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D2 How Google secretly rates the quality of all photos
D2 How Google secretly rates the quality of all photos
Seeking and listening to critique is an effective and necessary approach to quickly improve your photography skills. This module is about one of the least know kinds of feedback that Google Maps is providing.
Google Maps quietly grades the quality of all your pictures by assigning them to one of these 4 quality categories:
Cover photos = Best pictures
Cover photos = Best pictures
This is when your picture is evaluated so positively that it raises to the very top and becomes the cover photo of a place. Some local guided also call this the first pic. If you on mobile tap Contribute and See your photos and from there tap on one of the place names above one of your pictures, this will take you to the place's page. If you then see your picture first at the top, you got the highest honor. Congratulations.
Ask your self why this picture was chosen as the cover photo. Good lighting, framing, colors, or is it just because you are the only one who uploaded a picture to this place? It's more prestigious to have the cover of a place with thousands of pictures.
Featured photos = Very good pictures
Featured photos = Very good pictures
If your picture is selected to be shown as one of the first 8 or 9 pictures on a place, then the algorithm has awarded your pic with the second-highest honor called Featured. Congratulations. You might get a notification when one of your photos is featured.
Accepted pictures
Accepted pictures
If the By you-card or tab is present and your photo is there, then you have uploaded a picture that the Google Maps photo quality algorithm has found good enough to be shown on Google Maps. It might be quicker to spot it in the Most recent pic card or tab if you uploaded it recently. That is the third-highest honor/grade you can get.
Rejected pictures
Rejected pictures
This is when your picture is not up to standard. Your picture is not in the card/tab called By you. You can still see the picture under Your Contributions. These pictures are marked private, and you are the only one who can view them.
Sometimes mistakes are made and perfectly good photos are rejected. If the uploading process fails it will seem like it was rejected. So if you don't see a photo under your contributions you should definitely try uploading it again. But it's best to wait 24 hours first to see if it was just delayed. Also, if you find a perfectly good photo rejected for no reason, you can try deleting it from your photo contributions and upload it again. I have several examples where this was the case. But be careful and patient. Uploading the same photo, again and again, could be detected as spam.
Please remember that it's only software evaluating and grading your pictures. No humans liked or disliked your pictures. So don't worry or celebrate too much. But being featured or having the cover photo can get you lots of views. But if you like Google Maps users to see your photos, it is worth optimizing your photography and processing skills to get as many cover pics and featured pics as possible. You can do this by 'listening' to the feedback and then use it to make even better pictures in the future. You will get to know the photo rules better and over time learn what types of photos Google Maps does not fancy so much. One such example is photographing signs. They often are rejected and never featured. The only way to know this is to regularly check how the Photo Quality Algorithm rates you photos.
Find out how Google's Photo Quality Algorithm rated some of your images. See the step by step recipe for tallying your feedback from Google Maps.
Find out how the 250 pictures from January 15th, 2020 were rated by Google's Photo Quality Algorithm.
Open Workflow: Feedback
In the next module you get step by step instructions for Tallying your feedback from Google Maps. Click/tap "Suggested next page" below.
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