Ask a local business owner where they rank for “plumber” and they’ll usually search from their office and report what they see. The trouble is that local rankings depend heavily on where the searcher is. A local rank grid fixes that by checking the same search from many locations at once.
How it works
You choose a keyword, a center point (usually your business address) and a grid size, for example a 7 by 7 grid with points one mile apart. The tool runs the search as if from each point and records where your business appears in the local results. The result is a map covered in numbered dots, typically colored green for top-three positions, yellow or orange for the middle, and red where you rank poorly or not at all.
3 2 2 4 7 12 20+
2 1 1 2 5 9 15
1 1 1 1 3 6 11
1 1 [1] 1 2 4 9
2 1 1 1 2 5 10
4 2 2 3 4 8 14
8 5 4 6 9 13 20+In this example, the business dominates near its address (marked [1]) and to the west, but drops away quickly to the east.
Why it matters
Coastline Plumbing is based in south Austin but wants jobs across the whole city. A grid for “water heater repair” shows top-three positions for about two miles around the shop and almost nothing north of the river. That explains why most calls come from nearby, and it gives the business something specific to work on, rather than a vague sense that “local SEO isn’t working”.
Grids are also the clearest way to show progress. Comparing a grid from March with one from September makes improvements visible in a way a single ranking number can’t.
How to act on a grid
- Strong only near the address? That’s proximity at work. Build prominence (reviews, links, local content) to extend your reach.
- Weak even close to home? Check relevance: primary category, services listed, and how well the website covers that service.
- Strong in some directions only? Look at which competitors win the weak areas, and consider location or service area pages for those neighborhoods.
Common mistakes
- Grids that are too large, so most points fall outside where you could realistically rank
- Drawing conclusions from one scan. Results fluctuate; look at trends
- Expecting green across the whole city. Distance is a real factor that no amount of optimization fully overcomes
How to run one
RankThat’s Local SEO tools include a Local Rank Grid that maps your positions in the local pack across your area, alongside citation checks and review management. Use it with regular rank tracking for your organic results.