Google Local Guides

How the points system works

Google runs Local Guides as an opt-in community. Every contribution on Maps earns points: 10 per review (plus 10 bonus for reviews over 200 characters), 5 per photo, 7 per video, 1 per answer, 5 per edit, and 15 for adding a new place. Points move you up ten levels, from Level 1 at 0 points to Level 10 at 100,000. At Level 4 (250 points) a badge appears next to your name in Maps, marking you as an active contributor.

The program itself has no lever over where a business ranks. What matters for SEO is the content Local Guides produce. A detailed review with photos from a trusted, high-level contributor adds fresh, specific signals to a Google Business Profile. Google states that “more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking,” and reviews are one of the prominence signals that feed the local pack and Maps results.

For a business owner, Local Guides are the people most likely to leave the kind of substantive reviews that actually help. You cannot pay them, and you should never buy reviews, but you can earn them. Good service, an easy in-person prompt to leave a review, and photos worth adding to a listing all invite genuine contributions from the Guides who already visit your category.