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What is a Google Local Guide, and do their reviews count for more?

Ascent Vision · Published October 24, 2026

A Local Guide is a member of Google's Local Guides program, a community of individuals who contribute reviews, photos, edits and facts to Google Maps; each contribution earns points, and from Level 4, at 250 points, Google shows a Local Guide badge. Google says the badge helps contributions get noticed, while its review score is the average of all ratings published on Google. Treat a guide's review like any other, and never offer a guide anything: Google says "Soliciting Local Guides is strictly prohibited".

What the program is

Google describes Local Guides as a global community of people who write reviews, share photos, answer questions, add or edit places and check facts on Google Maps, earning points as they go. It says the program is for individuals, not businesses: contributions from businesses or business pages do not count toward levels or benefits, and a business account cannot share contributions as a Local Guide. Google lists benefits such as early access to Google features and invitations to special events.

Points for each contribution

Levels, the badge and your rating

Google says the Local Guides badge on a user's contributions means they reached Level 4, with at least 250 points; the highest level listed, Level 10, takes 100,000. Points can go down when content is removed for breaking Google's policies, and Google's community guidelines say guides who duplicate reviews across locations are removed from the program.

Google's page on review scores says the score is the average of all ratings published on Google for that place or business, and none of the Google pages cited here says a guide's rating carries extra weight. Google says the badge helps a guide's contributions get noticed. As general advice, a long, detailed review may be read more closely by customers, which is one more reason to reply to it as carefully as any other; the related answer on responding to a negative Google review covers how.

Never solicit a Local Guide

Google's Local Guides page says soliciting Local Guides is strictly prohibited. Its terms say a guide may not bundle services for hire with the membership, and its Maps content policy bans reviews paid for directly or in kind and any offer of payment, discounts, or free goods or services for a review. So an offer to sell you reviews from high-level guides is an offer to break Google's rules. If a guide's review breaks those rules, report it like any other; the related answer on getting a fake Google review removed covers the steps.

Sources

1. Google Maps Help, "About Local Guides"
2. Google Maps Help, "Local Guides points, levels & badging"
3. Google Maps Help, "Local Guides Terms and Conditions"
4. Google Maps Help, "Local Guides community guidelines"
5. Google Business Profile Help, "Understand review scores for local places & businesses"
6. Google, "Prohibited & restricted content", Maps User Generated Content Policy

Related answers

• How should a business respond to a negative Google review?
• Can you get a fake or unfair Google review taken down?
• How do you get more reviews the right way?