Where do you rank on Maps, two streets away?
Google Maps ranks by where the searcher stands. This grid checks your position at nine points around your business for any search term, so you see the map pack the way your customers do.
We ask Google Maps for “your term” from nine points about 1.2 km apart around the business and record where it ranks at each.top 3top 10belownot in 20
Nine searches, one question: how far does your Maps reach go?
Your listing, found first
We look up your business on Google by name and location, and use its exact position on the map as the centre of the grid. If Google cannot find the listing, the grid stops there, because that is the first problem to fix.
Nine points, about 1.2 km apart
A three-by-three grid around your listing. At each point we ask Google's Places service for your search term as if the searcher were standing there, and record where your business appears in the first 20 results.
Who wins each square
Every point also shows the top three businesses Google returned there, so you see which competitors hold the map pack in each direction, not only your own number.
Green near the centre, red at the edges is normal
Distance is one of Google's three local ranking factors. The aim is not green everywhere; it is to push the green further out than your competitors manage.
Red at the centre is a profile problem
If you do not rank at your own address for your main service, look at the category, the business name, the reviews and whether the search term matches what you actually offer, before anything else.
Check the term your customers type
A grid for "dentist" and a grid for "emergency dentist" can look completely different. Run the words customers use, not the name of your service as you would say it.
Maps grid, answered.
Why does my rank change a kilometre away?
Google Maps ranks by distance from the searcher as much as by relevance and prominence. A business can be number one at its own door and invisible two streets over. The grid shows that spread.
Is this the same as what my customers see?
Very close. We ask Google's Places service for your search term with a location bias at each point; that mirrors how Maps ranks for a searcher standing there. Personalisation and live traffic can shift a place or two.
What does "20+" mean in a square?
Your business was not in the first 20 results Google returned at that point. For a searcher standing there, you are effectively not on the map.
What moves a red square to green?
A complete, verified Google Business Profile with the right primary category, steady reviews with replies, consistent name, address and phone everywhere, location pages on your site, and local citations. Our Local SEO package tracks this exact grid every month.
Why only nine points and three grids a day?
Each grid asks Google ten questions and costs us money. Nine points cover about a 2.5 km square, enough to see the pattern. Clients get 25-point grids monthly.
Own the map pack in your area.
Local SEO with a monthly 25-point grid report. Free audit first.