Local RankFlux Overview

What is Local RankFlux?

Local RankFlux is a free local SEO tool that tracks daily changes in Google’s local rankings to help local marketers see whether a local algorithm update may be taking place.

It tracks more than 14,000 locally-focused keywords across 20 locations within the USA to identify unusual fluctuation within Google local finder rankings. 

Each day, Local RankFlux determines the daily ranking change of each business in the top 20 search results by comparing their previous day’s position with their new ranking. The tool then applies a weighting to different ranking positions to match the perceived importance and ranking value of positions in Google’s local search results to calculate an overall daily score. 

Small changes in ranking positions are to be expected every day, as some businesses go up and down the results based on changes in their SEO and how Google values them — this means that we anticipate a certain amount of fluctuation in the Local RankFlux score each day.

However, when Google releases a significant change to their local search algorithm we will see a bigger fluctuation, and therefore, a higher score.

What do the daily Local RankFlux scores signify?

• Between 0 - 3 indicates ‘low’, expected fluctuation (i.e. nothing significant has happened)
• Between 3.1 - 6 indicates ‘medium’ fluctuation (i.e. something minor may have happened)
• Between 6.1 - 10 indicates ‘high’ fluctuation (i.e. something major has happened — likely a local algorithm update)

Please note: The expected daily fluctuation levels differs between industries — i.e. hotels, restaurants, and pubs see greater daily fluctuation and volatility than other industries. We recommend bearing this in mind when looking at scores for specific industries.  

You can sign up for Daily, Weekly, or Urgent emails to alert you of a possible local algorithm update. 

For more information on Local RankFlux, please visit our About Local RankFlux page. 

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