All About Google Local Guide Program

The Google Local Guide program consists of a global community of users that are engaged by the companies to support their marketing activities, build brand reputation, manage online reviews and ratings, along with improving online search visibility and exposure. The program lets individuals share reviews, upload photos, share ratings, and edit place details. They even answer questions about businesses and locations on Google Maps.

Read this blog to get all the details related to the Google Local Guide Program, how it works, and its benefits. Also check, how teaming up with an SEO company can improve your local presence through optimized engagement.

Google Local Guide Program: Explanation

The Google Local Guides program is a community-driven initiative by Google that encourages users to share accurate information related to local businesses, places, and attractions. The users participating in the same are called Local Guides. They post reviews to share their knowledge and customer experiences. Also, they add pictures and videos, update the information found on business listings, and reply to the questions asked related to various locations on Google Maps.

Local Guides earn points for their contributions, which further unlocks several levels within the program. Each level they complete has different Local Guide benefits and perks associated with the same including early access to new Google features, exclusive events, and special promotions or discounts.

The Google Local Guide program makes your business more accurate and reliable among your targeted customers looking for similar services. It also creates a sense of community among users who want to share their insights about the places they have visited.

Points, Levels & Badges

Local Guides are rewarded through a points system, where for each contribution, points are given.

• Review Writing: 10 points per review.
• Photo Uploading: 5 points per photo.
• Adding New Places: 15 points per location.
• Editing Place Information: 5 points per edit.
• Answering Questions: 1 point per answer.

Higher-level Local Guides have their content featured more prominently, giving their contributions greater weight and influence. From an SEO standpoint, businesses with more highly engaged Local Guides associated with their listings can benefit from increased visibility and credibility.

Google Local Guide: Its Benefits

The kind and quality of contributions that Local Guides make can prove beneficial for your company in a lot of ways including:

Detailed Reviews and Ratings

Positive reviews shared by Local Guides help improve your brand reputation, while negative feedback can demotivate potential customers to buy your offerings. The reviews posted on Local Guides tend to show up at the top of listings as the content is usually longer and consists of photos and videos. They also improve the overall ranking displayed prominently on Google Business Profiles and Maps listings.

Online Search Visibility and Exposure

Google Business Profiles having huge positive reviews provided by Local Guides helps improve online in visibility on Google Maps and other Google services. This improved visibility makes targeting more customers easy. Moreover, businesses having active participation from Local Guides result in higher levels of user engagement on Google Maps. Detailed reviews, key information, and updated details encourage users to share their queries, get directions, book an appointment, and more.

Brand Trust and Credibility

Content generated by Local Guides also improves your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness as users rely upon the reviews shared by real customers while making the decision. By having user-generated content published by Local Guides on your Google Business Profile, you can gain consumers’ trust and confidence.

Local SEO Impact

Whether it’s just a review posting, a set of photos and videos, answers to Q&As, or image captions, content shared through Local Guides leaves a positive impact on your business locations’ search engine optimization (SEO) performance. If your Google Business Profile has positive and detailed content from Local Guides, then you will enjoy a higher ranking in local search results.

Community Building

Brands actively connect with the Local Guides community to develop a sense of community support. This engagement leaves a positive impact on the customers and they feel more connected with your brand.

Is Google Local Guides good for businesses?

Yes, Google Local Guides assist businesses in talking about their journey to their customers and provide information about their products and services to a wider community. Not only this, their attributions help local businesses enjoy better visibility in Google Search and Google Maps.

The most common way to improve your business’s local ranking on Google is to keep your Google Business Profile updated. Ensuring the accuracy of your page helps maximize how often users find your business in local search results. Businesses can manage their Business Profile, but Google Local Guides that contribute to your page can help too.

Connect with Kodehash to Start your Google Local Guide Program

Want to get more Google reviews and improve your online presence on Google and other platforms? Connect with the experts at Kodehash Technologies, a leading digital marketing and SEO company, who will help build a stronger brand reputation, achieve greater search visibility for your business locations, and bring traffic to your website.

Want to see how Kodehash can help grow your business, reach out to us now.