Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

[TerryPG]

The above photo was My number 1 Star photo for the first year and a half after becoming a Local Guide. Today it’s still my number 1 foodie photo view with over 1 million views.

As some of you know, I am always investigating and researching to see what Google AI is looking for. Recently I was going through my photos to check if I needed to delete any underachieving photos and noticed some of my foodie Photos had some great photo views.

Why the difference? Well it seems I had Tagged about 50% of my foodie photos,( I will show you how to tag at the end of this post) and they were achieving great photo views.

So Google in the last year or two has increased and encouraged Menu photo views showing actual dishes in their menu section.

Jean Choi from Google mentioned these new menu options and choices in the introduction of this year’s Guiding Stars . You can see what she said at the 10.15 minute mark of the YouTube video featured at this link. Here’s the link.

I have checked locations across North America, a few European countries and some major cities in India and the Google menus option is available. Not sure if it’s worldwide yet but I am sure it’s coming. The whole world is getting more visual and this improved method can only help people decide on their food choice.

Search your favorite restaurant where maybe you have posted a foodie photo. Please remember this will not work on desktop, only mobile or tablet.

If you click on the menu button see photo below you will be taken to the menu highlights where there are foodie photos of their menu. I scrolled through them and was surprised to see some of my photos were featured on the menu highlights ,

Here photo #1 and photo# 6 are Mine.

WHY?

Simple reason I had Tagged them and even though Google has billions of Images(Actual number is over 7,360,000,000 That’s 7 trillion images) stored within their system. I believe it makes Google’s life way easier to look at a photo that’s already tagged . I know Google can tell the difference between a T-bone steak and spaghetti , but why not help Google by tagging the photo.

Here’s what the menu button looks like.

Here’s a couple more photos,

In photo #1 all 4 are my photos and in Photo # 2 #1 and #6 are mine.

I then Checked @AdamGT Star leaderboardsto see if any of the top 100 star photos were a foodie Photoshoot, I found 0ne ranked at #98 by local guide @RooksieN .It’s difficult to get a featured photo as the POI Featured photo but it is possible.

I am going to share with you through tagging on how you can get your foodie photos featured on the featured Highlight Menu photos. This will increase your photo views and remember, increasing your views is a great way to climb the Top 100 Photo Views and Star Photos Leaderboards.

So let’s go through How to tag Foodie photos.

So let’s go through How to tag Foodie photos.

On your own device you can edit and tag the photo by adding a caption,

The second way is to add a photo directly to the menu of the POI. Where it says What is this dish?

Again YOU CAN ONLY DO THIS ON MOBILE OR TABLET, IT WILL NOT SHOW UP or work ON DESKTOP.

I am going to suggest when you tag photos be as accurate as you can, as it appears on the restaurant menu, this will help you get the featured menu item.

But I did see (wish I had gotten an image of it) a local guide tagged his photo as “ the wrong $26.00 steak” and sure enough it appeared on the menu highlights just as he tagged it, the wrong $26.00 steak!

Going to share a couple of my somewhat embarrassing, my featured menu photos

First photo, I left a review Tongue in cheek of how the cook had served me a lot of peas with my pork pie. Sure enough it appeared on their featured menu list, I found it months later, and it’s still there. The second photo describes what I thought of my fries and I described them as Burnt fries pieces .This photo was actually their main featured photo for the POI for over 6 months and received over 400,000 views. It’s still on their menu photos today and receiving views. So when you tag photos be as accurate as you can as it appears on the restaurant menu.

@JanVanHaver in his recent podcast mentioned different ways of getting photo views, Here is his link to that amazing podcast. Jan, we can now add this method to help us get even more views

Jan this is definitely another way to increase our photo views, in a easy positive way.

So this little trick may not get you the featured photo of the POI but it can surely help you get a featured photo in the menu photos.

After seeing this I went through all of my foodie photo views and tagged every one of them .

Hope this helps and to all you foodie photo photographers, please use and feel free to ask me any questions.

[TerryPG]

Totally forgot that I wasTagging some of my trusted fellow guides and contributors to look, comment, and encourage some discussion, dialogue, and thoughts. @MortenCopenhagen @JustJake @Mikeinthefalls

@katydarhel @LightRich @EvaBar @TorM @Stephanie_OWL

[Ewaade_3A]

Finally, I found someone like me on this platform, who would make someone read a long post to the end!

I kept waiting for the big reveal; “How to tag Foodie photos”

Are you saying that; to tag a foodie photo, we just need to add their name when asked; “what dish is this?”

@TerryPG

P.S.

I am sorry for poking my nose into your business, I was just really interested in your post

Update:

I went to check to see if I understood you correctly, I guess I did.

Here is a screenshot fromThe Place, Lagos, Nigeria

Thanks for sharing @TerryPG

I make very few ‘How To’ posts but I love to read them especially when there is an interesting cover photo.

Well done, sir. All your photos are stunning!

[TerryPG]

Absolutely @Ewaade_3A Google has simplified the process so that it is so easy to do. Now we know how to do it let’s get our Foodie posts on their featured menus.

[Ewaade_3A]

I left an update for you already @TerryPG

Thank you for not taking offence, I appreciate

I want to ask what country you are from, but I don’t want to overstep my bounds,

Take care and enjoy the rest of your night ‍ ‍

P.S. I am not so much interested about the views. I really don’t know if that is a good thing or not but I was happy when I got the mail some days ago that the photos of the places I added have been viewed 6 million times

My local contributions have been viewed 6 million times?! In a space of 1 year? Wow! I felt like; I was doing something important…

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TerryPG

Great perspective. I never thought of featured menu photos. Thanks for broadening my understanding.

I never really liked the menu captions since there was an issue with the spelling. If one Local Guide changed the spelling of a menu item, then it took effect on “my” photos also. Is this still an issue?

All the best

Morten

[TerryPG]

Thank you for the kind words @Ewaade_3A I did not take offence, and you are not nosey. I am from Canada, Ajax Ontario, just outside of Toronto. Congratulations on your views, you should be proud of that.

[TerryPG]

Thanks @MortenCopenhagen for the Edit. Question :are you tagging your photos? If someone misspells an item it won’t affect yours as long as you have tagged them. I am still learning this so bear this in mind, but I have found is that Google really prefers the tagged photos.

[JustJake]

Very keen eye and timely observation, @TerryPG . While it’s sometimes frustrating to get the “What dish is this?” pop-up for blatantly non-food related images at a restaurant, like the building itself, it does seem that there is some systemic encouragement from Maps to get this activity picked up.

Looking through my contributions, I do see that identifying the menu item gives a considerable boost to visibility. I rarely add a caption, but do respond to the menu item question.

Not captioned, but identified as menu item.

So, you’re suggesting that a caption can replace the “What dish is this?” response and properly file the image under the menu?

[TerryPG]

Hi @JustJake going to respond as best as I can, I am still learning this and always on the lookout for what Google wants and hopes to see.

Point 1 ""What dish is this?" pop-up for blatantly non-food related images at a restaurant, like the building itself, it does seem that there is some systemic encouragement from Maps to get this activity picked up. "

I believe Google is still going thru growing pains with the featured menu items and like us, still in a learning process. Ignore it and say no, I think you get a couple of points for that.

Point 2 "Looking through my contributions, I do see that identifying the menu item gives a considerable boost to visibility. I rarely add a caption, but do respond to the menu item question."

So again, I am kinda of guessing and yes you are giving a boost to someone else is photo. Why! Google is asking a number of guides what is this Dish? to confirm what they already know. ( remember they have over 7 trillion images on file) How many guides do they ask, 10,20, 50, or more no idea, but when they get a high consensus and percentage of people agreeing they know they have the right name of the dish.

Always add a caption.

Point 3 " Not captioned, but identified as menu item.

So, you’re suggesting that a caption can replace the “What dish is this?” response and properly file the image under the menu? "

Do both tag and add dish If you need too.

ABSOULTY YES my whole post is about trying to tag YOUR photo so it can appear as a featured menu photo, Tag your dish and you get the credit. Tag all your foodie photos!!!

You got me thinking Jake if we tag our photos now and Google accepts them as the featured photo, this will stay for years and of course we get more views.

[AdamGT]

What an interesting How-to post @TerryPG . It’s great to see your analytical mind in action trying to work out how to maximize the impact of your photos and then sharing the knowledge that you gain from this searching.

I have to fester up and say that I too have been quietly experimenting with foodie photos and in fact, I can confirm the success of the advice that you are giving regarding naming your dishes and you can see some of my recent featured foodie photos here

My lady and I enjoyed both the Salt & Pepper Calamari and the Hummus with olives served with flatbread at the Bleakhouse Hotel, here in Albert Park a month ago. I made sure to tag them and as you can see, sure enough they are featured on the food menu

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi again @TerryPG

I just reread the relevant help page found here:

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7321152?hl=en

I believe a dish name is different from a normal caption.

I don’t think a photo can have both a normal caption AND a dish name.

From reading the help page I suspect that the dish names are still a limited set of names so the issue with others changing “my” dish names is still an issue. It makes sense that two dish names with slightly different spellings should me one menu item only.

Cheers

Morten

PS: the normal captions can be added in the Android app while viewing an already uploaded photo in your photo contribution list as shown below.

Alternatively, captions can be added in Google Photos or your Gallery prior to uploading them to Google Maps.

Cheers

Morten

[RooksieN]

Thank you. @TerryPG . I feel so special getting a mention. I can’t believe my meal picture is the highest of it’s category in the top 100! It certainly isn’t my best picture, but I’m happy it’s been so visible for a few years.

I always try to give titles to my posted dishes. I even go in and correct other people’s mislabeled meals.

[EvaBar]

Great article @TerryPG !

I absolutely agree with you on this and have been trying to do it myself. I do have one problem though - I always forget to snap a photo before diving into the dish

I have one food photo with about 15K views, but unfortunately the place is now closed, so not going to get any better there. I will try to get better at this though!

[Ewaade_3A]

Wait, Adam, is this some sort of showoff?

why are you bringing a gn to a knfe fight?!

My goodness! Why do your photos on Maps have to be so stunning?! I can almost pick out the food from my phone screen!

This is the shiniest, brightest, finest food photos I have seen and I have seen quite a few…

The other thing I like about the photos is the 'wide angle shots, it shows me more than just the foods but the setting, I have to go find you on Maps!

Woooow

P.S. - I am fasting for now; ‘fasting from talking to Adam’ but I can’t see photos so gorgeous and look away!

@AdamGT

[Ewaade_3A]

Wow! You mean people can correct mislabeled dishes? @RooksieN

How?

By writing the correct names on yours or?

I noticed also that the best photos don’t always get the best views, oftentimes, the featured photos do.

Hi, I am Ewaade and it’s nice to meet you

[Ewaade_3A]

@MortenCopenhagen

Like @JustJake mentioned I have found it somewhat ann*ying when the questions pop up and have tried to bypass that by adding the names to Captions.

I discovered that; adding the names to Captions doesn’t get the foods to the Menu list. You just have to add it the proper way.

In the screenshot I shared above, the photo of the takeaway pack on the menu has the ‘generic name for that kind of rice here’ even though it is not the name on the Menu, yet, it is one of the few featured photos on the Menu.

Please don’t be bothered about people changing the name of your food, what is most important is that; people find what to eat which is our sole aim of contributing in line with the Mission of Google Maps.

P.S. - I am not trying to act smart with you, I know you know all these things far better than I do, just adding some info for you

[Ewaade_3A]

Thank you @TerryPG

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Ewaade_3A and @TerryPG

Thanks for sharing the fact that a caption does not bring a photo onto the menu.

I don’t make a lot of food photos for several reasons including:

I think there are already too many food pics on Google Maps

When food is served I’m normally hungry and want to eat rather than pull out my phone.

Even though I have a degree in Nutrition I don’t consider my self a foodie.

The lighting in many restaurants is crappy, but I do make food pics if at daytime, sitting near natural light and the food looks stunning like here:

Cheers

Morten

[MortenCopenhagen]

I think we need a test to figure out if an image can both be on the menu AND show a caption. Are captions and menu item name shown in the same spot or not? It could be different across platforms.

Cheers

Morten