Every day, Local Guides like you share their experiences, knowledge, and questions on Connect. There’s lots to learn and discover, so here are some helpful tips for searching the community.
1. Use keywords to find topics and people
Looking to learn more about an exciting place or a popular dish? Or you can’t quite remember the Connect username of another community member you recently talked to?
Type keywords in the search bar at the top of any page. Suggested usernames will appear in a drop-down list. Or, you can choose to search “in all topics and posts” to find content relevant to your keywords.
You can select the topic that interests you or complete a full search by clicking on “More” or the advanced search icon on the right side of the bar. You’ll then be taken to a results page filled with content that includes your keywords.
2. Narrow your search by using the advanced filter options on the results page
These filters will make it easier to find the content you’re looking for. Here’s a breakdown:
- Categorized: Filter content by category. Categories include Connections & celebrations, Google Maps contribution stories, Google Maps tips & tricks, and Meet-ups, as well as the Community guidelines subsections.
- Tagged: Filter topics by tags, such as Food & drinks, Nature, Attraction, and more.
- Only return topics/posts…: Filter content that contains your keywords in the title, has images, or based on your interaction with it — whether you’ve liked it, read it, or bookmarked it. More options available in the drop-down menu.
- Where topics: Filter by topic status, whether it’s open, closed for replies, has no replies, is or isn’t solved, and more.
- Posted by: Filter posts shared by a specific Local Guide. You do not need to include the “@” when searching here. Once you find who you’re looking for, select the Local Guide from the drop-down list.
- Posted: Filter content by publication date, either before or after a certain date.
Once you’ve set your filters, click Search.
3. Sort all topics by category, tag, or country
At the top of the Topics page, you’ll find several drop-down menus that allow you to sort the content you see by category, tag, and country. You can choose more than one tag to further narrow down the results.
Pro tip: Clicking on a tag that’s listed under the title of a topic will take you to a page filled with content that has that tag.
4. Visit a Local Guide’s profile page to see what they’ve written
If you know the username of a Local Guide on Connect, you can use the search bar to look for them as shared above. You can also select their profile photo or username at the top of one of their posts and click on the information card that appears to go to their profile page. There, under the Activity tab, you can choose to see a list of the topics and replies they’ve shared in the community and more.
