Top 100 Google Maps Local Guides Photos (September, 2024)

To your three points @AdamGT

  1. I don’t think there’s just a lag. There’s also a difference between WHAT gets counted as views.
  2. Yes the Leaderboards will continue to be useful beyond analysis of views.
  3. Without changing one’s expectations, it will be impossible to avoid noticing that new photos get much less view counts than older photos, and that new LGs have no way of getting near the old LGs who’ve already claimed the top spots under the old counting system. Yes we can monitor our own performance at the lower levels but those at the top will always be there with no threat of displacement.

Note this is not a complaint, just expressing my thoughts.

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Interesting thoughts @tony_b I agree, we are not sure what gets counted or when these day. I do have a few photos from last year 2023 which have reached 1 Million views but after checking my Monday stats only a few are moving and yes its the 1% rule only.

I am going to check my highest achieving photo views from the year 2024 and also from the Feb 6th Date onward.

I will get back with some analysis.

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Thanks @JustJake for your appreciation, and continued support and participation.

All valid points @tony_b and thank you for sharing them. Could someone come along with a spectacularly bright star photo/video perhaps of some train station and garner an incredible view count such that the new LG’s view count does not fit into the point #2 that you mention?

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Hi @tony_b also tagging @AdamGT and @WilfriedB All of your points make sense.

Yes we still need the leaderboards and I’m not sure anyone here knows what they are counting and how

Some of my findings.

I Checked this year 2024 and have only 7 photos that have reached over 100,000 views.

3 of them are featured (cover ) photos

The highest has over 339,000 views and is in a tourist area(Niagara Falls)

None of these will hit 1 Million views this in one year, unlike the past when it was quite common.

My star photo Walmart has not moved since July 8th.

Only 2 of my top 50 photos had increases last week, and yes the 1% rule.

I would like to see other guides numbers for comparisons.

Is this the new Norm? I am thinking so.

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@TerryPG congrats on your 339,000-view photo. I don’t even come close.

@AdamGT @WilfriedB My new normal is hundreds or low thousands. Without having time to update my list properly, a visual scroll shows me a hardware store at 17,000 and one at 69,000, a pharmacy at 33,000, and a restaurant in the tourist area at 24,000. But those are in stark contrast to all the others.

Of course, there are some with zero views and a lot with less than 100. I agree that none of these have 1,000,000 views anywhere on the horizon.

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@TerryPGIs this the new Norm? I am thinking so.”:

I am thinking so too, although I don’t have numbers from last year I could compare with except for my “star photo”: On Feb 7 its views were reduced to a value it already had between Dec 28 and 29. Until today, it never increased again. The numbers according to my monthly takeouts do increase, but always less than 1% of that December value.

And again, one thing we did loose for sure, are the 10 to 15 views which used to show up within seconds after posting. If my assumption is correct that those were caused by the SPAM filter, similar “fake views” must have appeared later periodically, whenever photos became hidden weeks or months after posting, there must have been additional SPAM checks.

If I remember correctly, @MortenCopenhagen once mentioned, he did track the total number of views for all photos (or media?) and realized a loss of 50% compared to last year.

FYI @tony_b and @AdamGT

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@WilfriedB

To be precise:

I did not see a 90% drop in views.

Before Feb 7th I was getting approximately 1 million views per day. This is based on the green number for the number of views in the past 7 days on the views graph. Shortly after an update this number would be close to 7 million views per week = 1 million per day.

Now after the view counter crash the same number is hovering around 3.8 million views per week. This is an unexplained drop of about 50%.

I hope this helps.

Morten

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Have to agree with @MortenCopenhagen Our numbers were very similar before the crash and unfortunately are very similar after the crash. I do track my numbers.

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@WilfriedB @TerryPG My photo views increased by 396,890 in September 2024 compared to 696,729 in September 2023. That’s comparable to your stated 50% reduction @MortenCopenhagen

The above is with more photos in 2024 than in 2023, but unfortunately I never included a monthly photo count in my spreadsheet.

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@MortenCopenhagen @AdamGT

Hello Mort. I was averaging approximately 40 million views per month for the past 2 years before the Feb issues. Lately, past 7 months, 14 million views per month. So I am getting 30 percent views each month of what I was used to. Just fyi.

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Thanks, @StevenBerlin

When I did the same calculations shortly after the numbers stabilized after the crash it was more like a third for me too. I have continued to add photos, so that might affect this metric. Did you “give up” on adding new pics?

Cheers

Morten

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@MortenCopenhagen I have added pics fairly continuously except for 2 months when I had my surgery. I have noticed however that my photos do not do nearly the same as before tho. Not a single featured photos as well and several still at zero count now for 5 months!

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@StevenBerlin

That is sad and strange. Butctgsnjdcfir your clarification.

During my most recent photo walks I found that the ration of featured and cover photos has not gone down. Maybe by a tiny but. But I also take very good care to major the storefronts look their very best. And I always edit them prior to uploading them.

Cheers

Morten

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You’re doing well @MortenCopenhagen , but I can relate to what @StevenBerlin is saying. New photos are getting view counts based on the new counting methods, and old photos are having new views added at a slower rate than before.

@PrasadVR reg. “so sad your featured photo not gathered any views yet”:
Update, as of today (24 days after posting it):
I did see the first 21 views 9 days after uploading. Today it shows 134 and it gained 8 more in average every day. We should keep in mind, it neither shows a food place nor any other business, i.e. the place can be publicly visited. What comes in addition that we are at the end or even after the tourist season for that area.

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@WilfriedB Glad to see your photo gathered some views and I am sure it will gather more in the coming days.

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Hello all. I am having difficulty following this. I have close to 25 millions photo views Level 8 guide. Yet when I go to view in the top 100 Maps leader board and also who’s knocking on the door. I can not locate any recognition or list with my achievements am I viewing this wrong or where should I be viewing. All input welcomed. My Local Guide Profile photo views etc.

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Hello friend @LG5 , You please register here first on Top 100 system.
To be included, simply hit this link and enter your details.
I would like to tag CM @AdamGT

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Six weeks after posting this photo (use this link on the mobile), I can tell you:

  • It gained the first 21 views 9 days after posting
  • After that in average 7 more views daily
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