Search for your own business type on your phone and you see one ranking. A customer two kilometres away can see a different list. To know where you really rank on Google Maps, you have to check from more than one place. This guide explains why, and how to do it.
Why your ranking depends on where the search happens
Google says local results are mainly based on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Prominence is how well known your business is, which includes your reviews and the websites that link to you.
Distance is how far each business is from the customer who is searching. If the customer doesn't share where they are, Google uses what it knows about their location. So distance changes with every searcher. The same search from the next block, the next neighbourhood and the other side of town can each return a different order of businesses.
Why one rank check is not enough
A single check tells you your position at one point, usually your own shop, which is where you rank best. Customers search from their homes, offices and cars.
A check from one point cannot show you whether you rank well only near your front door or across the whole area you serve. You need several points to see that.
1. Open Google Maps on your phone in incognito mode. 2. Standing at your business, search your main service, such as "dentist", and note your position. 3. Ask four people about 2 km to the north, south, east and west to run the same search at the same time and send a screenshot. 4. Write the five positions on a sketch of the area, for example: 1 at the clinic, 2 to the north, 4 to the east, 9 to the south, not in the top 20 to the west. The west is where customers are choosing someone else, so start there.
How grid tracking works
Grid tracking runs the same search from a set of points laid out evenly around your business, and records your position at each one.
- Choose a search your customers type, such as "dentist" or "emergency plumber".
- Place a grid of points around your business. The grid covers the area you want customers from.
- Run the search as if the searcher were at each point, and record where your business appears.
- Repeat on a schedule, with the same grid, so each result can be compared with the last.
Choose the searches to track
Track the searches that bring you customers, in the words customers use. Start with your main service and your category, then add the specific services that earn the most.
Include one or two searches you do not rank for yet. Those show whether your work on the profile is paying off.
Read the results
A rank grid is a map with a number on each point. Read it in this order:
- Coverage: at how many points are you in the top 3? The first results are the ones a searcher sees before scrolling.
- Shape: where are you strong and where do you drop? A ranking that falls off in one direction often points to a competitor on that side.
- Competitors: who ranks above you at the points where you are weak? Compare their categories, reviews and photos with yours.
- Trend: compare each check with the last one. One check is a snapshot. Several checks show direction.
Improve the weak areas
You cannot change distance, but you can work on relevance and prominence, the two factors you control.
- Relevance: check your categories, services and description against the search. Google matches profiles to searches using this information.
- Prominence: get more reviews, reply to them, and keep your website and links to it accurate.
- Completeness: fill in hours, attributes and photos. Google says complete and accurate information helps a profile match more searches.
Change one thing at a time, and give Google a few checks to reflect it before you judge the result.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do I rank differently on my phone and my laptop?
- Your devices can share different locations with Google, and Google's local results depend on the distance between the searcher and the business. Grid tracking removes that variable by running every search from fixed points.
- How often should I check my rankings?
- A weekly check suits most local businesses. Rankings move, and a regular schedule with the same grid shows the trend without reacting to one day's change.
- What does being in the top 3 mean?
- It means your business is one of the first three results for that search at that point on the grid.
Get the same 9-point check every week, automatically
With Reach
The Search Visibility section in Reach checks your tracked searches on a 3 × 3 grid, 9 points around your business, every week on a fixed schedule, so each check is comparable with the last.
GeoGrid shows your position at each point. Rank Tracking shows each search's ranking over time. Competitors shows who ranks around you, and counts at how many of the 9 points each business is in the top 3.
How many searches you can track depends on your plan.