Local Rank Tracker
See where you rank on Google Maps from dozens of points across your area, not one number taken at your own front door.
A local rank tracker records your place in Google Maps results for a keyword. It checks from many points across your area instead of one. The result is a heat map showing where you turn up and where you vanish.
What it does
Google Maps does not give everyone the same result. Where the searcher is standing changes what they see. You can sit at number one for a person outside your door and be nowhere for a person two miles away typing the same words.
A normal rank tracker checks from one point, so it gives you one number. That number is not a lie. It is just close to useless for a local business, because it describes one spot and not a trading area. Most owners who think they rank well are looking at a score taken from their own reception desk.
A grid scan swaps that single point for a lattice. We run the same keyword from dozens of coordinates across your area and plot what comes back. Green means you sit near the top there. Amber means you are slipping. Red means you do not show up at all. The map is nearly always patchier than people expect.
The patchy part is the useful part. A tight green centre with a hard red edge means you are only winning on being close. A map with strong and weak spots at the same distance means something else is going on, such as a rival owning one district or a category that only fits some searches. Both look identical in a single number and both need very different work.
Everything you get
Grid scanning
Run one keyword from dozens of points across your area and see the full spread of positions, not one figure. Results are drawn as a heat map so weak streets stand out at a glance.
Grid size you choose
Pick anything from a 3 by 3 up to a 9 by 9 lattice. Tight grids give fine detail in a busy city. Wide grids cover a rural patch without burning through scans.
Point spacing you set
Set how far apart the points sit so the scan covers the area you really serve. A city cafe and a county wide contractor need very different spacing.
Scans on a schedule
Run scans weekly or monthly with nobody having to remember. History starts building from the first scan, and that history is what makes every later comparison possible.
Compare any two dates
Put two scans side by side and see which points went up and which slipped. Movement is shown point by point, not as a changed average.
Rival overlay
Run the same grid for a competitor and lay the two together. A rival holding the centre while you fade at the edge tells you at once whether this is a distance problem or a profile problem.
Many keywords per location
Track a set of phrases for each location. A business often ranks well for one service and badly for another on the very same streets. One keyword would never show you that.
Average position
One headline number worked out from the whole grid instead of one kind point. It is honest enough to put in a report. The map stays the thing you work from.
White label exports
Export the heat map and the numbers behind it as a PDF carrying your logo. The grid picture is the thing clients respond to in a review meeting.
From setup to first result
- 1
Add the location
Enter the business exactly as it reads on Google so the scanner locks onto the right profile and not a rival with a similar name. Get this wrong and everything after it is quietly worthless.
- 2
Pick your keywords
Start with the three to five phrases that bring you work, not the ones with the biggest national volume. A grid for a phrase nobody buys from is decoration.
- 3
Set the grid size
A 5 by 5 or 7 by 7 grid covers most towns. Bigger grids eat scans and tell you about ground you would never travel to anyway.
- 4
Set the spacing
Spacing decides how much ground the scan covers. Keep it tight in a dense city where results change within a few streets. Open it up in a rural area where people drive further.
- 5
Run the baseline
This is your before picture. Everything later is measured against it. Run it before you change a single thing you plan to take credit for.
- 6
Set the schedule
Weekly suits most businesses. Daily scanning mostly records normal wobble and tempts people into reacting to movement that means nothing.
- 7
Read the map, not the average
The average gives you a headline for the report. The map tells you which streets to work on. That is where the real decisions get made.
What changes when you use it
- Only checking from your own address
- Reacting to every weekly wobble
- Using a grid far bigger than your patch
- Tracking too many keywords
- Changing the settings between scans
- An average hides the real problem
- Being close really is a ranking factor
- It tells cause from symptom
- It makes progress provable
- It shows how far your reach goes
An average hides the real problem
A decent looking mean can bury four districts where you never show up at all. The mean is a reporting number. The map is a working document. Mixing the two up is the most common mistake in local reporting.
Being close really is a ranking factor
Google weighs the gap between searcher and business, so your rank should change across a town. Treating that as noise means missing the most predictable pattern in local search.
It tells cause from symptom
Fading evenly in every direction is a distance problem. Fading in one direction only is a rival or a relevance problem. The two look the same in one number and need completely different fixes.
It makes progress provable
Two grids a few months apart are the most convincing thing in local SEO reporting, because the change is there to see. Clients who do not trust a table of positions understand a heat map straight away.
It shows how far your reach goes
The grid shows the real edge of your visibility. That is useful when you are weighing up a second location or a wider service area.
It catches losses early
A district turning red between two scans is an early warning. A rival changed something, someone edited your profile, or the listing is in trouble. You usually see it well before the phone goes quiet.
What it measures
- Your position at each grid point
- Average position across the whole grid
- Share of points sitting in the top three
- Change at each point between two scans
- Rival positions on the same grid
- Which way the trend is going
Reports you can send
Every output can be exported and carries your branding, never ours.
Grid heat map
Your position at every point, colour coded, for one keyword on one date.
Two date comparison
Two scans laid over each other, showing which points rose and which fell.
Average position trend
The headline number tracked over time for reporting.
Top three share
How many of your grid points hold a top three spot.
Rival grid
The same lattice run for a competitor so the two sit side by side.
Branded PDF
All of the above in a document carrying your logo.
Who this is built for
Show clients movement street by street instead of one national figure they cannot check.
Compare one site against another and find the branches losing ground in their own town.
Give each franchisee their own map while head office keeps the view across the estate.
Find out where you actually show up before you spend a penny on improving it.
Get more out of it
- Run the baseline before you change anything. A grid run after your fixes cannot prove the fixes worked.
- Scan weekly and review monthly. Weekly data builds a trend. Weekly decisions mostly chase noise.
- Track the keyword that brings in money, not the one with the biggest volume.
- Always put some points past your comfortable radius. A map that only covers ground you already win tells you nothing.
- Run a rival grid next to every one of yours. A position with no context tells you what happened and never why.
- Keep the grid settings the same every time, or you are comparing two different pieces of geography.
Only checking from your own address
You are closest to yourself, so this gives you the best number you will ever see and the least useful one. It is the top reason businesses think they are doing better than they are.
Reacting to every weekly wobble
Positions shift a place or two all the time. Steady movement across several points over several scans is a signal. Anything less is noise, and acting on it usually means undoing something that was working.
Using a grid far bigger than your patch
Scanning points where you would turn the job down makes the map look redder than the business deserves. It knocks client confidence for no reason.
Tracking too many keywords
Twenty phrases per location makes a report nobody reads. Five tracked properly beats twenty tracked in name only.
Changing the settings between scans
Alter the size or the spacing and the comparison is dead, because you are measuring different ground. Lock the settings when you set the baseline.
By hand, or with this
| Doing it manually | With Local Rank Tracker |
|---|---|
| One position from a spot you cannot see | Your position mapped across dozens of set points |
| No way to tell distance from competition | The fade pattern separates the two for you |
| Checking by hand, whenever someone remembers | Scans on a fixed schedule, building history |
| Screenshots the client quietly doubts | Grid pictures with the numbers attached |
| No record of what a fix changed | A before and after for every point on the grid |
| No idea where rivals sit | The same grid run for them, side by side |
- Check the profile the scanner matched is really yours
- Pick three to five phrases that bring in work
- Set a grid that covers where you take jobs
- Run and save the baseline before you optimise anything
- Add your two strongest rivals to the same grid
- Schedule weekly scans and put a monthly review in the diary
- Lock the grid settings so later comparisons still mean something
One of 42 tools on the same plan
Every tool below is on the same plan at the same price. Nothing here is an extra, an upgrade or a separate subscription.
Rank & Visibility
Manage Profiles
Posts & Automation
Reviews & Reputation
Reports & White-Label
Questions people ask
What is a local rank tracker?
A tool that records where you sit in local search results for the phrases you pick. Unlike a plain rank tracker, it takes the searcher position into account, because Google Maps results change with the distance between the searcher and the business.
What is a grid scan?
A scan that runs the same keyword from many points across an area and plots the position it gets back at each one. You end up with a heat map of your visibility instead of a single number.
How is this different from normal rank tracking?
Normal rank tracking gives one position from one place. A grid scan gives the spread across a whole area. When results are worked out partly from where the searcher stands, that spread is the only figure that means much.
Does it track Google Maps or normal search results?
Map pack and local results, which is where being close matters. Web positions run on a different system with different inputs, and most local businesses want both watched.
What grid size should I use?
A 5 by 5 or 7 by 7 grid over the area you really cover suits most businesses. Bigger grids use up scans without telling you anything about ground you would serve.
How often should I scan?
Weekly is enough for almost everyone. Daily scanning mostly captures normal wobble rather than real movement.
Can I see where my rivals rank?
Yes. Run the same grid for a competitor and lay the two maps together. That is usually the fastest way to work out whether you have a distance problem or a profile problem.
Every tool. One price. Nothing extra to buy.
$5.33 per location per month gets you Local Rank Tracker and the other 41 tools.