Free SEO Tool

Free Local Rank Checker

See where your business ranks in Google Maps across nine points in your area, not just one. Free, no sign-up required.

Why one rank check is not enough

Local search results depend on where the searcher is standing. Google names proximity as one of the three things it weighs when ranking local results, alongside relevance and prominence, and in practice it dominates. Two people searching the same keyword a few kilometres apart routinely see different businesses.

That makes a single local rank check misleading. It answers where you rank at one point, which is usually wherever the person running the check happens to be, and then gets reported as though it were your ranking everywhere.

A real example from building this tool. Checking one Austin plumbing company for the keyword plumber across nine points about four kilometres apart, the same business ranked second in the south of the city, between fourth and seventh through the middle, and did not appear at all at one northern point. Same keyword, same business, same day. Any one of those numbers on its own would have been a fair answer to a bad question.

This is why the grid exists, and why the serious local SEO tools all use one. The grid above runs nine separate searches so you see the shape of your visibility rather than a single point on it.

How to read your grid

North is at the top. Each square is an independent search run from that spot on the map, and the number is your position in the Google Maps results there.

Dark green, top three. These are the positions Google shows before someone has to tap for more, and they take the overwhelming share of clicks.
Light green, 4 to 10. You are in the results, but below the fold of the map pack.
Sand, 11 to 20. Present but effectively invisible for most searches.
Grey, not ranking. You did not appear in the top twenty from that point.

The pattern matters more than any single square. A tight cluster of green around your premises fading to grey at the edges is the normal shape, and it tells you where your service area effectively ends. A grid that is uniformly mid-range suggests a relevance or prominence problem rather than a proximity one, since distance is not what is holding you back.

If a square shows a question mark, that lookup failed. It is not a zero and it is not evidence that you are absent there. We show it separately rather than folding it into the averages, because reporting a failed check as an absence would tell you something false about your own business.

Local rankings and organic rankings are different things

This tool checks the Google Maps pack, the block of business listings with a map that appears for searches with local intent. That is a separate ranking system from the ordinary blue link results underneath it, with different inputs and different winners.

A business can hold the top spot in the map pack and be nowhere in the organic results for the same keyword, or the reverse. Map pack position is driven largely by proximity, your Google Business Profile, and reviews. Organic position is driven by your website: its content, its links, and its technical health.

Because they answer different questions, they are separate tools here. Use this one for map pack and local visibility. Use our free keyword rank checker for where your pages rank in the standard organic results, and the SERP checker to see the full results page including the features around it.

How to improve local rankings

Proximity is the one factor you cannot change, so the work goes into the other two. In rough order of what tends to move the needle:

Complete your Google Business Profile. Correct primary category, full service list, real opening hours, photos, and a description that matches what people search for. This is the single biggest lever and it is free.
Earn reviews steadily. Volume, recency and rating all feed prominence. A slow constant trickle beats a burst.
Keep your details consistent. The same business name, address and phone number wherever you are listed. Conflicting details across directories undermine confidence in which is correct.
Build real pages for real services and areas. A genuine page about the service in the place you provide it helps both rankings. Thin pages spun up for every nearby town do not, and increasingly attract the opposite treatment.

Re-run the grid after making changes. Comparing the shape before and after is a far better measure than watching one number, because it shows whether your visible area actually grew.

Frequently asked questions

How to check local SEO ranking?

Enter your business name, the keyword and your city in the tool above. It searches Google Maps from nine separate points across your area and shows your position at each one. The important part is checking from more than one location: local results change with the searcher's position, so a single lookup only tells you how you rank at one spot, which is usually wherever you happen to be sitting.

Why does my ranking change between squares on the grid?

Because proximity is one of the three factors Google says it uses to rank local results, alongside relevance and prominence. The closer a searcher is to your premises, the more likely you are to appear. This is why a business can sit in the top three for people nearby and vanish a few kilometres away. During testing we found one plumber ranking second in the south of a city, seventh in the north, and nowhere at all at one point, for the same keyword on the same day.

What is a local rank tracker?

A local rank tracker records where a business appears in local search results over time, usually for a set of keywords and locations, so you can see whether visibility is improving. The difference between a tracker and a checker is repetition: a checker like the one above gives you today's picture on demand, while a tracker keeps checking on a schedule and alerts you when something moves.

What is the best local rank tracker?

It depends on whether you need a one-off answer or ongoing monitoring. For a free instant check across a geographic grid, use the tool above. For continuous tracking, the established options include BrightLocal, Whitespark and Local Falcon, all paid. RankSpot tracks local and organic positions together, which matters if you care about both the map pack and the standard results for the same keywords.

Is Localo free to use?

Localo offers a limited free tier and charges for its full grid tracking and monitoring features, as do most tools in this category. The check above is free with no sign-up, capped at three checks a day to keep the data costs sustainable, since each check runs ten separate live searches rather than one.

How is this different from a normal keyword rank checker?

A standard keyword rank checker tells you where a page ranks in the ordinary organic results, nationally or for one country. This one looks at the Google Maps pack, which is a different set of results driven mainly by proximity to the searcher. The two answer different questions and often disagree, which is why they are separate tools. Our free keyword rank checker covers the organic side.

What is a good local ranking?

Appearing in the top three is what matters most, because that is what Google shows in the map pack before someone has to tap to see more. Below three, visibility drops sharply. But read the grid rather than a single number: being first at your own front door and absent three kilometres away is a much weaker position than ranking fourth consistently across your whole service area.

Why can't the tool find my business?

Three common reasons. The name you entered does not match your Google listing exactly, in which case try the name shown on your Google Business Profile or use your website domain instead. Your business does not rank in the top twenty for that keyword in that city, so there is nothing to find. Or the location string is not one Google recognises, so try the full form such as Austin,Texas,United States.

How do I improve my local rankings?

The reliable levers are a complete and accurate Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone details wherever your business is listed, a steady flow of genuine reviews, and pages on your own site that cover the services and areas you actually serve. Proximity you cannot change, which is the honest limit of local SEO: you can widen the area where you appear, but you will always be strongest close to where you are.

Does this show the map pack or the organic results?

The map pack, meaning the Google Maps business listings. That is what local searches like plumber near me are really competing in. The ordinary blue link results underneath are a separate ranking, and a business can do well in one and badly in the other.

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