Rank Tracker

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What is the rank tracker?

Most businesses assume they know how they rank on Google Maps — but your rank changes based on where the person searching is standing. Someone 2 blocks away sees a completely different result than someone 5 blocks away. NearIQ’s rank tracker runs your keyword across a grid of simulated search points centered on your business, then shows you a heat map of your rank at each point. You can instantly see:

• Where you’re in the top 3 (high-visibility zone)
• Where you’re ranked 4–10 (visible but losing clicks)
• Where you don’t appear at all (dead zones)

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Guided rank tracker tutorial

What you see: open the local grid, switch keywords, click a search square, and read the pinned search-location detail panel.

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Guided rank tracker tutorial

What you see: open Rank Tracker, inspect keyword history, click a grid cell, and read the local position details. The clip uses product-demo sample data only.

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How to run a rank check

1. Go to the Rank Tracker tab
2. Enter a keyword (e.g. “Italian restaurant”, “hair salon”, “emergency plumber”)
3. Choose a grid size: 3×3, 5×5, or 7×7 (larger grids need Growth+ plan)
4. Click Check ranking

The check runs across all grid points in parallel and returns results in ~15 seconds. Use a square grid when you want a block-by-block heat map around a storefront. Use a circle grid when you want concentric service-area rings with fewer edge points. If you compare against a tracked competitor, NearIQ saves the competitor overlay against the same points so later history views can show your rank and their rank side by side. Each check also stores the top local-pack businesses returned by the same provider calls. NearIQ matches those rows to tracked competitors by exact Google place_id; if a top-3 result is not tracked yet, the app can auto-add it when your role has competitor-add permission and your plan/daily competitor limits have room.

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Reading the heat map

Each cell in the grid shows your rank at that geographic point: The center cell is your business location. Cells toward the edges show how your visibility degrades as the search origin moves away. The grid is a local visibility map, not a foot-traffic or conversion forecast. A square away from your business means “this is what someone searching from that area was likely to see at check time.” It does not mean a person living there is guaranteed to visit the top-ranked business. Real customer choice still depends on distance, intent, reviews, hours, availability, brand preference, and the offer shown in the listing.

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Metrics explained

Average rank — your mean rank position across all grid points where you appeared. Lower is better (rank 1 = top result). Top 3 coverage — percentage of grid points where you rank in the top 3. This is the most important number: positions 1–3 capture the large majority of clicks on Google Maps. Trend — compared to your previous check for the same keyword. ↑ improving, ↓ declining, → stable.

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Grid sizes and plans

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Data accuracy

NearIQ pulls rank data from live local-search sources. Results reflect the ranking from that search point at the time of the check, not a cached global rank and not a prediction of where a person will go.

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Daily limits by plan

Limits reset at midnight UTC.