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Level 10

Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

Chicken Caesar SaladChicken Caesar Salad

 

 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 ,

ChucksChucks

 

 

 

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.

menu buttonmenu button

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a couple more photos,

Piper ArmsPiper ArmsChucksChucks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

I then Checked @AdamGT    Star leaderboards   to 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.

 

Add a captionAdd a captionWhat is dish nameWhat is dish name

 

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 

lot of peaslot of peas

 

burnt fried piecesburnt fried pieces

 

 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.

 

Ajax, ON, Canada
45 comments
Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

Totally forgot that I was Tagging 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

 

Level 9

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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 from The Place, Lagos, Nigeria 🇳🇬

Screenshot_20221216-202912_Maps.jpg

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! 👌

Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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. 

Level 9

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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...

Connect Moderator

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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 

Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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. 

Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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.

Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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.

 

Screenshot_20221216-152329.png

 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? 

Level 10

Re: Why you should tag your Foodie Photos and How To.

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.