. You’re at the top, nothing is moving anymore.

What is the right solution? As much as it feels unpleasant for anyone at the top, the great purge should be completed with a counter reset.
How? the ratio of new views post-purge vs pre-purge is a known value (or pretty easy to calculate). Give some emblematic badge called “Historical Views” or something like that to commemorate the number of “purged views” to all guides for whom you “adjust” the view count. Then adjust that view count will making clear communication to the community of what you are doing and how this will make it fair for everyone. Because in the end, at any scale in the ladder, we’re all wanting this system to be fair.
Another way to do it in a less “drastic manner” would be to add a NEW counter called “Real views” that starts from the date of the purge. And slowly make this counter the main counter displayed everywhere, while keeping the “historical” counter in a transition period (2-3 years).
I am sure that we would all be a lot more motivated by any of these 2 alternative view counters.

oh and even better: send a poll request to your active local guides and ask them to vote on options:

  • keep counter as is
  • retroactive counter reset
  • counter only from the date of the purge

I doubt that Google Maps has much interest in completing this “view purge” in any manner unfortunately.

In any case, I am stubborn and I keep posting :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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A fascinating historical perspective on visitor statistics @abermans thanks for sharing. It’s not completely the case that visits are so much less. My star video is growing consistently at over 60,000 visits per month. That’s for a tapas bar in the quiet Green part of Spain where relatively few foreigners venture! My photos overall are still growing at a healthy rate.

I am envious of your location in London that’s where the numbers are even if they’re not what they used to be.

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Very important analysis, dear friend @abermans
Very sad to notice this…
:folded_hands:

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This is a very solid write-up @abermans . I have been very demotivated by this issue/change and have really just started sharing to Maps recently, after taking most of 2024 to sulk and stew. :sob:

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Thank you all for the thoughtful responses!

@Mikeinthefalls
I completely understand that feeling of demotivation. I went through the same sulking phase for a while after seeing those numbers plummet. It’s like watching years of work suddenly get devalued overnight. But I’m slowly getting my posting mojo back too.

@MarkAuchincloss
That’s a great point about location differences.
London definitely helps with the numbers, though even here they’re a fraction of what they used to be.
It’s fascinating that your tapas bar video in rural Spain is performing so well!
Video is the new views king - I know (I push more videos than anyone else AFAIK)

@KetanChhaniyara
You’re absolutely right - treating it as a hobby is the healthiest approach.
The numbers game can drive us crazy if we let it!

@Annaelisa
Ja, es war wirklich eine Katastrophe im Februar! Die Enttäuschung war überall zu spüren. :sweat_smile:

@Herve_Andrieu
First, thank you for responding - it’s genuinely humbling to have someone of your Local Guide stature engage with this.
The fact that you’d even consider supporting a counter reset, potentially losing your billions of impressions, speaks volumes about your character and commitment to the community.
Your proposed solutions are spot-on: either a full reset with an “Historical Views” badge to commemorate the pre-purge era, or a new “Real Views” counter starting from the purge date.
It would create a more level playing field for everyone. The community poll idea is brilliant too.
Unfortunately, as you said, I doubt Google Maps has much interest in completing this “view purge” in any fair manner.
But the fact that you’re still stubborn and keep posting despite all this is inspirational!
You are not the only one!
Below is another tracking list showing what’s happened to other leads since the end of February 2024. I’m doing my best to catch up to your mammoth contributions, even if it feels like chasing a supersonic jet on a bicycle!

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To everyone - after the initial pain and frustration, I think we need to remember why we became Local Guides in the first place. Our mission was always to improve maps and support local communities and businesses. The view counts were just a nice bonus (and admittedly, a highly addictive one!). Maybe this is a good time to reconnect with that original purpose and get our posting enthusiasm back.

The communities and businesses that benefit from our contributions don’t care about our view counts - they care about the accurate information, helpful photos, and honest reviews that help them thrive.
So while I might check my stats a little less obsessively now, I’m going to keep contributing.
Who’s with me?

Adding some of the famous fellow top contributors to the chat (maybe we can get some mojo back together)
@AdamGT @TorM @Briggs @Timgur @jayasimha78 @StevenBerlin @JordanSB @JonBekkevoll @MattGatlin @TerryPG @DshottDennis @photoslinger @DougSTL @xmen123wood @SamanthaSheehy …

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Another great spot on post @abermans . Thanks for elaborating what I knew already, when you publish the actual numbers it is mind blowing. Not so much what we achieved but the decreases are demoralizing. Like @Mikeinthefalls I slowed down for a while. But like the legend @Herve_Andrieu I too am stubborn and continue to contribute.

I too have got more excited about videos and will continue to experiment with some ideas.
Nice to see to see you drop by Herve. You do have some good ideas there but I cannot see Google doing anything about it or even looking at the suggestion. So many of us where and still are disappointed that they didn’t even share or shed some light on the “crash” of 24.
I am personally thinking " it is what it is"

But thanks for this Abermans.

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@TerryPG @abermans @

Nice and thoughtful write-up. Even tho a year has passed, i still have hope that something might change in the future and i still enjoy photographing entire malls for fun and to help show photos to maps. Its a nice hobby, and gets me out, gets me exercise, and a bit of socializing.

The people here are all super nice and helpful. Kinda like an online family! Cheers

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@abermans here here ! I’m with you all the way! Like you my obsession is to improve Google Maps and support local communities and businesses. It’s highly motivating to know that businesses and communities are thriving thanks to the tremendous impact Google Maps can have, of course profiles visits are part of all that success.

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It’s disappointing that that only a handful of us local guides responded to this @abermans .

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Terry, I agree with you. But take a look at @abermans first sentence - Local Guide Old Timers. With the amount of time that has passed, there would now be a large cohort of new Local Guides who do not know the old ways, as well as some of the original guides who have reduced their activity or grown out of their addiction. Given enough time, this change will become a non-issue, and no one will be talking about it anymore.

I don’t say this to nullify your concerns, but to highlight that on every public platform I’ve participated in, there have been unwelcome changes which quickly became the new normal despite much protest initially.

Regarding the chart above, My March 2025 ending figure for Daily Views is 22,768 while back in January 2024 it was 29,779. That’s a -23.5% change. I’ve actually seen worse numbers - May 2024 showed 11,826. But there’s been a steady increase with generally double that figure from December 2024 onward.

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I agree, Tony!

The “issue” triggered me to find ways to track all my photos and meanwhile I found it more interesting to compare multiple photos posted to the same place, how the numbers change over time and how differently places compare to each other. Specially, if I added a place and my photos are still sitting on top of list, the views of the cover picture tells me roughly how many users did find the new place … etc.
Over time I am getting less interested watching the high numbers versus discovering more subtle changes. For example seeing 10 photos, I added to a place two days ago, 3 got 28 to 40 views yesterday, while 5 did not get any views yet and the remaining 2 are “semi hidden” (not appearing under “By me”).
Nevertheless, I also track the 32 with most views for all of my photos, as well as those posted after Feb 7, 2024. For both sets, the ranking changes very rarely.
@tony_b @TerryPG

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I sort my contributions from highest to lowest and track my top photos and almost all my videos. It is interesting to see there isn’t much change in the order of the photos, but quite often a new video will suddenly appear in my list, way above previously uploaded videos.

It isn’t often that I add a large number of photos/videos to a POI, but I do have a recent set of 6 photos and 4 videos which are now at:

  • 1192 indoor video
  • 1062 outdoor video
  • 922 food photo
  • 417 indoor photo
  • 4 with less than 100 views
  • 2 with zero views

All appear under the By You tab, including those with zero views.

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First, hello! I don’t often get tags outside of AdamGT’s leaderboard posts, so I appreciate the sentiment and thought.

Actually, I’ve started to get back into this. This is the first time I’ve heard about “The Great View Purge” and it is interesting to hear. I indeed was excessively obsessive about min-maxing views, I would experiment day in and day out to figure out that exact photo style and perspective that Google Maps’ AI would feature in front. It has undoubtedly changed every month that I get the Google Local Guides email, but definitely building on that early advantage set a strong foundation.
Nowadays, I mainly use the Google Local Guides Program quite casually. The occasional reviews, food posts and general things while I’m out and about. The big issue I have at the moment is when I upload a photo to a maps listing, but even after days or weeks it won’t even appear and it stays as zero views. This is about 30% of my photos. If the AI doesn’t want to accept them, then that’s one less photo for Maps. I usually just prune my contributions (i.e. delete the zeros or the poor performing ones) and move on.

But I agree with Google Maps’ changes. It seems quite unnatural that after about an day, a photo would be viewed about 2,500 times by individual users. Perhaps they would be just bots running amok and generating artificial impressions. Can’t expect so much people to be looking at the exact same photo of one particular restaurant in my neighbourhood. Despite this rise and being quite high on the top, I now measure my impact based on tangible impressions. You know, reacts to reviews and photos like the hearts and that. Responses by business owners, that sort of thing. A circular, uplifting economy that brings up one another together, rather than flying off doing my own thing.
But I will say, a lot more is happening on Maps nowadays. There are many more Local Guides, more interactive between guides and businesses, still going strong. Maps is as competitive as ever. Do agree with the fossilisation of the leaderboards though, there has been little movement since. I probably would not reset any view counter. A legacy for the early movers, and even those who have been with the program since day-one, thinking that many of them still would have a lasting impact. All the best with everyone!

P.S. I had a look at January 2024 (left) vs. the March 2025 (right) email from Google Local Guides. I think March 2024 was a glitch because it claimed I had 84,370,434 views. An average of 10 million views a month is ok with me.

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