How to Set Up Search Grid Reports for Accurate Reporting

[WillowRose]

Hello There,

While setting up search grid tracking in Bright Local for some home service clients, I am looking for opinions on how many data points to track (5x5 or 7x7) and how far away I should be tracking them, as they are serviced-based businesses that typically service ~60 miles away from their office locations.

Advice is welcome and appreciated!

 

[ElizabethRule]

I wrote about this for Search Engine Land Local SEO success: How to track rankings, conversions, calls

Basically you want to set the radius far enough out that you are not seeing ALL green pins, you want to be able to see where rankings drop off, and determine if you can keep pushing these boundaries to rank farther away from your location. 60 miles might be a bit far to rank for a single SAB listing, so set up a test report for 1 keyword set to 10, 20 and/or 30 miles and see how well you rank at the edges of those ranking grids before you run reports for ALL your keywords.

I typically use a 7x7 grid, I think 5x5 would be ok for a small service area, but likely too much space between pins for a larger service area.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Good article. Thanks for sharing. You've given me something to think about.

 

[WillowRose]

I wrote about this for Search Engine Land Local SEO success: How to track rankings, conversions, calls

Basically you want to set the radius far enough out that you are not seeing ALL green pins, you want to be able to see where rankings drop off, and determine if you can keep pushing these boundaries to rank farther away from your location. 60 miles might be a bit far to rank for a single SAB listing, so set up a test report for 1 keyword set to 10, 20 and/or 30 miles and see how well you rank at the edges of those ranking grids before you run reports for ALL your keywords.

I typically use a 7x7 grid, I think 5x5 would be ok for a small service area, but likely too much space between pins for a larger service area.

Thank you for this! Incredibly helpful.

 

[mattstephenskc]

I wrote about this for Search Engine Land Local SEO success: How to track rankings, conversions, calls

Basically you want to set the radius far enough out that you are not seeing ALL green pins, you want to be able to see where rankings drop off, and determine if you can keep pushing these boundaries to rank farther away from your location. 60 miles might be a bit far to rank for a single SAB listing, so set up a test report for 1 keyword set to 10, 20 and/or 30 miles and see how well you rank at the edges of those ranking grids before you run reports for ALL your keywords.

I typically use a 7x7 grid, I think 5x5 would be ok for a small service area, but likely too much space between pins for a larger service area.

Whoa—that’s a fantastic article. I’ve been begging our SEO service providers for this level of comprehensive nuance since I first interviewed them over two years ago, and am frustrated they haven’t risen to the challenge.

 

[Jessica C]

I wrote about this for Search Engine Land Local SEO success: How to track rankings, conversions, calls

Basically you want to set the radius far enough out that you are not seeing ALL green pins, you want to be able to see where rankings drop off, and determine if you can keep pushing these boundaries to rank farther away from your location. 60 miles might be a bit far to rank for a single SAB listing, so set up a test report for 1 keyword set to 10, 20 and/or 30 miles and see how well you rank at the edges of those ranking grids before you run reports for ALL your keywords.

I typically use a 7x7 grid, I think 5x5 would be ok for a small service area, but likely too much space between pins for a larger service area.

Hi Elizabeth! I read your article mentioned here- thank you!! so helpful. I wanted to ask you- I am a newborn photographer in Los Angeles- we service clients only at our home studio only and our GBP is set as a service area business. Our clients come to us from up to 30 miles away. I used Local Falcon to see where we are ranking, so used a a 21 x 21 grid with a 30 mi radius, and I customized the points to the main areas our clients drive from. Results looks like this. Is 21x21 the correct grid choice? or am I doing this wrong?

 

[ElizabethRule]

Hi Elizabeth! I read your article mentioned here- thank you!! so helpful. I wanted to ask you- I am a newborn photographer in Los Angeles- we service clients only at our home studio only and our GBP is set as a service area business. Our clients come to us from up to 30 miles away. I used Local Falcon to see where we are ranking, so used a a 21 x 21 grid with a 30 mi radius, and I customized the points to the main areas our clients drive from. Results looks like this. Is 21x21 the correct grid choice? or am I doing this wrong?

Hey there!

You're not doing it wrong per se, but I recommend decreasing the radius you used in that screenshot significantly. I suggest using a radius between 5 and 10 miles. This is likely the maximum range at which one GBP can rank in such a competitive market like LA, especially for a Service Area Business (SAB). You shouldn’t see that much red surrounding the green and yellow center on your ranking grid. If you run a report at 5 miles and see only green, expand the radius to 10 miles or so until you see more yellow and red.

That applies to map rankings. If you're interested in tracking organic rankings on a grid (LocalFalcon doesn't do this, but other tools like Places Scout do), you can use a larger radius like the one you used in the screenshot. For organic search, you can rank your webpages as far from your physical location as you want. So, if you haven’t already, I recommend looking into ways to improve your website's organic ranking within that 30-mile radius in addition to map rankings.