what local guides means to me: helping business owners, virtual guide to users

Hello, google, I am Srinivas, level 6 local guide from India.
I love traveling to new places and exploring lesser-known territories.
I started using google maps long back and made timely contributions on maps without having any idea about local guide points, levels, and badges.
I got to know more about the local guides program when I got a mail from google offering some perks for the contributions I made.
I usually surf a lot on the internet and being an avid traveler, I check the reviews of the place provided by fellow local guides and chalk out my itinerary accordingly.
Being a local guide helped me to find many unknown interesting places in my city that I never knew for many years. I can also share my genuine experiences about a particular place with million others which is otherwise not at all possible.
Before Google maps, times are very difficult to get to know about a particular place or restaurant until you visit and experience. But, now being a local guide, I can be a virtual guide to the user and help them to make a decision even before visiting any place by posting genuine reviews, photographs, and videos, by adding a missing place, by updating the correct directions, by creating lists.
Recently, I found that the local guide program is not only about sharing experiences, submitting reviews and photographs, etc., but it is more than that.
It also impacts business to a certain extent that even business owners are taking those reviews seriously.
In today’s demand for online presence, every business is getting listed online and more customers are checking the reviews on google even before visiting the store/place. So, owners are more concerned about the reviews submitted by local guides.
I want to share two such instances that happened to me.
When I tried to tip the mechanic who got my car serviced, he smilingly refused the tip but requested me to give good feedback on google maps.


On the other occasion, when I went to an eye gear store to get my spectacles repaired, the sales guy did the job for free and asked me to give a good rating in google maps so that his business will be improved.

So, for me, the local guides program means helping owners to scale up their businesses and helping customers (end users) to choose the best.

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