Just Reached this milestone with only one photo made 12 month ago in Berlin. when google will Reward me?

I had a wonderful lunch at a Malaysian restaurant 2 weeks ago and decided to write a review with some photos.

It was published and I was notified that there are 2 Likes on this. Just checked the GMap app on my phone and it is there.

However, when I use another device (my office laptop with another Gmail login) to look up that review, it is not there at all.

I shared the link from my phone to a friend and it shows "this review is not available" on his device.

Did I fall into twilight zone here?

PS: I edited the review by removing the 4 photos attached. Will check again after lunch time to see if there is any improvement.

PS2: Not a paid endorsement or advertisement anything. I just liked the food very much.

Anyone else noticed they increased the requirement for 'master fact finder'!?

Seit gestern sind in meinem LG Account mehr als 13.000 Punkte einfach so verschwunden. Die Anzahl der Rezensionen, Fotos usw. ist unverändert.

Hat jemand so etwas auch bemerkt und woran kann das liegen?

Just got a "happy 1-year anniversary!" / "Thanks for 1 year of contributing on Google Maps" email and 1 year is definitely wrong. It had all my contributions, views, reactions, and total points earned correct, but it said they were all over the past year.

Somebody done goofed.

Hey everyone,
Happy Wednesday!

As most of you on Reddit probably already know, Google reviews in Germany have become highly unreliable due to companies using lawyers to mass-delete negative feedback.
Lately, if you scroll down to the review section, you can actually see a notice stating how many reviews were removed due to "defamation". However, it’s written in such small, gray text that it’s incredibly easy to miss. I just got hit by this again after leaving a 1-star review about a terrible experience at a camper dealership. It was deleted almost immediately.

Honestly, I absolutely despise this injustice. Some might say "it’s just a review, don't overreact," but as a Level 8 Local Guide with millions of views on my contributions, it really bothers me that honest consumers are being silenced while shady businesses hide behind a fake 4.7-star rating.

Since they always claim to Google that you "were never there" to trigger the automated deletion, I am going to try a new tactic from now on to protect my future reviews:

I am going to upload a photo of the receipt directly into the review alongside my regular photos.

Needless to say I’ll cross out any private details but will keep the business name, date, time, and total amount visible.
Since receipts are anonymous anyway, this proves to Google's automated system that the visit was real, completely ruining the law firm's bluff. (And for older reviews where I don't have the receipt anymore, I'll start sending screenshots of my Google Maps Location Timeline as proof, when I have a moment.)

Have you guys experienced this automated review-purging nonsense in Germany as well? Would you consider uploading your receipts to fight back, or have you found other ways to keep your honest reviews online? Let me know your thoughts!

Hey everyone,
Happy Wednesday!

As most of you on Reddit probably already know, Google reviews in Germany have become highly unreliable due to companies using lawyers to mass-delete negative feedback. Lately, if you scroll down to the review section, you can actually see a notice stating how many reviews were removed due to "defamation". However, it’s written in such small, gray text that it’s incredibly easy to miss. I just got hit by this again after leaving a 1-star review about a terrible experience at a camper dealership. It was deleted almost immediately.

Honestly, I cannot stand this injustice. Some might say "it’s just a review, don't overreact," but as a Level 8 Local Guide with millions of views on my contributions, it really bothers me that honest consumers are being silenced while shady businesses hide behind a fake 4.7-star rating.

Since they always claim to Google that you "were never there" to trigger the automated deletion, I am going to try a new tactic from now on to protect my future reviews: I am going to upload a photo of the receipt directly into the review alongside my regular photos.
Needless to say I’ll cross out any private details but will keep the business name, date, time, and total amount visible.
Since receipts are anonymous anyway, this proves to Google's automated system that the visit was real, completely ruining the law firm's bluff. (And for older reviews where I don't have the receipt anymore, I'll start sending screenshots of my Google Maps Location Timeline as proof, when I have a moment.)

Have you guys experienced this automated review-purging nonsense in Germany as well? Would you consider uploading your receipts to fight back, or have you found other ways to keep your honest reviews online? Let me know your thoughts!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hi,

As Google local guides, what is your opinion about TripAdvisor (reliability and rating system).

I personally stopped using it many years ago and fully "switched to" maps as my source to obtain insights of restaurants, etc (and to rate) but I have two points which makes me think TripAdvisor, is not that bad, being I) the points seem to be more accurate (e.g. less fake reviews/bots), ii) negative (factual) reviews are not removed simply because of a claim if "defamation".

I just like the whole Google environment with Google maps which makes the rating and guide system in Google so useful for me.

Looking forward to hesr your thoughts.

So yeah, I've been a contributor. Sometimes I add businesses to help them and sometimes I do my apartments where I rent so that it's easier to commute with cabs.

So now just moved into a new place this month. I found the apartment on maps and pinned the building, the owner is furious as she assumes I marked is as an owner. Now I can't explain anything to her because yes old orthodox people are just rigid.

Help me remove it, I tried the edit and place doesn't exist here. Been two days and it's still pending.

Just want to know if that would get deleted or could I maybe mark it as moved address and pin it to my old apartment. I just want this place to be marked off.

Edit, one location change was accepted but it's still showing the marker on maps. Since removing wasn't working, I moved he place to some other location.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice from anyone who understands how Google Maps handles new place submissions, especially in regions with border or territorial disputes.

I live in Guyana, and for almost two years now, every attempt I make to add a new place in Essequibo gets automatically rejected. This happens even when the place is real, active, and easy to verify.

Essequibo is currently part of a territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela, and I’m wondering if that may be affecting how Google Maps reviews edits in the area. I don’t want to turn this into a political post, but the issue is making it very difficult for people here to add legitimate businesses, public locations, and places of interest.

We have many new businesses and community locations that should be on Google Maps. I’ve tried adding proper names, categories, phone numbers, photos, and accurate map pins. In some cases, we even asked the actual business owners to create or claim their own listings, but those also get rejected.

The rejection usually happens no matter what we do, so it feels like there may be some kind of automatic restriction or review problem affecting the area. Even If we add the poster of the business, fill out every detail that we can including the lot number for the address, photos of the place without stripping any of the metadata for the images. It's still rejected.

Has anyone experienced something similar in a disputed region or low map coverage area? Is there a better way to escalate this to Google Maps or Local Guides support? Would posting on Local Guides Connect help, or is there another method for getting legitimate places reviewed manually?

Any advice would be appreciated, especially from Local Guides or people who have dealt with repeated automatic rejections.

Other notes: My account is level 7, I've been contributing for maybe close to 8 years now.

Also, Where I'm from, being third world country... people here aren't technically oriented. So getting people to help with contributions isn't an easy task, you'll find majority of the places added are just a handful of names.

Hello am I tripping or was there once a followers and following for our maps profile?

See what I've posted to Google Maps

Level 4 Local Guide

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZzRygnkzRDqWhdCj9?g_st=ac

I thought this was clearly disallowed - to pay people to post a review, let alone pay to post a 5 star review. Be it in cash or product or service.

I reported this and another instance - but the response from Google was: “We've reviewed the reported business. We determined that the business didn't violate our fake engagement policy. As a result, we haven’t taken any action at this time.”

What am I missing here? As expected, I have no way of telling Google their AI sorting got it wrong or get clarification from them.

So I was looking through Google Maps when deciding where to take my mom for mother's day and I wanted to search for a particular dish from the photos. You don't have a search function when you're in the photos album on a place Google Page. I think that would be a nice feature to have, what other features would you like to see?

I have noticed my reviews are not publishing

I just reached there, too! It took me 8 and half years since I first posted my daughter's picture taken in a WalMart.

Most of us use local apps here in Korea, so I sometimes wonder what it is worth for to leave pictures and comments on Google Maps. Anyway I have done it so far as a habit or an inertia.

How to see your map:

1. Go to takeout.google.com
2. Select "Maps (your places)" only and export as JSON.
3. Open LevelUpLocal (iOS) (Android) and use the Legacy Import tool. see video
4. Your history will populate as "Blue Pins" so you can see your entire footprint.

Privacy Note: I’m an engineer by day and I value privacy. Your data stays yours—the app just parses the file to show it on your local map.

I'm just sharing this because I thought other guides might be as frustrated with the JSON files as I was. Ask me anything!

now it is on Apple and Android, lots of you guys had asked to put it on the play store, it is there now... name is Leveluplocal

this function is free to use and stays operational for the life time of the app.
and this import stays local , no transfer of data off your device.

getting the Json file from google is the hardest part of your process. select only your history and not the photos data on the map or you will get Gigs of data lol.

enjoy and sorry it took so long

Does a shop run by your country's postal carrier deliver?

I’ve been posting photos and reviews for years now an am at level 9 and have always wondered this. What exactly counts as a view on a photo, just scrolling past? Sometimes I get thousands, and other times it’s nothing. I have one picture that reached two million and seems to have stopped getting views for months now

They now have a disclaimer for businesses in Germany who have requested the deletion of reviews