Badges & levels in Google Product Forums

Google Product Forums use badges and levels to identify certain members of a Forum.

Badges

Badges indicate a member's identity or level of participation, such as:

• Rising Stars: People who are developing their product knowledge
• Top Contributors: Knowledgeable and active Forum participants
• Top Contributor alumni: Past Top Contributors
•  Mentors: Experienced Top Contributors who give help and advice to Rising Stars, new participants, and anyone interested in the Top Contributor program
•  Best Answers: This badge is awarded to Forum members whose posts have been marked as best answers
•  Google Employees: Guides and community managers who work at Google 
•  Google Experts: Google partners who share their expertise

Levels

Levels indicate how much someone participates in a Forum. Everyone starts at level 1 and can rise to level 10. These activities can increase your level:

• Post an answer
• Have your answer selected as the best answer
• Have your post rated as helpful
• Vote up a post
• Correctly mark a topic or post as abuse

If your posts are marked as abuse and removed from the Forum, that will slow your advance to the next level.