I am a Local Guide Level 7, and for the past few days, I have been experiencing an issue when trying to publish reviews on Google Maps.
The text of my reviews uploads without any problem, but the photos do not appear. The images I am trying to add are in JPG format, small in file size. I have attempted this multiple times, but the outcome is always the same.
Could this be a technical issue, or is there something I need to adjust on my side? I would appreciate any advice or clarification, as I will not publish my review unless I can include the photos.
Ciao @PaolaDePaolaPhoto
There was also some videos attached to the review?
If so, this could explain the issue
The media we attach are checked, and if there is also a video the review may stay pending forever.
This is a current glitch, already reported.
It would be helpful also to know the device you are using for uploading the review.
With a quick check of your contributions we can see that there are 15 hidden reviews and near 300 hidden media.
Some of the photos uploaded are in the wrong place.
So more details about your review can definitely help to troubleshoot it
Thank you for your reply. Just to clarify, I was not trying to upload videos, only photos. I am using my Mac to add pictures with my reviews.
You mentioned that I have 300 hidden media, and 15 of my reviews are hidden. Could you please explain what this means and why this might happen? I always try to write honest, transparent reviews and upload helpful photos, so I’d really like to understand if there is something I need to change on my side.
Hi Paola! That’s really frustrating that your photos aren’t uploading to your Google Maps reviews, especially as a Level 7 Local Guide. Since your JPGs are small and the text uploads fine, it sounds like a potential glitch on Google’s end. You might try clearing the Google Maps app cache or uploading the photos via a web browser to see if that works better. Also, check if the photos meet Google’s content guidelines, though it seems unlikely that’s the issue given your experience.
Hello @PaolaDePaolaPhoto,
all our contributions are verified by an AI filter, not only to enforce obeying the rules, but also to prevent potential SPAM. The text of reviews is checked as well as the content of photos and videos.
Whenever photos or videos are attached to a review and only one of them is rejected, the entire review and all other attached media is not published.
For contributions of listings in the EU, you can identify those hidden reviews, photos and videos by being marked under My Contributions → Photos resp Reviews. Not sure, if the same applies to photos/videos taken in the UK.
@stevejon , with the due respect, my feeling is that, with zero contributions in Google Maps, you are just trying to guess something.
The level has nothing to do with the action of the filters. I am a level 10 with more than 1.5 million points, and my reviews are having exactly the same type of controls. If I have just a few hidden reviews it is just because I constantly check if my reviews are published.
As clearly mentioned by @WilfriedB , the filter is actings for preventing spam and fake reviews, and it’s quite strong. It means that in case of doubt a review is not published.
Google do this not only to protect Google Maps against fake reviews, but also to respect legal obligations.
Of course Google is aware of this, @PaolaDePaolaPhoto , and for this reason gives to us the possibility to appeal the decision.
The check after the appeal can take several weeks, so it’s better, before to appeal, to try something different:
identify the hidden reviews following the steps suggested in the shared post written by @MortenCopenhagen
edit the reviews by removing all the photos. If in this way the review is published, re-upload the photos one by one to identify the one that is triggering the filter. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the photo is inappropriate. Try to upload that photo separately, and if it’s not published, later you can appeal for the photos too.
if the review with text only isn’t published you may need to check the rules and to edit the text.
if after that you are still having some hidden reviews, you can appeal.
We know, it’s annoying to discover that we have hidden reviews. This happens in Google Maps but also in every other platform that is hostings reviews, because all the platforms have to follow the same laws
Thank you for the explanation. I share reviews in my own time because I like helping others, so it can feel a bit discouraging when they don’t show up.
