Youtube - Place Mentions

Making discovery of places easy

Context

Youtube has become a reliable source for place discovery. Users often find reviews of locations explained through a video more reliable as it provides a more detailed look at what their experience would be like, they can get a better sense of atmosphere, food, surroundings, and more.

Research has shown that 2-4 % of Youtube queries have intent to visit that place. There currently isn’t a clear path from discovering places to visit on Youtube, and then getting to the Maps to interact with the place further (get directions, call establishment, save or share location, etc).

The Challenge

User journey on Youtube when finding places feels broken, users are currently forced to go back and forth between Youtube and Google Maps if they see a place they are interested in visiting.

Goal.

• User: Find a seamless way to view information and reviews on places using either Youtube or Google Maps platform, or both.

• Business: Increase engagement in both Google Maps and Youtube without interrupting the experience.

Geo Search & Explore team wants to link Google Maps and Youtube in the form of adding places mentioned in the video. This way it provides a clear path to discovering places from a video to seeing the detailed information on places in Maps.

Currently, there are a few creators on Youtube that have found hacky ways to link locations mentioned in the video.

Some creators have put in the extra effort into making their content informative, by linking places mentioned in the video in different ways. Come have created a public Google Maps list of the places from the video, and linked them in the description box. Others have listed each location and their Google Maps information separately so that the users can find the exact places they are looking for with just one click.

While this is a step above what is currently offered, these methods are a lot of effort on the creators, and the information is still not very visible, as it is hidden under the ‘view more’ fold.