Why one ranking number is misleading
Google's local results depend heavily on where the searcher is. A plumber can be first in the map pack for someone two blocks from the office and nowhere for someone five miles away. A traditional rank tracker reports a single number, usually from one location, which tells you almost nothing about how many potential customers actually see you.
A geo-grid fixes that by sampling the area systematically. Instead of "rank 2", you see a map: green where you are in the top three, yellow where you appear lower, red where you do not appear. That picture matches how customers across the Valley actually experience local search.
How a geo-grid works
- Choose a center point, usually the business location or the middle of the service area.
- Choose the grid size and spacing, for example a 9 by 9 grid with points one mile apart, covering an area of about eight miles by eight miles.
- Choose the search term, such as "water heater repair" or "dentist".
- Run the search from each point. The tool simulates a search from that exact location and records your business's position in the results.
- Plot the results on a map, colored by position.
The same grid can be run for several search terms and repeated over time, so changes are easy to compare.
Choosing the right grid for Phoenix
Grid settings should match how far customers travel to you, which varies widely across the Valley.
| Business type | Typical grid | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee shop or restaurant | Small grid, points 0.25–0.5 mile apart | Customers rarely travel far |
| Dental or medical practice | Medium grid, points about 1 mile apart | Patients travel within a few miles |
| Home service company | Large grid, points 1.5–3 miles apart | Technicians cover large areas |
| Specialist service, Valley-wide | Very large grid or several grids | Customers search from across the metro |
A grid that is too small hides how quickly visibility fades. A grid that is too large wastes points in areas you do not serve, such as open desert west of Buckeye or mountain preserves. For businesses that serve two separate parts of the Valley, such as the West Valley and Scottsdale, two grids centered on each area are often clearer than one huge grid.
Metrics we report
- Average rank across the grid: a quick summary, though it can hide important patterns.
- Top-three share: the percentage of points where the business appears in the top three. This is the closest single number to "how often do I appear in the map pack".
- Coverage radius: roughly how far from the center the business stays in the top three.
- Competitor share: which competitors hold the top three at points where you do not.
Top-three share is usually the most useful number, because the local pack on Google Search shows three businesses and most clicks go to them.
Reading grid patterns
Patterns on a grid often point to a specific cause:
- A tight green circle around the office suggests good relevance but limited prominence. More reviews, links and citations usually widen it.
- Weak results even at the center suggest a relevance problem, such as the wrong primary category or a missing service.
- Strong in one direction, weak in another often points to a competitor cluster or a geographic barrier, such as a freeway or a large park that changes how Google measures proximity.
- Results that suddenly drop everywhere suggest a profile problem, such as a suspension, an accepted edit or a filter.
Comparing grids for different search terms is also revealing. If you rank broadly for "AC repair" but narrowly for "AC installation", the installation service probably needs its own profile service entry and website page.
Tracking progress over time
The first grid is the baseline. We rerun the same grid, with the same center, size, spacing and search term, on a regular schedule, usually monthly. Keeping settings identical is essential; changing the grid makes comparisons meaningless.
Over months of local SEO work, a healthy pattern is a green area that grows outward from the center and a rising top-three share. Seasonal changes, competitor activity and Google updates can cause short-term movement, so we look at trends across several grids rather than reacting to a single change.
Using grids to compare competitors
A grid shows not just your position but who wins each point. By recording the top three at every point, we can see that one competitor dominates Arcadia while another owns Ahwatukee. Looking at what those competitors have, such as categories, review counts and distance, explains why, and helps choose the most effective next step for your profile.
Example: comparing two grids
Here is an illustrative example. A Tempe auto repair shop runs a 9 by 9 grid with points one mile apart for "auto repair".
- Month one: the shop is in the top three at 14 of 81 points, mostly within two miles of the shop. A competitor near Mill Avenue holds most of the points to the north.
- Month four: after changing the primary category from "Mechanic" to "Auto repair shop", adding twelve services to the profile, publishing a page for each main repair and steadily collecting reviews, the shop is in the top three at 31 of 81 points. The green area now reaches into south Tempe and west Chandler.
The grid makes the progress visible and also shows what remains: the area north of the shop is still held by the Mill Avenue competitor, which has far more reviews.
Geo-grid tools
Several established tools run geo-grid scans, including Local Falcon, BrightLocal and Whitespark. They differ in grid sizes, scheduling, competitor reporting and price, but the method is the same. We choose the tool based on your needs and keep the same tool for all comparisons, because results from different tools are not always directly comparable.
Limits of geo-grid data
Geo-grids are simulations, and they have limits worth knowing:
- Real results can vary with the searcher's history, device and exact wording.
- Results change throughout the day and week, so one grid is a snapshot.
- Grids measure position, not clicks or calls. A great grid with weak photos or reviews may still bring few customers.
That is why we combine grids with the actions recorded in your profile's performance data and with tracked calls and forms. Our Google Maps rank tracking service covers that broader reporting.
Geo-grids within local SEO work
Geo-grid tracking is a measurement tool, not a ranking tactic. It is most useful alongside the work that changes rankings: profile optimization, map pack SEO, citations, reviews and better website pages. Every Google Maps audit we run starts with grids for the business's main searches.
Setting up tracking for your business
To set up useful grids, we agree on:
- The searches that bring your most valuable customers.
- The area you genuinely serve, and any areas you want to grow into.
- The center point and spacing that match how far customers travel to you.
- How often to rerun the grids.
You receive the baseline grids with a short explanation of what they show and the most likely reasons for any weak areas.
Grids for multi-location businesses
Each location gets its own grid centered on that location, with the same settings across all locations so they can be compared fairly. This quickly shows which branches have strong coverage and which need help, and whether two nearby branches are competing with each other for the same searchers.