Letsguide Podcast

When you click on the profile picture of a local guide in Google Maps, a screen pops up listing the number of contributions (s)he has made, split up by type of contribution. In most cases there are high numbers for Photos and Answers, sometimes also for Reviews. But the contribution type where you are most likely to see a 0 is ‘Roads Added’. Perhaps all the roads have already been added? Or perhaps it is extremely difficult to add roads to Maps? In this episode you will find out that this is most certainly not the case and you will get loads of tips on how to get rid of that nasty 0, should that be there on your local guides profile. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

The Local Guides program in Google Maps is 100% based on volunteer work. There is no payment for the contributions we all make on Maps. Still the topic Local Guides and money is at times heavily debated, so in this episode I want to answer some questions relating to this topic, such as: What exactly is not allowed? And are there nevertheless ways to earn money with Google Maps? (Spoiler: yes, there are.) And if so: should you go down that path? Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Not everything you see on Google Maps belongs there. Quite a few entries are in fact spam, often added on purpose for malicious or at least deceptive reasons. In this episode I discuss that topic with Jason Brown, an absolute specialist in fighting such spam entries. Jason is a Platinum Google My Business (GMB) Product Expert. He’s also a Local SEO specialist and - the main reason why we have him here - a dedicated GMB spam fighter. On Twitter he even calls himself the “Unofficial Sheriff of Google”. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Look, this Google Maps team is seriously messing up my planning. Typically I record one episode per month on a specific topic related to the Local Guides program, and I then add a short section at the end where I talk about new features. But they keep releasing so much new stuff and revealing a seemingly endless list of interesting facts, that I am now forced to make a dedicated episode to tell you all about these wonderful newsworthy topics (18 of them if you add it all up) in full length. Actually I don’t mind doing that at all, I even love it, and I’m pretty confident that the majority of the audience feels the same way. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

An important element of the Local Guides program is the gamification - the fact that you can earn points by contributing to Google Maps and that those points help you reach higher levels. The highest level you can reach as local guide is level 10 - and judging by what Mara Chomsky, Global Lead of the Local Guides program at Google, told us in the interview I had with her a couple of episodes ago, there are no plans to introduce additional levels any time soon. For this episode I have therefore invited a number of level 10 local guides for a short interview and asked them to share their secret tips on how to reach level 10. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

The last few weeks and months, quite a few of the ways you can suggest edits on Google Maps have changed - both in terms of the processes and the screens that are presented to Local Guides in the Maps app. In this episode we will explore what exactly has changed and find out whether things have gotten better or worse. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Not all contributions on Google Maps are made by local guides. A lot of information is also contributed by the businesses shown on Maps - either by the business owners or by marketing agencies working on their behalf. In this episode we will have a closer look at those agencies by interviewing Rasmus Himmelstrup, a local guide who works for such an agency. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

In this episode we will explore some of the intricacies local guides are faced with when adding places to Google Maps or editing existing ones: we take a deep dive into the official (and sometimes curious) guidelines on how to proceed in several exceptional situations. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

In this very special episode you can listen to an interview with none other than Mara Chomsky, Global Lead of the Local Guides program – the big boss, so to speak. In the interview she talks about the role the local guides program plays at Google, and reveals some insights about the history of the program and its future. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Two of the activities a lot of local guides most frequently engage in are: giving places on Google Maps ratings (1 to 5 stars) and writing reviews for them. Those are also activities Google time and again encourages all Maps users to do, no doubt because they are one of the major reasons why people consult Maps. In this episode we will therefore dig into the secrets of ratings and reviews. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

One of the most powerful things you can do as a local guide is to change the information available on Google Maps, either by adding things or by editing data points of the places already on the map. When you then submit those edits, they are of course verified and in this episode we explain how this verification process works. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

A relatively new feature on Google Maps are lists: lists of landmarks worth visiting, the best pizzerias in town, and many more. Google seems to put quite a bit of focus on them, both by creating lists themselves and by encouraging local guides to create them, so in today’s episode we’ll explore that topic in more detail. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

The way local guides can and should interact with Google Maps is constantly being updated. What has changed in the last few weeks and months? What is new? Are there any updates about the topics we already covered? Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Being a local guide is all about adding content to Google Maps or editing things already on it. To do that in a proper way, you need to be confident that whatever you add to the map is correct information, based on reliable sources. In this episode we will investigate which sources of information local guides have at their disposal, but also which sources of information are perhaps not the best to use. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

In the ‘career’ of a lot of local guides badges play an important role, at it seems to matter a lot if you have e.g. a level 9 badge, or a Master Photographer one, or a Totally Popular badge. In this episode we will explore which badges there are and share some tips on how to get hold of them. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Unlike most episodes, this one does not focus on 1 specific topic, but is rather a collection of fun facts I have gathered along the way while being active as local guide. Some of those are, no doubt, things that at least some of you will already know, but others I am revealing here for the very first time. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

Early 2020 I have initiated a project called Local Guides Clean The Map (#LGCTM). The goal of the project is to remove places or contributions from Google Maps that do not or no longer belong there. How can you find those places? And what should local guides do to make sure they get removed from the map? Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

This episode is not covering Google Maps as such, but another Google product: Crowdsource. To explain what Crowdsource is all about, and why you as local guide might find it very interesting, I had an interview with Crowdsource Product Manager Anurag Batra. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

In this episode we look into the contributions Local Guides can make when visiting shopping centers/shopping malls. Basically those are the same as for other places on Maps, but still there are some aspects here that require some special consideration. So let's dive into some 'Local Guide best practices' when it comes to shopping centers. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.

One of the terms you come across frequently among Local Guides in their conversations on social media and on Local Guides Connect, the official forum, is ‘Connect Live’. What is it exactly and why does it create such excitement with so many Local Guides? In this episode you will find out the answer to those questions. Check out the shownotes on https://www.letsguidepodcast.com. To get in touch, just send an email to letsguidepodcast@gmail.com.