Signed up to be a Google Local Guide a while back, mostly because I thought it might be a good way to promote a lot of the Little Guys businesses that I frequent that have zero advertising budget. Especially for a new place opening up, just a picture of their hours on the door can help out. All the pictures get uploaded to Google Maps, and there’s a place to post reviews, all and answer questions, etc.
So, I’m wondering if it’s effective. Do you check any of this on Google Maps, or are you sticking with Yelp? I’m really interested in your answers if you own or manage a business!
If nothing else, it’s an excuse to work on my mobile photography. Unlike a YouTube channel, there’s no monetary benefit, but you might get a pair of socks out of the deal.
I don’t use Yelp so I do check out the explore tab in Google Maps. I have contributed some reviews and photos and have even had messages asking for information. I do like to spread the knowledge if I have it
basically this it googles replacement for some of the features Panoramio had before they killed it off.
I preferred what we had before and tend not to use the guides thing, though have contributed.
It is now less about the beautiful photography and more about advertising places.
Basically they turned it into a crowd sourced advert tool so the focus has shifted in content (pun intended), and more content is now of human made constructs rather than nature.
I loath Yelp: When I lived in Honolulu, the local businesses there used it to trash each other, by having family and friends post bad reviews. A case in point, was of the curtain store I used. I was shocked to see the nasty things said about the lovely people who owned it and manned the counter. When I looked at their direct competitor, which was a really poor store with surlily hired staff, the same reviewers were posting glowing reviews. I use Google all the time. I am currently living in Peru, and found a really banging restaurant an easy walk from my place. They were not on Yelp nor Tripadvisor.
Paper? What is this “paper” you speak of…
Sorry, our local paper focuses on the big city and the affluent suburbs, exclusively. Thus, it’s only use to me is if I wanted to find the “best hidden day spa.”
I’ve been a local guide for as long as I remember. I think of it as giving Google something back for the information and directions they give me in maps.
Sometimes I put a bit more effort into it than others but I’ve I’ve had a good meal (or a bad one!) then I’ll quite often spend the time writing a few lines and sticking a photo of my food along with it.
I usually have a hard time posting something really negative, because I can’t blame the server for the food, or the kitchen staff for the server, but if I run across an owner/manager who doesn’t care, they’ve got bigger problems than my review.
Had a similar experience with an excellent new Japanese restaurant that opened in my neighbourhood. I asked them why they were not on Maps and they said it cost money to do it and they simply did not yet get around to it. I set them up over my lovely bowl of miso soup, snapped a couple of pictures, added the opening hours and gave them their first five star review. They really are that good. Super fresh food, extremely friendly - all is fine in this place. 8 weeks later, the have 8 reviews, an average of 5 stars and pretty good business going on. Certianly not my work but theirs, but setting an entry up for a great place is definitively worth the 10 minutes. They treated me to my starters for the next two visits, too…
I’m Level 6, 4,053 points, been doing Google Maps edits since before the program started.
Reviews = 165, Ratings = 19, Photos = 20, Answers = 1857, Edits = 21, Places added = 1, Facts checked = 1, Q&A = 14
I’ve never been offered any perk from Google.
I despise Yelp because of the way they treat businesses who would rather not subscribe to their premium offering… They promote bad reviews in those cases. It’s disgusting, and it makes me not trust anything I see on Yelp. Anyway, I do use Google Maps when looking for local reviews. I also use Nextdoor for that. I’ve also been a Google Local Guide for some time now.
I’m a local guide and rely on this service regularly when I travel. Particularly for food. I try to give good info in my reviews. Sometimes I fail, but I try to say more than “this was good.”
I’m only a level 7 contributor, though.
