In this useful overview, we will explain how to understand the results of your Local Search Grid (LSG) report.
A Local Search Grid report will look like this once complete:
Where to find it
You can find your Local Search Grid reports by clicking 'Local SEO Tools' in the top navigation bar, then selecting 'Local Search Grid'.
It is also accessible from the left-side menu, when viewing a Location.
How Local Search Grid works
For each keyword, we can see a timeline. Each time the report is run, another data point is added, creating a visual representation of performance over time.
This is useful if you work for an agency and want to show your clients how your efforts are paying off.
The data points are clickable, making it easy to jump between reports and color-coded according to the reports' 'Average Map Rank'.
- Green (ranks 1–3)
- Amber (ranks 4–10)
- Orange (ranks 11–20)
- Red (over 20)
Below is the 'Average Map Rank', which is calculated to show what the average ranking position is for a business. To find out how this is calculated, click here.
You can also see the change in ranking for the keyword since the previous report run.
The map below shows you where you’re ranking at different points on the map.
- Green (ranks 1–3)
- Amber (ranks 4–10)
- Orange (ranks 11–20)
- Red (over 20)
A dash (-) on a grid point indicates that you are not ranking in the top 100 positions at that spot.
NF stand for ‘Not Found’. This means that Google was unable to find any local business results for the keyword at that grid point.
Hovering over a grid points reveals who the top 3 competitors are at that spot.
You can also click a grid point, and the pop-up will appear showing the top 100 competitors are at that spot. Here you can also see each competitor's proximity from the grid point, how many reviews they have and their rating.
The next table gives you more information about who you’re actually competing against so you can start to build a strategy for improvement.
Business Name: This is the business name of the competitor.
Avg Rank: Tells you the competitor’s average ranking in the Local Pack across all grid points for this keyword.
Links: This is the number of backlinks the competitor has (according to Moz) that point to the web domain listed as the website on their Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business).
Authority: This score is a measure taken from Moz. The higher the Authority score the higher the ranking potential of the competitor's website.
Reviews: Gives you the number of customer reviews the competitor has on Google.
Rating: Lets you know the competitor’s average star rating on Google.
Primary Category: Gives you the primary category a competitor is using in their Google Business Profile.
Additional Categories: Gives you the additional categories that a competitor is using in their Google Business Profile.
If you notice in your own report that you have a similar number of reviews and star-ratings as your top competitors but that your category is set to something completely different, you might think about changing the primary category in your Google Business Profile to match theirs so you can try to rank higher.
For a side-by-side comparison and to see a competitor's rankings on a grid, click on a competitor's name in the table.
A pop-up will appear, showing you the competitor’s rankings by grid points.
The map below the table shows you where the competitors in the table are situated, so you can see how close they actually are.
If at any time you want to edit or re-run the report, click the ‘Actions’ drop-down at the top of your report and then 'Re-run'.
You can also archive specific report runs so they don't appear in the timeline by clicking 'Report History' from within the 'Actions' button dropdown.
A page will open showing all of the reports run so far. Then click the arrow button next to the report you want to archive and select 'Archive report'.
The report will now have been removed from the timeline in the main report.
To reinstate the archived report at any time, simply return to the 'Manage Report History' page and click 'Unarchive'.
To download a PDF of the report, click the 'Actions' drop-down and then select 'Download PDF'.
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