Google Maps is such an awesome product whether it’s navigating you from A to B, exploring your area or helping you get things done! And one of the often overlooked feature of Google Maps is saving your favourite places into lists! It is so simple to do, so incredibly useful and I hope this post will help you give it a try and create some truly awesome lists not just for yourself but to share to the public too!
By default, every Google Map user will have three list already available to you; Favourites, Want to go and Starred places. Your interpretation may differ but I see the priority of the lists as Favourites > Starred places > Want to go.
- Want to go – Places that I have not been to but sounds interesting enough for me to want to save them for future explorations
- Starred places – Places that I have been to that I have had a really good time/experience and would be more than likely to return or recommend
- Favourites – Similar to Starred places but these are soooo good, I keep going back to them and are usually my all-time best venues
Besides these three lists, you can also create new ones, customise them to your own themes and either keep them private for your own use or share them to the public.
Top reasons to make a list:
- It’s a great way to keep a tab of all the amazing places that you’ve been to and to help you find them again in the future.
- It’s super easy to share them with friends and family as a list of recommended places; still be a local guide for when you don’t have the time to show them around.
- It helps you plan ahead when you’re travelling to a new location by marking out venues that you would want to visit. Then, by having visual markers on the map, you can group places together and create an efficient route to visit them all!
- It help others (public) discover the hidden gems, top places and memorable spots of your neighbourhood/city!
How to make a list:
There are numerous posts out there that cover this section so I’ll just link to them. They are all super amazing, so do check them out.
- Official support page detailing how to create a list.
- Official post by @KatieMcBroom as a supplement to help you apply for Connect Live 2020.
- A how-to video made by Indonesian Local Guide @BudionoS .
- How to use lists on Google Maps to make life easier by KatieMcB (2019 post)
- How to make great restaurant lists on Google Maps by @LawrenceNYC (2018 post)
- 4 tips for creating better lists by @annaroth (2018 post)
Tips:
Like all things related to this program, it’s always about the quality. So take your time to make a proper consideration of the type of lists that you’re making and which businesses do you add to it! Here are some quick tips!
- Remember to give your list a descriptive but short title. If you’re making the list public, you may want to make it catchy but always remember to keep it descriptive so that folks can immediately see what the list is for.
- Keep your list short (minimum of 5 locations). For example, if you’re making a list of Top Cafés, you shouldn’t be listing every single café in your area since that is no different to doing a search on Maps. Be selective of who you add to your list.
- Consider your catchment area: are you making a list for your neighbourhood, your city, your country, the world(!)? Which is the most helpful for a visitor that is coming to visit you?
- Consider who your target audience is: will this list be useful for tourists, parents, folks on a tight budget, foodies with extra cash to burn etc?
- Consider themes for your list: for example, rather than Top Cafés in Manchester, it could be Top Cafés for Foam Art. This helps to narrow down the focus and also give your list a unique spin!
- Provide extra information to the places you’ve added into your list; explain why you’ve included them in your list, perhaps provide further tips and recommendations. Your local knowledge on what’s best can be utterly helpful and insightful!
- Be transparent: I like to make a list based on places that I’ve actually been to and experienced but that limits the number of places that I can actually recommend. So I started tinkering around with adding places that I have heard is great although I’ve not been there myself. However, I do make sure that the majority of the items in my list are of places that I have visited. And to be super transparent of my selection, I now put a disclaimer indicating which places that I’ve actually been to!
- Research!! If you’re going to add places that you’ve not been to but heard it’s really great, make sure your information is valid and sound
When I started to make my own lists of places, the first thing I did was open up the map of my city, scanned through the whole city and picked out all the places that I’ve been to and would highly recommend. Then with this big list of places, I started to group them into smaller lists that was thematic. And locally, we have a Manchester Food and Drinks Festival Awards, so I checked their list of nominated places and add any that I think would be relevant. I am still in the process of fine-tuning the various lists (it’s taking foreeeevvveeerrr!!) but once I have them done, I’ll share the links. So far my lists include:
- Well-maintained toilets in Manchester – created in 2019
- Manchester’s Top Japanese Restaurants – created in 2019
- Eat. Sleep. Coffee. Repeat! – For coffee lovers
- Hit Me Up with Comfort Food! – Places with great desserts
- Awesome South Asian Restaurants in Central Manchester (working title)
- Amazing East Asian Restaurants in Central Manchester (working title)
- Great Tapas Restaurants in Central Manchester (working title)
- Celebrating Americana (working title)
- (I have like another 4 lists that are far too long and I’m still figuring out how to break them up!)
And if you’re looking for more examples, check out this list (of lists!) that KatieMcB has put together.
Do you have your own tips that I’ve not mentioned above that you would love to share? Or maybe you have a great list of your own that you would think would make a great example! Do write in the comments below and share, share, share!
**Out of curiosity, do you make lists of ONLY places that you’ve been to? What are your thoughts on including places that you have NOT been to?**I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below too! 
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