Pros and cons of Local Guides

[RyanJacobsen]

Share with us the pros and cons you have found while being a Google Local Guide!

We can all learn from other peoples experiences.

[davidcox]

@RyanJacobsen One of the cons is it takes time, a lot of time to be involved and contribute.  The pro is I have learned a huge amount about Google My Business pages, the traffic that happens at different companies, How pictures are ranked (sort of).  Knowing this it becomes pretty clear the importance to business that they manage there listing to get there fair share of the traffic. The other probably biggest is a sense of pride in the number of pictures posted and how many people have seen them.  More information makes the search experience a better one. I am surprised how few small companies know anything about there listings and do not manage them at all. 

[Somsenater]

@davidcox I would like to know what you have learned about ranking well for photos.

[davidcox]

@Somsenater  The bulk of it is from the article What I have learned by posting 10600+ photos, by SveinR in General Discussion section. I would add to that I think the factors change based on the type of location. The goal to get traffic is to get the top listed photo for the location.  With that, the image will get displayed a lot of high reviews. SveinR lives in a high population area LA so he can see big numbers to learn from. The total amount of views available is naturally very high, as it would be in New York City.  Whatever location you are in is what it is, but learn from similar posts like that one.  A contributor in Northern Alaska will not get the view count, nor should they feel bad about it. Just the situation. I think all of his points are very valuable and should be followed, then expanded upon. 

I find that other shots do well. Resturant shots that show seating and atmosphere can rank as the top one.  Hardware stores that have shot that show big-ticket inventory can rank well since the computer recognition of the products work well.  In most any store/restaurant I make sure to show the cash register area. Beverage areas can do really well. Things like coolers or coffee dispensers. This often will have menu or items for sale that reflects the total inventory and rank well. 

If you have the Streetview app it can help in being a way to learn the real way to see traffic opportunities all to be reviewed and learn from. Go to the opportunities tab and watch that closely. Take 360 photos for the location but also take photos that can rank well based on all views and ranking factors.  Lots of time when a location is displayed with no picture you know they lack pictures for that location so you will get views of your still pictures.  As I look at locations in my area it is just astounding they are just about food/restaurants.  The predictions of traffic are way off at any one location but do give an indication of potential traffic type of locations. So it will average out as good traffic locations on average.  When you hit a top listing photo for a popular restaurant in a vacation area the view count can go crazy. This one, in particular,  that was the cash register area and hit 8,000 in a two week period. I was shocked. Do not get me wrong plenty of other places get as much or more but it points to an area.

I work primarily in the contribute tab under the section "Uncover missing information"  and with photos selected. The biggest reason is it is a place the contribution will be effective.  Based on my area doing this 4,916 photos have gotten 5,060,235 views so the ratio of views to me is decent, based on the area and fact that they are all pretty recent pictures.  The way I know if a picture is the cover shot is I look at the high volume count pictures then if the picture matches the little round circle off to the top left you to know it is the top-ranked picture.  Later on, you may well find that it gets rotated out for some reason. In the meantime, you have gotten the views and learned what works by reviewing these top-ranked high traffic photos to review what you shot, how long ago you shot it and what the subject is compared to the type of location and you can see trends for types of shots.

Focusing on the "missing information" brings fewer traffic views since the companies typically are not in high traffic optimized industries. The companies I find this way are small to medium business that may not even know what the Google My Business listing is, so the never focus on content. They are trying to manage and run there business, not search optimization. 

I take shots on clear sunny days only if I can or go inside. For exterior pictures, I always try to get at least some blue sky in the picture since it produces great contrast and pop to the pictures.  I select locations based on least amount of shadows on the storefront or come back another time that is better. So afternoons I  shoot west facing companies, noon southern exposures. I find Sunday mornings are excellent, the earlier the better no one is around you can get from location to location easily.  I try and find times that I can go out for one or two hours straight of shooting.  There are fewer questions and things to work around.  One "Trick" that gets a lot of views is when the location is closed to get interior shots take the camera put it right on the glass and take a shot. If the lighting is right depending on what is on inside and how much sunshine is coming in I have gotten some good shots that show the business well. Dirty windows or wrong lighting just make for junk shots but try it you could be surprised. After a while, you tell in advance what will work.  The autofocus on my cell phone really can come through in these cases. 

I shoot almost always with my cell phone so I get GPS coordinates included for better trust factor.  For high traffic areas that I want to try and experiment on how to rank for that type of location I switch to my DSLR, but not sure the time is worth it because my sole goal is not views and rankings,  it is contributing and learning. 

Primary take away so far no matter how much I  study it I can not predict ahead of time what picture will rank as the top one. So I have found it is important to find high traffic types of sites and take a number of pictures that are clear, focused, steady and tell the story about visiting the location. Then the algorithm will make its selection. I do not think reviewing a locations pictures ahead of time is worth it since an absolute prediction of performance is not possible.  So shoot away.  No real tricks but that is what I do.  Hope this helps.  Any tips from you?

[Somsenater]

@davidcox honestly don't have any real tips, just try to be the first to contribute a photo.  Some businesses do well that show exteriors while others do better with their interiors...  I really don't know, all I know is I want to dominate the top photos :0)

[davidcox]

To be too all the time will be a challange