Local rankings are the most quoted and least understood numbers in SEO. The same keyword can show you at #2 and your customer at #9 — and both are true.
Why local ranks differ per person
Local results are computed per location, per moment. The check position (which corner of town), the device, the time, and personalization all shift results. Any tool that shows one clean number per keyword is averaging away that reality.
What an honest rank check looks like
Three properties matter:
- A stated check location. "You rank #3 for 'dentist near me' checked from downtown at 9:14am" is data. "#3" alone is noise.
- A consistent schedule. Daily checks from the same point make a real trend line. Random checks make anecdotes.
- Movement over position. #7 → #4 over three weeks is meaningful. #3 vs #4 today is not.
Reading a geo-grid without fooling yourself
Grid heatmaps — 49 pins across town — are genuinely useful for one thing: seeing where visibility ends. You are strong within two kilometres, invisible past the highway. That tells you where to earn reviews and build local links.
They mislead when sampled too sparsely or run on the wrong keyword. If the grid says green but the phone is not ringing, trust the phone and check the keyword's real volume.
What moves the pins
The boring trio, in rough order: primary category and category fit, reviews (velocity, rating, replies), and proximity (which you cannot change, so win everything else). Posting cadence and photo freshness are supporting signals — profiles that look alive get the benefit of the doubt.
Track ten keywords per location, watch weekly movement, and demand the timestamp and location on every check. Anything less is astrology with extra steps — and we say that as people who like astrologers.