Local SEO
Why one ranking number misleads you and your client
Your client does not rank third. They rank third somewhere, first in two streets, and nowhere at all four miles out — and which of those you report decides whether you keep the account.
8 min read · Updated 17 September 2026
Every local rank tracker has to make a decision it rarely tells you about. To search for "emergency plumber" it has to search from somewhere, and where it searches from changes the answer completely.
Most tools default to the business address or the centre of the city. Both are defensible choices. Both are also the two most flattering locations you could pick, because proximity to the searcher is one of the factors Google says it uses to rank local results — and the business address is, by definition, zero distance away.
What Google actually says
Google's own guidance on improving local ranking describes three broad factors: relevance, distance and prominence. Distance is explicitly one of them — Google defines it as how far each business is from the customer who is searching.
That single sentence is the whole argument. If distance is a ranking factor, then ranking is a function of where the search happens, and any tool reporting one number has silently collapsed a two-dimensional answer into a one-dimensional one.
What a grid does differently
A geo grid overlays a lattice of points across a map and runs the same search from every one. Each point is a real search with that point's coordinates, and each records the full local pack it saw — not just whether the target appeared.
Colour each point by where the client ranked and you get a heat map. Green in the middle fading to red at the edges is the ordinary shape. What makes it useful is when the shape is not ordinary.
- Red on one side only usually means a competitor with a strong profile has captured that direction.
- Green in a narrow band along a road often means the service area is set far too tightly.
- Red everywhere including the business address is almost always a listing problem, not a content problem.
- A ring of green with a red centre is rare and usually means a duplicate or suspended listing competing with itself.
Choosing the grid
Two decisions matter: how many points, and how far apart. Points determine resolution; spacing determines coverage. A 5x5 spread across an entire county tells you almost nothing, because each point stands for an area far larger than any real service radius.
For a business serving a dense town, a tight grid across a few miles is usually right. For a trade covering a rural area, wider spacing with more points earns its cost. The useful test is whether two adjacent points could plausibly have different answers. If they obviously could not, your grid is too tight; if you cannot guess what is between them, it is too loose.
| Grid | Points | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 5x5 | 25 | A quick check on one keyword, or a prospect you have not met yet |
| 10x10 | 100 | The standard monthly scan for a single-location business |
| 15x15 | 225 | A business with a genuinely wide service area |
| 21x21 | 441 | Multi-suburb coverage, or diagnostic work where the edges are the question |
| Circle, 4–11 rings | 61–397 | A service radius around the business rather than a square |
How to show it to a client without frightening them
A red map is a strong piece of evidence and a bad opening line. Shown carelessly it reads as an accusation, particularly if the client has been paying someone — possibly you — for months.
- 1
Lead with the question, not the map
Ask where their customers actually come from. Most owners know, and it is usually a smaller area than their marketing assumes.
- 2
Show the area they named first
Frame the scan as answering their question rather than grading their performance.
- 3
Explain that everyone's map has red in it
Nobody ranks everywhere. The goal is coverage of the area that matters, not a green rectangle.
- 4
Point at one direction, not the whole map
"We are losing the north side" is a plan. "You are invisible" is an argument.
- 5
Re-run the same grid next month
The comparison is the deliverable. A single map is a diagnosis; two maps are proof of work.
The honest limitations
Grid scans are a measurement, and measurements have error. Local results are personalised and volatile, so two scans an hour apart will differ slightly. That is the search engine moving, not the tool being unreliable, but it does mean you should not treat a one-position change as a signal.
A map-pack grid measures the local results; run an organic scan on the same grid to see the blue links too. Neither says anything about whether the traffic converts — that takes lead attribution. It answers one question well: can people in this area find this business on a map.