Tally your quality feedback

D21 Figure out how Googles Photo Quality Algorithm rated your pics

Learn to count how Google Maps rated some of your pics

This is a step by step recipe for tallying the interesting quality feedback Google Maps secretly provide on all your photos uploaded to Google Maps.

It takes quite some time to do the tally. But I think it is well worth the effort if you want to improve your photography skills.

I recommend you use a mobile app rather than using a desktop. This because you need to manually count to decide if a pic is featured or not. In the apps, you don't need to count. Also, after checking one photo on Desktop you are kicked back to the top of your list of resent photo contributions.

To get the best results, you should preferably only have uploaded ONE pic to each place. Otherwise, the counting gets more complicated, and your percentages will be lower. Only uploading one pic per place is also a shortcut to increase the quality and the average number of views you get.

Tally sheet

Make a copy of this Google Sheet and it will make it easier to tally and it will do the calculate the percentages of Cover, Featured, Accepted, and Rejected photos for you. You still have to check the status of each of the photos manually.

While checking your your can keep an eye on how the percentages develop.

If you have more than one device you can do the tally work quicker be having the tally sheet open on your second device.

You can also just use a piece of paper with the four headings: COVER, FEATURED, ACCEPTED, and REJECTED.

Step by step instructions:

Decide how many pics you want to include in your sample. A huge sample like 100 is great because your conclusions are more likely to reflect all your photos. While selecting a small sample of maybe only 10 pics can give a result that is a lot less representative. But you can start with a small sample to figure out if you think it is worth doing the work.
Let's say you want to analyze the first 20 of your most recently uploaded pics. Then go to Contribute and See your photos. Then scroll down while manually counting to 20. From there you work your way up to the top.
Write these 4 headings on separate lines on your paper: COVER, FEATURED, ACCEPTED, and REJECTED. You can also use a copy of the Google Sheet provided below.
Now tap on the business name of the next place to open the place's page
Is the first photo yours? If YES: Congratulations you have the cover photo. Make a tally mark next to the heading COVER on your paper. Then jump back to step 4 and continue with the next place.
If your pic was not the cover pic, then swipe right on the cover photo to see if your pic is among the featured photos. If your pic is one of the first 8 or 9 photos, then your photo is FEATURED (congratulations). Make a tally mark next to the heading FEATURED on your paper. Then jump back to step 4 and continue with the next place.
If your pic was not featured, then click on the tab PHOTOS on the line where you also see OVERVIEW and REVIEWS. You may need to scroll right to find the PHOTOS tab. Then if the card By you is not there, you need to make a mark next to the REJECTED heading on your paper (Sorry about that!). If your pic is visible under the By you card then make a mark next to the heading ACCEPTED on your paper.
Stop when you reach the top.

The process for checking your photos is also shown in this flowchart.

Video demonstration

Watch this 14:21 minute video if you want to see how I count the feedback from Google Maps' Photo Quality Algorithm for 40 of my newest photos.

If you used a piece of paper now it's time to count your tally marks to get the sum for how many COVER, FEATURED, ACCEPTED, and REJECTED pics you have. And you should compute the percentages as seen here:

Reflect

So now you know how Googles Photo Quality Algorithm rated your photos. Are you happy? That is not the point. The point to learn form your feedback. It is your job to extract what lessons can be learned and think about how you can improve your photos to do better next time you repeat this tally.

Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

Google really likes photos that clearly show the business name.
Showing the entrance also seems important.
Try zooming out so finding the place after navigation will be easy = include some of the surroundings in your shots.
Straight shots are favored.
Zooming in on signs and text is not a winner.
Zooming in on random details will not get your photos featured.
Avoid faces in your pics.
Pics with a lot of brightness, contrast, and colors are preferred.

It might be different where you live. What lessons you have learned? Please share your thoughts here (link #soon2come) and feel free to disagree with my conclusions.

If your feedback inspired you to change your Google Maps photos, please share your results on localguidesconnect.com as a comment under this post (link #soon2come). Also, please share what you decided to change.

Most interesting would be if you would care to test the effect of following the lessons you learned. This would require you to do a followup feedback count after maybe a month or so.

The next page will share how my 250 photos were rated by Googles Photo Quality Algorithm. Hit "Suggested next page" below.

Tips for desktop-users

If you do the tallying on a desktop computer the process is slightly different. One example is that when you click on a place's name you will not be taken directly to the place's page but to a page showing all your photos uploaded to the place. Here you can quickly see if your photo is featured. by comparing your pic to the small icon at the top. To check if your photo is featured you need to select the link PLACE DETAILS to get to the place's page.

When click on the places's name you will see something like this. Compare your photo with the smaller icon above. A match means your shot is the cover photo.

Same thing here. But none of my two photos are currently the cover photo.

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