Just catching up with messages here…
Yes by design it is crazy but a lot of “competitive” fun.
Yes this is true. As well as the fact that there are more Local Guides at these levels, there are circumstances such as the fact that those in the Level 10 category continue to earn points and views and this pushes up the barrier to entry to the Level 10 leaderboards,
Well described. This is the gap and it will keep growing.
Yes but you have the opportunity of appearing on other boards.
Very true. That’s why I love the Country Leaderboards so much @AdamGT. 
On May 3, 2023, I had 46k views. Now 25 months later, I’m knocking on the door!!
Next month for sure!! - Steve @tony_b @abermans @TerryPG
Celebrating with you in advance @shunsader
This is testament that your contributions weren’t just a massive quantity, but they were quality as well. Now you’re reaping the dividends from that solid investment you made at the beginning.
@tony_b ,
Thanks! When I got started in May of 2023, I had no idea that I could actually get to 1B, especially pounding the pavement for only 6 months. “The Formula” worked! - Steve @Rednewt74 @MortenCopenhagen @nigelfreeney
Hi @shunsader,
You came up with a plan that no one else had done and proved it worked. Great achievement! I wonder whether it would still work in a similar way after the GGMR(24) Great Google Maps Reconfiguration 
This is fantastic @shunsader another soon to be member of the Billionaires club. Let us all know when you hit it please.
@nigelfreeney , @Rednewt74 , @tony_b ,
I’m still getting views on all the food I’m submitting with my reviews, and as such, I’d expect the answer would be “Yes, the numbers might not be as strong per storefront, but the model still works”.
Shoot Left, Shoot Center, Shoot Right, Edit, Submit, then delete the photos with the weaker views a few weeks later. For businesses one knows should do well, or businesses which have a more challenging storefront, shoot more, but delete more later.
I use a similar approach to creating shots for each location except I don’t delete very many. Although I think I am in a reasonable footfall area I still see it as relatively local (town not city). From our discussions in the past, I wonder whether the places that you take photos of have a relatively high base footfall level which helps make your model work.
Pretty much all of the locations I shot were large cities, scattered across the US. I started this ‘project’ because Maps had shown a completely different restaurant at airport showed than existed at the time. Out of frustration, and realizing that volunteers were the people who fixed these errors, embarked on a “Fix airport businesses” project initially, which turned into a “Fix all popular shopping areas, including all surrounding businesses” project.
Right time, right place, right idea, brilliant execution! Right upcoming reward! 
Thanks for the tap.
Your disciplined and organized approach to adding photos to Google Maps clearly is a very successful strategy. I’m still in awe of the high quality and large volume of work that you did. It was a lot of fun exchanging ideas with you and seeing you get started.
Your discussion with @tony_b prompted me to look at my stats for the year todate.
I’ve made a table and I can see some improvement, but I really don’t know what else it tells me. In May I deleted a net of 89 photos with a loss of 625,064 views.
| \ | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | E | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catagory | 2024-12-30 | av/ views | 2025-05-30 | av/ views | Total delta | % Delta |
| Photo Volume | 1,352 | 2024-12-30 | 1,263 | 2025-05-30 | -89 | -6.58% |
| Photo Impact | 54,263,104 | 40,135 | 56,605,227 | 44,818 | 2,342,123 | 4.32% |
| Video Volume | 273 | 311 | 38 | 13.92% | ||
| Video Impact | 12,516,620 | 45,848 | 16,610,188 | 53,409 | 4,093,568 | 32.71% |
My primary focus remains promoting small businesses that I enjoy, while still going for a high view count shots when the opportunity arises.
This is the point that keeps coming up whenever I compare my contributions with those of some of the other big guys here. Your opportunities are limitless.
I can see the model is still working for you. I took a look at the last three months of contributions for both of us, and the difference is quite stark. More than half of mine have less than 500 views, a smaller number over 1000, and it looks like just four exceeded 10,000 views. Yours on the other hand have very few at just dozens or hundreds, with more than half over 1000, and some over 10,000 with one at 104,479. I don’t think I have any new 100,000-view photos after what @nigelfreeney referred to as the GGMR(24).
Keep it up, Steve. You’re doing well.
52 new guides in the Photos views leaderboard- very impressive.
With average views of 37,989,456 - totally awesome!
What I see from your table @Rednewt74, is that you now have less photos, with more views, and a higher average views per photo. My average is constantly falling because my new photos (after Feb 7th 2024) are not getting the massive numbers of views that the older photos received before the “Great Google Maps Reconfiguration ”.
I was completely blown away today when I noticed that @shunsader had an average of approximately 94,000 views per photo.
@tony_b I completely agree with you. @shunsader has focused on “high value” places, which combined with his excellent quality photos has paid off handsomely.
@Rednewt74 , @tony_b , @nigelfreeney , @TerryPG ,
I’d like to clarify though. When I shoot these complexes, they’re loaded with all sorts of businesses that are NOT “High Value” places also. I do not pass over Dentists, Physical Therapy, Hair Dressers, Tattoo Artists, Pet Stores, or anything else that’s contained in a shopping center. These hardly get numbers, BUT, it’s always been more important to me to be thorough, than out for numbers. Very early on, I remember @AdamGT mentioning that a photo even having a few views can make a difference to someone that needs a pic of a specific location. And as such, I still accept the pic with the highest outcome after a few weeks than discard the whole location. I can only IMAGINE what my 94k views/photo would look like if I deleted those. BUT, when I’m walking through a popular complex, I DO keep an eye out for places people need to eat…and Americans LOVE to eat!
I appreciate your focus on growing local businesses. Perhaps that’s what I like the most about Maps…that each individual can focus on what make them happy, and the outcome is extraordinary, a better Maps product.
It’s just unfortunate that so many of us feel like Google could treat their volunteers better. I’m one of them. AND, they could do so much MORE with what they have, but don’t. - Steve
Congratulations @shunsader. I just love it when Top 100ers reach such significant milestones and even more so when it is done so spectacularly. Knocking on the door alright and quoting @TerryPG, “another soon to be member of the Billionaires club” 
and as @tony_b mentions, “this is testament that your contributions weren’t just a massive quantity.” Well done you!
@tony_b yes and to me that’s indicative of the “quality” of both the photos taken and the @shunsader’s adopted strategy.
