Local rank tracking with rank grids shows where you are found.

Local rank tracking measures where a business appears in Google’s map results by running the same search from many points across its service area and recording the position at each one. That set of points is a rank grid. I use grids because a map ranking changes with where the searcher is standing, which follows from the way Google treats distance in map pack ranking.

Why checking from your own phone tells you little

Your own search is one data point taken from one place, usually the office. That’s the spot where you rank best, because distance is in your favor there. A customer in Rancho Bernardo searching for the same service sees a different list.

A conventional rank tracker has the same blind spot when it reports one position per keyword for a whole city.

How a grid is built

I lay evenly spaced points over the area you serve and run one search from each. How far apart the points sit and how much ground they cover decide whether the result is useful. Close spacing suits a dense area such as Kearny Mesa, where results can change within a few blocks. A company based in Escondido that also covers San Marcos, Valley Center and Poway needs wider spacing to fit the territory into one picture. Each service gets its own grid, because “water heater repair” and “drain cleaning” are separate contests with different competitors.

How to read one

Start by sorting the points into zones.

The shape matters as well. A patch that stops abruptly on one side often points to a strong competitor based there. The grid records who holds each point, which is the raw material for competitor analysis.

What to read alongside a grid

A grid measures visibility and stops short of calls. Each point is a simulated search from a set of coordinates with no customer behind it, and a point in the middle of Mission Trails Regional Park counts the same as one in a street full of houses. So I read grids next to the calls and direction requests your profile reports.

A grid also covers the map results only. I track positions in the regular listings under the map separately, as part of organic SEO.

What makes a before and after comparison fair

The two grids have to be identical in everything except the date: same search term, same center, same spacing, same number of points. Map results also move a little from day to day on their own, so one point changing by one position is noise. I look for movement across a group of neighboring points.

I run the second grid about two weeks after a change, and I make only one change in between. If two things changed, the grid can’t say which one did it.

The first grid in any comparison is the baseline, which is why a local SEO audit starts with one, and so does the rest of my local SEO work.