10 Years as a Google Maps Local Guide: Helping People Discover Local Businesses
By Larry Bell | RealLarryBell.com
Ten years ago today, on August 18, 2016, Google sent me an email letting me know I was a Level 2 Google Local Guide. Today, August 18, 2026, I have reached Level 9, earned more than 50,000 Local Guide points, and the photos and videos I have contributed to Google Maps have generated nearly 37 million views
I did not start doing this because I was trying to reach a certain level or collect points. I enjoy discovering places, taking pictures, sharing information, supporting local businesses, and documenting the places my daughter Zoë and I experience together.
Looking back ten years later, what means the most is not the level. It is the story behind the contributions: the businesses, people, beaches, parks, music venues, fishing trips, concerts, theme parks, community events, travels, and adventures that became part of our lives along the way.
My Google Maps Contributions by the Numbers
As of August 2026, my Google Maps Local Guide profile includes more than 50,217 points, 34.8 million photo views, nearly 2 million video views, more than 7,277 photos, 739 videos, 238 reviews, 2,852 answers, and photos from more than 318 places.
Google Maps has also recognized my contributions with Master Photographer, Master Reviewer, and Expert Director badges.
Level 9 is a milestone I am proud of, but nearly 37 million photo and video views is the number that really gets my attention.
Every one of those views represents someone looking for information about a place, a business, an attraction, a restaurant, or a destination.
Local Guide Points
Photo Views
Video Views
Photos Added
Videos Added
Reviews Written
Answers Provided
Places Photographed
More Than Google Maps: Turning Work Into Adventures With My Daughter
There is another part of this story that means much more to me than points, badges, or millions of views: a lot of these contributions have happened while traveling, exploring, and spending time with my daughter, Zoë.
I am a single dad, and Zoë has lived with me since she was born. Through the years, I have tried to find ways to build my businesses and pursue the things I enjoy without feeling like I had to choose between being a father and doing my work. Google Maps became one of those unexpected ways the two came together.
Zoë and I have traveled together, visited businesses, explored nature parks, walked beaches, gone fishing, attended concerts and music venues, visited theme parks, supported community events, eaten at restaurants, and discovered plenty of places simply because we decided to go see what was there. Along the way, I will take pictures, shoot a video, write a review, or update information on Google Maps.
Teaching Through Experience
I have always believed some of the best education happens through experience. When Zoë was younger, she may have just seen Dad taking pictures of a restaurant, business, beach, or park. As she got older, I could explain what was actually happening.
That photograph might help somebody decide to visit a business. That review might help a family choose where to eat. That video might help someone planning a vacation understand what a destination really looks like. Correcting an address, business hour, or other piece of information might help a business connect with its next customer.
Those are lessons about marketing, technology, and business, but they are also lessons about something much bigger: helping other people.
I have tried to teach Zoë that through action rather than simply telling her about it.
Work Can Be Fun When You Enjoy What You Do
One of the lessons I hope she carries with her is that work does not always have to feel like work.
I make my living as a business owner, technology and marketing consultant, and someone who spends a lot of time helping businesses figure out how to reach people. Google Maps overlaps with something I already enjoy doing: exploring.
So when Zoë and I are somewhere new and I take a photograph or share something useful, there is a professional side to what I am doing, but we are also making memories. We are having an adventure. We are learning. We are spending time together. We are helping somebody else discover a place. And we are having fun doing it.
Find something you are good at. Keep learning about it. Figure out how you can use it to help other people. And if you are fortunate enough to genuinely enjoy doing it, work and life do not always have to exist in two completely separate worlds.
Supporting Local, Living Local and Loving Local
Anyone who knows me knows how strongly I believe in supporting local businesses and the communities around us. But local is not only restaurants and storefronts.
It is the nature park where you spend an afternoon. It is the beach where you watch the sunset. It is the fishing spot you may not want to tell everybody about. It is the local band playing at a neighborhood venue. It is a concert with friends. It is the theme park you visit with your family. It is the festival, fundraiser, charity event, or community celebration that brings everybody together.
It is the small business owner who took a chance. It is the people working behind the counter. It is the places that eventually become part of your family’s story.
That is what thousands of my Google Maps contributions represent to me. They are pieces of a life being lived, and many of my favorite pieces include Zoë standing right there beside me.
Support local. Live local. Love local
My Google Maps History Actually Goes Back Further Than 10 Years
While August 18, 2016 gives me a documented 10-year milestone as a Google Local Guide, my history of contributing to Google Maps appears to go back even further.
An older Google Maps record references a photo I contributed for Belltech Computer Solutions dated May 3, 2011. That means I have been contributing photos and information to Google’s local ecosystem for at least 15 years, even before the Local Guides program became what it is today.
Technology has changed tremendously during that time. What has not changed is something I have believed throughout my career: people want accurate information from people who actually know their communities.
Why I Continue Supporting Local Businesses on Google Maps
I have lived and worked in Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area for most of my life. I know many of these businesses. I know the owners. I eat at the restaurants, attend the events, visit the beaches, support the nonprofits, and spend time in the communities I am photographing.
When I find a business doing something well, I want other people to know about it. A good photo can help someone discover a restaurant they have never tried. A detailed review can help someone decide whether a business is right for them. An updated piece of information can keep someone from driving to the wrong location or arriving when a business is closed. A video can give somebody thousands of miles away an idea of what they will experience before they ever arrive.
Those individual contributions may seem small. Over time, they are not. Nearly 37 million views have certainly taught me that.
What Being a Google Local Guide Has Taught Me About Local Search
My Local Guide activity and my professional work in digital marketing have given me an interesting perspective on how people use Google.
People do not experience a business online through one thing. They see the Google Business Profile. They see photographs. They watch videos. They read reviews. They look at Maps. They visit the website. They check social media. Then they decide whether to call, visit, make a reservation, ask for directions, or keep looking.
That is why I have always believed businesses need to think about their entire digital presence rather than treating their website, Google profile, reviews, photographs, and social media as completely separate things.
Through Powered By Belltech, I have spent decades helping businesses understand and improve that digital presence. My Google Maps experience gives me another perspective because I am not only looking at local search as a marketer or business owner. I am also an active contributor and consumer.
Local Knowledge Still Matters
Artificial intelligence is changing search. Phones have changed how we discover businesses. Google Maps has changed dramatically. Social media continues to change. But local knowledge still matters.
Someone still needs to take the photograph. Someone still needs to walk into the business. Someone still needs to experience the restaurant. Someone still needs to notice that information is incorrect. Someone still needs to share what they learned.
Technology can organize information, but communities are built by people
From Level 2 to Level 9 – And I Am Not Finished
I certainly was not thinking about Level 9 when that Google email arrived in 2016. I was simply contributing. Ten years later, I have passed 50,000 points and reached Level 9.
The next Local Guide level requires 100,000 points, so there is plenty of work ahead if I ever want to reach Level 10. But I am not going to change what I have been doing just to chase points.
I will continue taking pictures, sharing videos, reviewing places I genuinely visit, correcting information when I find something that is wrong, and supporting local businesses and organizations whenever I can.
If Level 10 eventually happens, great. But if ten years from now Zoë remembers the places we explored, the people we met, the businesses we helped, and what she learned along the way, that is a much bigger accomplishment.
The story is about a 10-year documented history — not a permanent Level 9 identity.
Points
Views
Documented
Aug 2026
In This Article
Discover My Google Maps Contributions
Want to see the places, businesses, photos, videos, and reviews I have shared over the years? View my Google Maps Local
Guide profile and explore my contributions.
Thank You to the Businesses and Communities Behind the Views
There is another side to these numbers that should not be overlooked. I did not create the businesses, restaurants, beaches, organizations, events, parks, music venues, attractions, and destinations appearing in those thousands of photographs. The people behind those places did.
They are the entrepreneurs who opened the doors. They are the employees who showed up for work. They are the families who took chances on businesses. They are the community leaders and volunteers who organized events. They are the people who make Pinellas County, the Gulf Beaches, Tampa Bay, and the places we travel worth photographing in the first place.
I have simply had the opportunity to document some of it. And after more than a decade, I am still enjoying doing it.