Tag Archives: Maps

Empathy and trust: How 3 women influence Google products

This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating Googlers who contribute to products and features that people rely on each day. Last week we heard from women working on our crisis hotlines and Street View. Today, we hear from three more Googlers about how they build products — like Maps, Google Assistant and Google News — with safety, empathy and collaboration in mind.

Making the internet safer for women

What do you love most about building at Google?

Few companies in the world have the level of impact that Google does. When I tell people I work on Google Maps, they tell me how much they love Maps and how it’s a part of their everyday life. That’s the best part of doing this job!

What is the best career advice another woman has given you?

I had a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty about returning to work after my daughter was born. During that period, my mother encouraged me to think beyond the initial anxiety and adapt to my new way of life as a working mother. Her simple advice was to take a long-term view of my life and happiness and make decisions based on that.

Why is it important to moderate things like reviews on Google Maps?

Women-owned businesses often face threats of trolling, shaming and digital sabotage through fake reviews and other malicious practices. To make Google Maps universally safe and trusted — especially for women — we must constantly invest in fighting abuse and misinformation.

Bringing empathy to technology

What’s early career advice you’ve gotten from another woman?

When women don’t meet every qualification on a job description, they often assume they’re not qualified for the job. A friend gave me the advice to believe in my capabilities and tell the story of what made me qualified in the moment, instead of assuming that I needed to do more or be more. It’s a mindset shift that’s allowed me to stretch and grow in unexpected ways.

When you create experiences with this in mind, it keeps you focused on being of service to people as opposed to being of service to goals or ideas.

Your work focuses on making the Assistant more empathetic. Why is empathy an important part of the user experience?

Empathy is an important part of the human experience. We need each other, and we all want to feel understood and cared for. When you create experiences with this in mind, it keeps you focused on being of service to people as opposed to being of service to goals or ideas.

Other than Google Assistant, what’s your favorite Google product or feature?

I’d be lost without Maps.

Collaborating across perspectives

How have your experiences impacted the way you build products?

Before joining Google, I’ve felt at times that my voice wasn’t heard; this led me to approach my current role with empathy and curiosity. I have a strong desire to deeply understand and incorporate a wide array of perspectives — from considering the needs of people using Google News to collaborating with others internally to create different ways to deliver essential news through the app. I believe this helps us build more inclusive experiences for people with a wide range of circumstances and needs.

Making sure everyone has equal access to this essential information empowers everyone, including women, and fuels a well-functioning society.

Why is it important for women to access quality news and information?

Everyone needs to be able to access reliable and authoritative news to make informed decisions, engage in their local community, have conversations with friends and family, and stay safe. Making sure everyone has equal access to this essential information empowers everyone, including women, and fuels a well-functioning society.

Empathy and trust: How 3 women influence Google products

This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating Googlers who contribute to products and features that people rely on each day. Last week we heard from women working on our crisis hotlines and Street View. Today, we hear from three more Googlers about how they build products — like Maps, Google Assistant and Google News — with safety, empathy and collaboration in mind.

Making the internet safer for women

What do you love most about building at Google?

Few companies in the world have the level of impact that Google does. When I tell people I work on Google Maps, they tell me how much they love Maps and how it’s a part of their everyday life. That’s the best part of doing this job!

What is the best career advice another woman has given you?

I had a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty about returning to work after my daughter was born. During that period, my mother encouraged me to think beyond the initial anxiety and adapt to my new way of life as a working mother. Her simple advice was to take a long-term view of my life and happiness and make decisions based on that.

Why is it important to moderate things like reviews on Google Maps?

Women-owned businesses often face threats of trolling, shaming and digital sabotage through fake reviews and other malicious practices. To make Google Maps universally safe and trusted — especially for women — we must constantly invest in fighting abuse and misinformation.

Bringing empathy to technology

What’s early career advice you’ve gotten from another woman?

When women don’t meet every qualification on a job description, they often assume they’re not qualified for the job. A friend gave me the advice to believe in my capabilities and tell the story of what made me qualified in the moment, instead of assuming that I needed to do more or be more. It’s a mindset shift that’s allowed me to stretch and grow in unexpected ways.

When you create experiences with this in mind, it keeps you focused on being of service to people as opposed to being of service to goals or ideas.

Your work focuses on making the Assistant more empathetic. Why is empathy an important part of the user experience?

Empathy is an important part of the human experience. We need each other, and we all want to feel understood and cared for. When you create experiences with this in mind, it keeps you focused on being of service to people as opposed to being of service to goals or ideas.

Other than Google Assistant, what’s your favorite Google product or feature?

I’d be lost without Maps.

Collaborating across perspectives

How have your experiences impacted the way you build products?

Before joining Google, I’ve felt at times that my voice wasn’t heard; this led me to approach my current role with empathy and curiosity. I have a strong desire to deeply understand and incorporate a wide array of perspectives — from considering the needs of people using Google News to collaborating with others internally to create different ways to deliver essential news through the app. I believe this helps us build more inclusive experiences for people with a wide range of circumstances and needs.

Making sure everyone has equal access to this essential information empowers everyone, including women, and fuels a well-functioning society.

Why is it important for women to access quality news and information?

Everyone needs to be able to access reliable and authoritative news to make informed decisions, engage in their local community, have conversations with friends and family, and stay safe. Making sure everyone has equal access to this essential information empowers everyone, including women, and fuels a well-functioning society.

How we kept information on Maps reliable in 2021

In a world that’s constantly changing, it’s important for Google Maps to give you the freshest, most up-to-date information possible — so you can know whether the restaurant down the street from you reopened or if your neighborhood grocery store has curbside pickup. One way we do this is through contributed content.

Every day we receive around 20 million contributions from people using Maps. Those contributions include everything from updated business hours and phone numbers to photos and reviews. As with any platform that accepts contributed content, we have to stay vigilant in our efforts to fight abuse and make sure this information is accurate. Thanks to a combination of machine learning and human operators, we continue to decrease the amount of content seen on Maps that is fraudulent or abusive – in fact, it’s less than one percent of all the content that is viewed on Maps. Today, we’re sharing more about how we kept irrelevant and offensive information off of Google Maps throughout 2021.

Read Article

How reviews on Google Maps work

A behind-the-scenes look at how we keep the local reviews on Google Maps helpful and reliable.

Read Article

Keeping business information reliable

The world shifted throughout 2021 with the rollout of vaccines, updates to mask mandates, and new COVID variants. Our community of Maps users showed up in full force to update Google Maps with fresh information about their communities. In fact, throughout 2021, their contributions helped us add updated business information, such as a place’s hours of operation or its health and safety protocols, for 30% more businesses than in 2020.

But sometimes fraudsters try to update business information on Google Business Profiles with abusive edits. In 2021, we blocked more than 100 million of these edits from going live thanks to our continued advancements in machine learning models that improved our ability to catch bot activity and unearth suspicious activity patterns. Here’s a deeper look at the information we removed from Maps:

  • Thanks to advancements in our technology, we identified and removed more than 7 million fake Business Profiles — more than 630,000 of which were reported directly to us.
  • We stopped more than 12 million attempts from bad actors to create fake Business Profiles and nearly 8 million attempts from bad actors to claim Business Profiles that didn’t belong to them.
  • Thanks to continued improvements in our machine learning, our technologies and teams disabled more than 1 million user accounts due to policy-violating activity, such as online vandalism or fraud.

Verifying photos, videos and reviews on Business Profiles

As the world reopened throughout 2021, people relied on Google Maps reviews to get the information they needed about places before visiting them — like what health and safety protocols were enforced or if there was outdoor dining and open spaces.

However, we also saw individuals and groups attempt to use fake reviews as a tactic to hurt local businesses — oftentimes spurred by public attention on differences in opinions. In 2021, to prevent violative content from appearing on Google Business Profiles, we put protections on over 100,000 businesses after detecting suspicious activity and abuse attempts. Here’s what else we did in 2021 in our efforts to keep the content in Google Maps reliable:

  • We blocked or removed more than 95 million policy-violating reviews, over 60,000 of which were taken down due to COVID-related instances.
  • We took down more than 1 million reviews that were reported directly to us.
  • As a result of continued advancements in our machine learning, our technologies and teams blocked or removed more than 190 million photos and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated our content policies.

Local knowledge that our global community contributes is a huge part of what makes Google Maps more than a navigation tool. We’ll continue to invest in keeping this information fresh and reliable so you can discover information about the world around you.

The women behind some of Google’s most impactful products

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we talked to two women who have shaped the history of some of Google’s most impactful products. From building Google Search crisis hotlines to improving Street View and Photos, these Googlers share more about their jobs, career advice and the responsibility they feel to help others.

From seeing patients in the ER to building crisis hotlines

How does being a woman impact the features you build?

As an ER doctor, I cared for women struggling with personal crises like suicide, sexual assault and domestic violence. As a mom of two girls, I empathize with the real-world challenges these women face, like keeping their children safe and finding time to get the help they need. Listening to their stories has challenged me to identify blind spots in our design process and make sure the features we build have real-world impact. For example, we know that timely access to different communication modes is essential, so we prioritized the simplicity and visibility of phone, chat and text services when designing our hotline features.

How do the skills you learned in ER translate to your current job?

In the emergency room — much like with crisis hotlines — you never know who will walk through the door or what their situation will be. In this environment — where time is of the essence — the ability to solve problems outside of your comfort zone, work together as a team, and be agile can save lives. Bringing these skills to my role has helped me be a more effective leader and drive greater impact across our features.

Google has an opportunity to empower people to take the next steps in their journey to find help. We can pave the path from helping people find information to connecting them with timely, life-saving resources and compassionate support.

What inspired you to leave the ER and work on personal crisis hotlines at Google?

I love helping people in a moment of need — or as my mentor, Dr. Brian J. Zink, says “Anyone, Anything, Anytime.” Becoming a product manager at Google challenges me to provide support on a global scale. In urgent situations, like personal crises, Google has an opportunity to empower people to take the next steps in their journey to find help. We can pave the path from helping people find information to connecting them with timely, life-saving resources and compassionate support.

Helping others see the world in Street View

What do you love most about building products and features at Google?

Part of my personal mission is to make people happier, healthier and more productive in their day-to-day lives. When people say “this product makes life much easier" or "this feature is a great improvement,” it’s really rewarding. It makes the world feel a little smaller when someone from a completely different background experiences the same joy as I do for something I’ve built.

Feelings are just another data point, and if you pay attention they can reveal a lot.

Woman to woman, what’s the best career advice you’ve gotten?

Women in tech often avoid talking about feelings for fear of coming across as “too emotional.” So, I really appreciated it when a female mentor helped me flip that narrative. Feelings are just another data point, and if you pay attention they can reveal a lot. Feelings alone don’t give you much information, but if you take the time to ask yourself, “Why am I feeling funny about this?” you can figure out if something going on is not aligned with your values, priorities or goals. Then you can then shift from the feelings space to the logic space to figure out what to do about it.

What impactful things are you working on with Street View?

Street View is immensely valuable for getting a sense of a new place before you visit — whether for vibe, navigation or safety. Understanding what to expect when you go somewhere new can give anyone more comfort as they get things done. Right now, I’m working with my team to improve how everyone can contribute to Street View so people can get even more information about a place before they go there.

Create a work of heart on Valentine’s Day with Google

Every February, I tell myself I’m going to make homemade Valentine’s Day cards for my family and friends…and every February 13, I realize I’m nearly out of time. Add the fact that these days it’s ultimately easier to deliver digital gifts, and I’m ready to give up on the whole thing.

This year I’ve come up with a few new ideas, courtesy of apps and tools from Google. They might be made for the office or school, but there are some truly impressive ways you can use these apps for your creative endeavors. Here are five ways you can make Valentines with Google products.

  1. Use Google Sheets to make some lovely pixel art (emphasis on love). You might think of invoices and project tracking when you think of Google Sheets, but it can also be a pixel art palette. These can be as simple or as complex as you want — do it yourself by selecting and coloring in Sheets cells to make an image, or search the Google Workspace Marketplace by hitting the right-hand sidebar and selecting “add ons.” (If words are more your thing, you could even try making a cute crossword puzzle.)
A screenshot of a Google Sheet with the title “Happy Valentine’s Day!” at the top. The pixels of the Sheet are colored in shades of gray, white, and pink to reveal a picture of a hand holding a balloon that says “love.”

2. Create a digital card with Google Slides. This is an especially useful option if you aren’t able to see someone on Valentine’s Day. Make a digital slideshow full of photos, videos and notes; then you can either send the file or publish it to the web.

3. Set up a shared library with Google Photos. Use partner sharing in Google Photos to create a shared library of photos and videos for you and your better half. You can choose if you want to share all your photos or just shots of specific loved ones or pets, as well as the date you want to start sharing and Google Photos will automatically take care of the rest.

4. Send a fun Google Form to your partner. More than a couple of Google Forms used for dating purposes have gone viral, and you can put your own spin on one for the big day. Be sure to check out the Template gallery to find a look you like, or add your own images and choose a different font to make your form stand out.

A screenshot of a Google Form with a header photo of a hand holding a balloon that says “love.” The Form is titled “A Valentine’s Day quiz!”

5. Reminisce on romantic trips with Google Maps. Feeling nostalgic? Take a walk down memory lane with the Trips tab in Timeline to see all of the places — from beaches to cute cafes - that you visited on your last vacay.

6. Get some material from Google Assistant. Ask Google Assistant how to say “I love you” in another language, or ask for a Valentine’s Day joke or a “fact about love” to impress someone.

Or maybe you’re more interested in watching a few rom-coms on February 14. According to Google Trends, the most-searched types of romantic movies in the U.S. since 2004 are:

  1. Teen romance movies
  2. Black romance movies
  3. Romance comedy movies
  4. Sad romance movies
  5. Christmas romance movies

You could take some inspiration from a few of Google Search’s trending Valentine’s Day terms from the past week — like “chick fil a valentines day tray” (+1,650%), “valentine lovebirds lego” (+600%) or “valentines crocs” (+400%). A few more breakout terms from the past month include: “valentines converse,” “starbucks valentines 2022,” “valentines coloring pages” and “nike valentines day shoes 2022.”

And if you’re still not quite sure how to celebrate, there’s one fail-safe option: chocolate. According to Google Trends, Godiva just barely took the lead over Ghiradelli in search interest in the U.S. this past week.

Google Trends graph showing the U.S. search interest in Godiva versus Ghiradelli chocolate, with Godiva taking the lead this past week.

Also in the U.S., Google Maps searches for flower shops spike nearly 120% leading up to February 14. And if you’re thinking about celebrating with a date night…maybe start planning early: In the U.S., February 13 marks the day people most use Google Maps to search for “romantic restaurants.”

Create a work of heart on Valentine’s Day with Google

Every February, I tell myself I’m going to make homemade Valentine’s Day cards for my family and friends…and every February 13, I realize I’m nearly out of time. Add the fact that these days it’s ultimately easier to deliver digital gifts, and I’m ready to give up on the whole thing.

This year I’ve come up with a few new ideas, courtesy of apps and tools from Google. They might be made for the office or school, but there are some truly impressive ways you can use these apps for your creative endeavors. Here are five ways you can make Valentines with Google products.

  1. Use Google Sheets to make some lovely pixel art (emphasis on love). You might think of invoices and project tracking when you think of Google Sheets, but it can also be a pixel art palette. These can be as simple or as complex as you want — do it yourself by selecting and coloring in Sheets cells to make an image, or search the Google Workspace Marketplace by hitting the right-hand sidebar and selecting “add ons.” (If words are more your thing, you could even try making a cute crossword puzzle.)
A screenshot of a Google Sheet with the title “Happy Valentine’s Day!” at the top. The pixels of the Sheet are colored in shades of gray, white, and pink to reveal a picture of a hand holding a balloon that says “love.”

2. Create a digital card with Google Slides. This is an especially useful option if you aren’t able to see someone on Valentine’s Day. Make a digital slideshow full of photos, videos and notes; then you can either send the file or publish it to the web.

3. Set up a shared library with Google Photos. Use partner sharing in Google Photos to create a shared library of photos and videos for you and your better half. You can choose if you want to share all your photos or just shots of specific loved ones or pets, as well as the date you want to start sharing and Google Photos will automatically take care of the rest.

4. Send a fun Google Form to your partner. More than a couple of Google Forms used for dating purposes have gone viral, and you can put your own spin on one for the big day. Be sure to check out the Template gallery to find a look you like, or add your own images and choose a different font to make your form stand out.

A screenshot of a Google Form with a header photo of a hand holding a balloon that says “love.” The Form is titled “A Valentine’s Day quiz!”

5. Reminisce on romantic trips with Google Maps. Feeling nostalgic? Take a walk down memory lane with the Trips tab in Timeline to see all of the places — from beaches to cute cafes - that you visited on your last vacay.

6. Get some material from Google Assistant. Ask Google Assistant how to say “I love you” in another language, or ask for a Valentine’s Day joke or a “fact about love” to impress someone.

Or maybe you’re more interested in watching a few rom-coms on February 14. According to Google Trends, the most-searched types of romantic movies in the U.S. since 2004 are:

  1. Teen romance movies
  2. Black romance movies
  3. Romance comedy movies
  4. Sad romance movies
  5. Christmas romance movies

You could take some inspiration from a few of Google Search’s trending Valentine’s Day terms from the past week — like “chick fil a valentines day tray” (+1,650%), “valentine lovebirds lego” (+600%) or “valentines crocs” (+400%). A few more breakout terms from the past month include: “valentines converse,” “starbucks valentines 2022,” “valentines coloring pages” and “nike valentines day shoes 2022.”

And if you’re still not quite sure how to celebrate, there’s one fail-safe option: chocolate. According to Google Trends, Godiva just barely took the lead over Ghiradelli in search interest in the U.S. this past week.

Google Trends graph showing the U.S. search interest in Godiva versus Ghiradelli chocolate, with Godiva taking the lead this past week.

Also in the U.S., Google Maps searches for flower shops spike nearly 120% leading up to February 14. And if you’re thinking about celebrating with a date night…maybe start planning early: In the U.S., February 13 marks the day people most use Google Maps to search for “romantic restaurants.”

Get a slice of these Google Maps pizza trends

With all of the change we’ve experienced over the past couple of years, one thing remains constant … people’s love for pizza. In fact, pizza was the top-searched dish on Google Maps during every month of 2021 in the U.S.

To celebrate National Pizza Day on February 9, we’ve compiled some not-so-cheesy Google Maps pizza trends so you can get a slice of the action:

  • In garlic crust we trust. For the second year in a row, Domino’s Pizza remains the top searched pizza spot in the U.S.
  • Pizza cravin’ in New Haven. As of February 2022, Connecticut is the state with the most pizzerias per capita. New Jersey comes in at a close second.
  • A not-so-meaty New York Slice. People in the New York metropolitan area search for “vegan pizza” on Google Maps more than in any other U.S. metro.
  • Rolling in the deep dish. It likely comes as no surprise that people in Chicago search for “deep dish” on Google Maps more than in any other U.S. metro. In fact, Google Maps searches for “deep dish” in Chicago are nearly four times higher than the second place city, which is Los Angeles.
  • Which city can’t be topped? Of the 10 top-searched local pizzerias on Google Maps, nine are located in New York or Chicago. The one exception? Seattle’s ROCCO'S.

Shop talk with a 'crust'-ed pizza source

To celebrate the occasion we also caught up with Chuck Mound, a level 10 Local Guide from New Jersey with a lifetime of pizza love. Seriously, when he was 10 years old he tried to set a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive days eating a slice of pizza! Today he travels the country as a sport performance coach leaving reviews of pizzerias.

How did you get started sharing reviews on Google Maps?

In my 30-year coaching career, I’ve coached on all levels of competition — from youth to professional, including Olympic and NFL teams. While presenting in over 45 states, I’ve had the opportunity to eat the best foods around the country during pre- and post-game festivities. I like to help people not only understand where to go, but what you should order once you get there.

What qualities do you look for in a pizzeria and how do you approach your pizza reviews?

When I go somewhere new I love to know their niche or their signature dish. I like to dive in and learn more about the dough, the crust and the sauce. When reviewing places I try to describe the whole experience. Customer service can be just as important as the food.

What types of pizzerias get you excited?

I love to support local businesses. I won’t go cookie cutter. I like to find that hole-in-the-wall place where Grandma is making the sauce. I feed off of passion. If you’re passionate about what you do, that’s fantastic … I’ve eaten a lot of bad pizza, I’m over eating bad pizza.

Check out Chuck's list of knead-to-know pizzerias around the U.S. And once you’ve chewed your way through that, we’ve compiled some of the top searched and best-reviewed pizza spots —  excluding major chains — on Google Maps!

The ultimate pizza lists

A gif showing the top pizza chains in each US state, according to Google Maps searches

The top pizza chains in each US state, according to Google Maps searches

Here are the 10 top-searched pizzerias on Google Maps:

  1. Carnegie Pizza (New York, NY)
  2. Enzo Bruni la pizza gourmet (New York, NY)
  3. Rubirosa Pizza & Ristorante (New York, NY)
  4. ROCCO'S (Seattle, WA)
  5. Quartino Ristorante (Chicago, IL)
  6. Prince St. Pizza (New York, NY)
  7. 99 Cent Fresh Pizza (New York, NY)
  8. Bleecker Street Pizza (New York, NY)
  9. Bar Siena (Chicago, IL)
  10. Joe's Pizza on 8th Ave (New York, NY)

And if you're looking for some suggestions on where to get the best slice, these are 10 of the best reviewed pizza joints on Maps in the U.S.:

  1. Varasano's Pizzeria - Buckhead (Atlanta, GA)
  2. Olli Olive Pizza (Lauderhill, FL)
  3. Tommie's Pizza (Saint Paul, MN)
  4. PanezaNellie Breadstick Shoppe (Sublimity, OR)
  5. KC’s Family Kitchen (Lockport, IL)
  6. Raceway (Yonkers, NY)
  7. Nolita Pizza (New York, NY)
  8. Zeneli Pizzeria e cucina Napoletana (New Haven, CT)
  9. Michigan & Trumbull (Detroit, MI)
  10. Goodfella’s Pizzeria of Sunnyside (Queens, NY)

So no matter how you celebrate National Pizza Day — whether you’re looking to discover a new slice or order from your local favorite — Google Maps is here to help you cheese the day. ?

How reviews on Google Maps work

When exploring new places, reviews on Google are a treasure trove of local knowledge that can point you to the places and businesses you’ll enjoy most — whether it’s a bakery with the best gluten-free cupcake or a nearby restaurant with live music.

With millions of reviews posted every day from people around the world, we have around-the-clock support to keep the information on Google relevant and accurate. Much of our work to prevent inappropriate content is done behind the scenes, so we wanted to shed some light on what happens after you hit “post” on a review.

An animated video about Google Maps reviews
10:25

How we create and enforce our policies

We’ve created strict content policies to make sure reviews are based on real-world experiences and to keep irrelevant and offensive comments off of Google Business Profiles.

As the world evolves, so do our policies and protections. This helps us guard places and businesses from violative and off-topic content when there’s potential for them to be targeted for abuse. For instance, when governments and businesses started requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccine before entering certain places, we put extra protections in place to remove Google reviews that criticize a business for its health and safety policies or for complying with a vaccine mandate.

Once a policy is written, it’s turned into training material — both for our operators and machine learning algorithms — to help our teams catch policy-violating content and ultimately keep Google reviews helpful and authentic.

Moderating reviews with the help of machine learning

As soon as someone posts a review, we send it to our moderation system to make sure the review doesn’t violate any of our policies. You can think of our moderation system as a security guard that stops unauthorized people from getting into a building — but instead, our team is stopping bad content from being posted on Google.

Given the volume of reviews we regularly receive, we’ve found that we need both the nuanced understanding that humans offer and the scale that machines provide to help us moderate contributed content. They have different strengths so we continue to invest tremendously in both.

Machines are our first line of defense because they’re good at identifying patterns. These patterns often immediately help our machines determine if the content is legitimate, and the vast majority of fake and fraudulent content is removed before anyone actually sees it.

Our machines look at reviews from multiple angles, such as:

  • The content of the review: Does it contain offensive or off-topic content?
  • The account that left the review: Does the Google account have any history of suspicious behavior?
  • The place itself: Has there been uncharacteristic activity — such as an abundance of reviews over a short period of time? Has it recently gotten attention in the news or on social media that would motivate people to leave fraudulent reviews?

Training a machine on the difference between acceptable and policy-violating content is a delicate balance. For example, sometimes the word “gay” is used as a derogatory term, and that’s not something we tolerate in Google reviews. But if we teach our machine learning models that it’s only used in hate speech, we might erroneously remove reviews that promote a gay business owner or an LGBTQ+ safe space. Our human operators regularly run quality tests and complete additional training to remove bias from the machine learning models. By thoroughly training our models on all the ways certain words or phrases are used, we improve our ability to catch policy-violating content and reduce the chance of inadvertently blocking legitimate reviews from going live.

If our systems detect no policy violations, then the review can post within a matter of seconds. But our job doesn’t stop once a review goes live. Our systems continue to analyze the contributed content and watch for questionable patterns. These patterns can be anything from a group of people leaving reviews on the same cluster of Business Profiles to a business or place receiving an unusually high number of 1 or 5-star reviews over a short period of time.

Keeping reviews authentic and reliable

Like any platform that welcomes contributions from users, we also have to stay vigilant in our efforts to prevent fraud and abuse from appearing on Maps. Part of that is making it easy for people using Google Maps to flag any policy-violating reviews. If you think you see a policy-violating review on Google, we encourage you to report it to our team. Businesses can report reviews on their profiles here, and consumers can report them here.

Phone featuring a selection of the reasons someone might report a Google review

Google Maps users and businesses can easily report reviews that they feel violate one of our policies.

Our team of human operators works around the clock to review flagged content. When we find reviews that violate our policies, we remove them from Google and, in some cases, suspend the user account or even pursue litigation.

In addition to reviewing flagged content, our team proactively works to identify potential abuse risks, which reduces the likelihood of successful abuse attacks. For instance, when there’s an upcoming event with a significant following — such as an election — we implement elevated protections to the places associated with the event and other nearby businesses that people might look for on Maps. We continue to monitor these places and businesses until the risk of abuse has subsided to support our mission of only publishing authentic and reliable reviews. Our investment in analyzing and understanding how contributed content can be abused has been critical in keeping us one step ahead of bad actors.

With more than 1 billion people turning to Google Maps every month to navigate and explore, we want to make sure the information they see — especially reviews — is reliable for everyone. Our work is never done; we’re constantly improving our system and working hard to keep abuse, including fake reviews, off of the map.

How reviews on Google Maps work

When exploring new places, reviews on Google are a treasure trove of local knowledge that can point you to the places and businesses you’ll enjoy most — whether it’s a bakery with the best gluten-free cupcake or a nearby restaurant with live music.

With millions of reviews posted every day from people around the world, we have around-the-clock support to keep the information on Google relevant and accurate. Much of our work to prevent inappropriate content is done behind the scenes, so we wanted to shed some light on what happens after you hit “post” on a review.

An animated video about Google Maps reviews
10:25

How we create and enforce our policies

We’ve created strict content policies to make sure reviews are based on real-world experiences and to keep irrelevant and offensive comments off of Google Business Profiles.

As the world evolves, so do our policies and protections. This helps us guard places and businesses from violative and off-topic content when there’s potential for them to be targeted for abuse. For instance, when governments and businesses started requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccine before entering certain places, we put extra protections in place to remove Google reviews that criticize a business for its health and safety policies or for complying with a vaccine mandate.

Once a policy is written, it’s turned into training material — both for our operators and machine learning algorithms — to help our teams catch policy-violating content and ultimately keep Google reviews helpful and authentic.

Moderating reviews with the help of machine learning

As soon as someone posts a review, we send it to our moderation system to make sure the review doesn’t violate any of our policies. You can think of our moderation system as a security guard that stops unauthorized people from getting into a building — but instead, our team is stopping bad content from being posted on Google.

Given the volume of reviews we regularly receive, we’ve found that we need both the nuanced understanding that humans offer and the scale that machines provide to help us moderate contributed content. They have different strengths so we continue to invest tremendously in both.

Machines are our first line of defense because they’re good at identifying patterns. These patterns often immediately help our machines determine if the content is legitimate, and the vast majority of fake and fraudulent content is removed before anyone actually sees it.

Our machines look at reviews from multiple angles, such as:

  • The content of the review: Does it contain offensive or off-topic content?
  • The account that left the review: Does the Google account have any history of suspicious behavior?
  • The place itself: Has there been uncharacteristic activity — such as an abundance of reviews over a short period of time? Has it recently gotten attention in the news or on social media that would motivate people to leave fraudulent reviews?

Training a machine on the difference between acceptable and policy-violating content is a delicate balance. For example, sometimes the word “gay” is used as a derogatory term, and that’s not something we tolerate in Google reviews. But if we teach our machine learning models that it’s only used in hate speech, we might erroneously remove reviews that promote a gay business owner or an LGBTQ+ safe space. Our human operators regularly run quality tests and complete additional training to remove bias from the machine learning models. By thoroughly training our models on all the ways certain words or phrases are used, we improve our ability to catch policy-violating content and reduce the chance of inadvertently blocking legitimate reviews from going live.

If our systems detect no policy violations, then the review can post within a matter of seconds. But our job doesn’t stop once a review goes live. Our systems continue to analyze the contributed content and watch for questionable patterns. These patterns can be anything from a group of people leaving reviews on the same cluster of Business Profiles to a business or place receiving an unusually high number of 1 or 5-star reviews over a short period of time.

Keeping reviews authentic and reliable

Like any platform that welcomes contributions from users, we also have to stay vigilant in our efforts to prevent fraud and abuse from appearing on Maps. Part of that is making it easy for people using Google Maps to flag any policy-violating reviews. If you think you see a policy-violating review on Google, we encourage you to report it to our team. Businesses can report reviews on their profiles here, and consumers can report them here.

Phone featuring a selection of the reasons someone might report a Google review

Google Maps users and businesses can easily report reviews that they feel violate one of our policies.

Our team of human operators works around the clock to review flagged content. When we find reviews that violate our policies, we remove them from Google and, in some cases, suspend the user account or even pursue litigation.

In addition to reviewing flagged content, our team proactively works to identify potential abuse risks, which reduces the likelihood of successful abuse attacks. For instance, when there’s an upcoming event with a significant following — such as an election — we implement elevated protections to the places associated with the event and other nearby businesses that people might look for on Maps. We continue to monitor these places and businesses until the risk of abuse has subsided to support our mission of only publishing authentic and reliable reviews. Our investment in analyzing and understanding how contributed content can be abused has been critical in keeping us one step ahead of bad actors.

With more than 1 billion people turning to Google Maps every month to navigate and explore, we want to make sure the information they see — especially reviews — is reliable for everyone. Our work is never done; we’re constantly improving our system and working hard to keep abuse, including fake reviews, off of the map.

CES 2022: Making the most of your drive with Google

Editor's note: Google planned to attend CES 2022 but pulled out of having an in-person presence due to concerns over COVID-19.

Google’s vision of helpfulness on the road is to provide a safe and seamless connected experience. Today, we’re introducing several updates for cars compatible with Android Auto and cars with Google built-in.

Your Android phone as your car key

With digital car key, you can now use select Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel phones to lock, unlock and start supported BMW vehicles from your phone. Starting later this year, phones with Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology will allow you to unlock your compatible car without taking your phone out at all, and key sharing will allow you to securely and remotely share your digital car key to trusted friends and family. We’re working to bring these features to even more Android phones and vehicles later this year.

Gif of a phone being placed on a car door handle to unlock it.

Unlock your car with your mobile phone and a simple tap.

A more helpful drive with Android Auto

Now available on nearly 150 million cars around the world, Android Auto brings the best of Google onto your car display via your Android phone. Most of the world's top car brands are bringing wireless Android Auto to their newest models, meaning you never need a cord to connect. And with just one tap, Fast Pair makes it easier than ever to connect your phone and wireless Android Auto. It’s available today on select BMW and Ford cars, with more to come. Also, with new accessories like the Motorola MA1 wireless adapter, you can now enjoy the wireless Android Auto experience even if your car doesn't have wireless support built-in. Connected via USB, the adapter stays in your car and wirelessly projects Android Auto from your phone to your car display as soon as you step inside.

You can already enjoy thousands of media, messaging, navigation, parking and charging apps that support Android Auto. And this summer, we’re bringing you more. We’re partnering with Lyft and Kakao Mobility to integrate their driver apps into Android Auto, so drivers will be able to view and accept rides right from their car display. And with access to points of interest apps like MochiMochi, Fuelio and Prezzi Benzina, you can explore more of the world, find and pay for all types of car services, and track your mileage and costs.

Image of car dash with Lyft app driver interface shown on car display.

Lyft Driver app for rideshare drivers will be projected onto their car display (UI for illustration purposes only and may not reflect final product).

New capabilities for cars with Google built-in

Car manufacturers like Polestar, Volvo Cars, and General Motors - with more to come - are already shipping select cars with Google technology built right into their infotainment systems, allowing you to get more use out of helpful features.

With Google Play built-in, you can soon download navigation apps like Sygic and Flitsmeister, charging apps like ChargePoint and PlugShare, parking apps like SpotHero and ParkWhiz and points of interest apps. In fact, later this year, you will be able to access video entertainment in the car while parked, starting with Volvo Cars with content from providers like YouTube. Suddenly, waiting for curbside pickup or for your car to charge isn't so boring anymore.

Image of car dashboard with Youtube video "Google Year in Search 202" playing.

Enjoy watching YouTube while parked on select Volvo Cars with Google built-in.

This deeper integration allows you to get help from Google beyond the car display. Coming this spring to Volvo Cars, you’ll be able to check on and adjust even more car settings by asking Google. From activating features like lane keeping assist to checking when your next service is due, your voice can replace looking around for the right button or scrolling through settings.

Smart home, meet smart car

With remote actions, you will soon be able to ask Google for help even before leaving the front door. Ask Google to warm up or cool down your car, lock and unlock it and check on the status of things like your battery charge, all from the comfort of your own home with the help of any Google Assistant-enabled device. This is coming first to select Volvo Cars, with more to follow.

Video showing woman using remote actions to pre-warm her car before setting off on a drive in the snow.
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Whether you’re getting ready for a drive or already on the road, we’re working hard to make sure Google helps make every ride a safe, smart and seamless experience.