What is Google Maps' 'know before you go' feature?

It's a Gemini-powered section on a business's Maps listing that surfaces a few bullet-point insider tips — things like how to book, parking advice, and secret menu items — generated from reviews and other information Google finds online. It rolled out in the US on Android and iOS starting November 2025.

Where does Google get the 'know before you go' bullets?

Google says reviews and helpful information it finds online. When we traced one real listing's bullets to their cited sources, every bullet came from a review with photos attached, and one bullet also cited a public Facebook post that tagged the business.

Do reviewers need to be big Local Guides to get cited?

Apparently not. On the listing we examined, cited reviewers ranged from 6 total reviews to 433. What every cited review had in common wasn't reviewer clout — it was photos attached to the review.

How do I influence what shows up in my business's tips?

You can't write the tips yourself — Google generates them. But you can feed the machine: ask happy customers to attach a photo to their review, keep a steady stream of fresh detailed reviews coming, and encourage customers and partners to tag your business in public social posts.

Google Maps' 'Know Before You Go' Tips: How to Get Cited

Quick answer

Google Maps now shows "know before you go" — a Gemini-generated set of bullet-point tips on business listings, built from reviews and other content Google finds online. When we traced a real listing's bullets to their sources, every cited review had photos attached, cited reviewers ranged from just 6 reviews to 433, and one bullet also drew from a public Facebook post that tagged the business. Translation: photo-attached reviews are the new currency, and you should be asking for them.

Google has been quietly rebuilding Maps around Gemini, and one of the pieces most business owners still haven't noticed is "know before you go." It launched in the US on Android and iOS in November 2025: scroll down on a listing for a restaurant, hotel, or venue, and Maps shows a short set of AI-written insider tips — how to book, where to park, what the secret menu item is, whether there's a dress code. Google's own description: it "uses reviews and helpful information it finds online to surface top insights."

That's the official story. This week I pulled up a wine bar's listing and traced each bullet back to the sources Google cited. What I found tells you exactly what to do about it.

The short version

"Know before you go" is a Gemini-written summary on your Maps listing — customers read it before they ever open your reviews.
On the listing we traced, all three bullets were sourced from reviews with photos attached. Not one photo-less review was cited.
Cited reviewers ranged from 6 total reviews to 433 — you don't need power Local Guides, you need photos.
One bullet also cited a Facebook post that tagged the business — Google is reading beyond its own reviews.
Action: ask every happy customer to attach a photo to their review.

What Google shipped

"Know before you go" is part of the wave of Gemini features Google announced for Maps in November 2025 — alongside the trending Explore tab and EV charger predictions. For each supported place, Gemini reads the listing's reviews plus whatever else it can find online and writes a few bullets of practical, before-you-visit advice. Each bullet is tappable and cites its sources.

It's live in the US on Android and iOS, currently on restaurants, hotels, and concert venues — the categories where "what should I know before showing up?" matters most.

Why should you care? Because this summary sits on your listing above the point where most customers would ever scroll into individual reviews. It's a machine-written first impression of your business, and you don't get to write it. You only get to influence what it's written from.

What we found when we traced the sources

The bullets cite their sources, so I checked each one on a wine bar's listing. Three bullets, and a clear pattern:

1. Every cited review had photos attached. All three bullets sourced from reviews that included photos. Not one photo-less review made the cut, even though the listing has plenty of them. That's a small sample, but it matches how these systems work: a review with photos is corroborated, richer data — exactly what an AI summarizer prefers to build on.

2. Reviewer clout barely mattered. The cited reviewers ranged from 6 total reviews to 433. A near-first-time reviewer got cited right alongside a prolific Local Guide. The gate wasn't the reviewer's track record — it was the content of the review itself.

3. Google is reading beyond Google. One bullet also cited a public Facebook post that tagged the business. Gemini isn't just summarizing your Google reviews — it's pulling in outside content that mentions you. Your broader web footprint now feeds your Maps listing directly.

This lines up with what we wrote about reviews as your best AI dataset: AI systems recommend from data, and they visibly prefer data that's human, specific, and corroborated. "Know before you go" is that thesis rendered on your own listing.

What to do about it

You can't edit the tips. You can change what they're generated from — starting today.

1. Ask customers to attach a photo to their review. This is the single clearest takeaway. When you ask for a review, add five words: "a photo helps a ton." A customer holding their phone at your counter or table already has the photo — they just need the nudge. Photo-attached reviews were the only kind that got cited.

2. Keep the review stream fresh — from anyone. You don't need to court big-name Local Guides. A 6-review customer got cited on the listing we traced. Volume and recency of detailed, photo-backed reviews from ordinary customers is the play.

3. Get tagged on social. Public posts that tag your business are now source material for your own Maps listing. Encourage customers to tag you, and tag yourself in your own public posts about events, new menu items, and how to book — the kind of practical detail "know before you go" loves to surface.

4. Make the practical facts easy to find. The tips gravitate toward reservations, parking, and insider knowledge. Make sure your profile, website, and posts state those things plainly, so the summary gets them right.

Start with the photo ask

Everything above starts with the same moment: a happy customer, right in front of you, willing to help. ProsperQR gets them from "sure" to the Google review form in one tap — and now the ask should come with one extra line: bring a photo.

Start collecting photo-backed reviews

The verdict

"Know before you go" is Google letting Gemini write your first impression. On the listing we traced, the raw material was unambiguous: photo-attached reviews from everyday customers, plus a tagged Facebook post. None of that is luck — it's collectible. Ask for the review, ask for the photo, get tagged. The businesses that feed the summary will be the ones it flatters.