📍Google My Business Rank Tracker

This tool lets you track your Google Business profile's ranking on Google Maps search results for specific locations. It also provides insights about your competitors, helping you develop strategies to improve your ranking.

Setup the Google Places API

1. Visit https://console.cloud.google.com/

2. Choose an existing project or create a new one.

3. Search for "API & Services" in the top search bar.

1. Click on the "Library" in the left sidebar.

1. Search for "Places API" in the search bar and make sure to select Places API (New). Then enable it.

1. Do another the search for "Maps JavaScript API" in the search bar and enable it.

1. Do another search for "Geocoding API" and enable it.

1. Visit the Key & Credentials from the left sidebar. Then, click the "Create Credentials" button at the top to add a new API key.

1. [Optional] After creating an API key, you can name it for easy identification. There's no need to restrict the key since it stays on your machine and remains invisible to others.

1. Finally, copy the API key and paste it into SEO Utils's settings page.

Create Your First Rank Tracking Grid

After setting up a Google Places API key, go to the Google My Business (GMB) Rank Tracker tool in the left sidebar.

Then, click the "Create Rank Tracking Grid" button to start creating your first rank tracking grid.

You'll find a search bar at the top. Start typing the name of your target business, and it will suggest business locations using the Google Places API that you integrated in the first step.

Updated June 13, 2024: Adding a business using Google Maps URL.

Since version 1.15.3, you can add a business using a Google Maps URL. This is especially useful for adding Service Area Businesses (SAB) that don't have a physical address and therefore aren't listed in the Google Places API.

This is an example of a Google Maps URL: https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Sequoia+TreeScape+Tree+Service/@44.043951,-79.4501204,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x882ad2157062b6c3:0xe060d065957c4103!8m2!3d44.043951!4d-79.4501204!16s%2Fg%2F1hhwl0yp8?entry=ttu

After selecting a business, you can choose a grid size from the Gird Size dropdown.

The "3x3" preset creates 9 markers on the map, each with its own coordinates to track the ranking of your business.

You can click on a marker to enable or disable it. If a marker is disabled, SEO Utils won't track the ranking for that location.

To remove a marker, simply click the "X" button attached to it.

You can also add a custom marker by clicking anywhere on the map.

Use Radius Field

The “Use Radius” field lets you choose between two methods for defining grid spacing. When enabled, it allows you to create a grid centered on a specific point using a defined radius.

For example, if you set the radius to 2 miles and the grid size to 11x11, SEO Utils will generate a grid extending 2 miles in all directions from the center point.

Alternatively, if the “Use Radius” field is turned off, you can directly adjust the spacing between individual grid points.

When everything is set, click the blue "Play" button to continue. A modal will pop up; let's go through all the fields together to fully understand them.

1. Report name: You can set a report name in this field. Default value is your business address.

2. Location / Language: Select the location and language relevant to where your business is situated.

3. Keywords: Enter the list of keywords you want to track.

4. You can also choose how often you want the report to be updated. There are three options:

• Weekly: SEO Utils will check the ranking for all keywords every Monday.

• Monthly: SEO Utils will check the ranking for all keywords on the first day of each month.

• One time: The ranking will be checked just once after you create the report, but you can rerun the report manually whenever you choose.

1. If you want to schedule report runs during business hours or days for more accurate ranking results, you can set it up as shown in the following image:

1. Scrape Data With: Select the method you want to scrape the SERP data.

• SERP API: DataForSEO. Use SERP API from DataForSEO to scrape SERP data.

• My IP (Coming soon): SEO Utils use your IP to scrape SERP data. This is not recommended if you have over 100 grid points to check.

• Proxies (Coming soon): Use proxies to scrape SERP data. See how to set up a proxy here.

This section will also display the cost for each run, but only for the SERP API: DataForSEO method, as the other methods do not involve pay-as-you-go costs.

After clicking the "Create Report" button, you will be redirected to the report dashboard. Here, you can view all the snapshots within that report, see the rankings for each grid point, and check the list of competitors.

Updates on v1.21.0

Since v121.0, you can set the grid shape to Square or Circle.

How to Use the Report Dashboard

Please check out the images below to see how to navigate and use the report dashboard effectively.

You can select different keywords to view their respective data.

Statistics of the current report:

Click on a grid point to view the competitors that are ranking at that specific location.

You can navigate to the "Competitors" tab to view a list of competitors who are ranking for the selected keywords.

You can also click on the business name to see where your competitors rank on the map, making it easy to compare with your own ranking.

Marker & Map Interactions

Moving Markers

You can move a marker by dragging and dropping it to a new position. You can also hold the Shift key to select and move multiple markers simultaneously.

Bulk Delete Markers

You can hold the Shift key to select multiple markers and press the Delete or Backspace key to delete them all at once.

Use Measuring Tool

Since v1.30.0, you can measure the distance between two or multiple points on the map using the measuring tool.

Expand Map

If you need more space to work on the map, you can easily adjust it by following the instructions in the image below.

Bird's Eye View

This view provides an overview of the ranking and rank changes for all snapshots in your campaign through color progression. It displays data not just for your business, but also for your competitors.

It is compatible with both preset and custom grids.

Manage Keywords

You can easily manage your keywords in the Manage Keywords section—enable, disable, add, or delete them as needed.

Need to track a single keyword? Just use the filter to quickly disable all others, allowing you to run a snapshot for the one that matters most.

Export Your Reports

You can export the Local Grid Report in PDF or HTML format. Additionally, you can personalize the report cover with your own branding.

Please watch this video to see it in action.

How to Use Comparison Tool

In v1.18.2, I've just added a comparison tool to the GMB Rank Tracker. It's flexible, allowing you to compare rankings in different ways.

You can select the same snapshot and two different businesses to compare your rankings with competitors, or you can compare the same business across two snapshots to see how rankings change over time.

Next, you need to select a candidate to compare.

You can choose 2 businesses in the same snapshot to compare your ranking with your competitors.

You can choose 2 snapshots from one business to see how the rankings change over time.

Opening Hours

Since v1.18.3, SEO Utils allows you to quickly compare your opening hours with your competitors' to see if hours are impacting rankings.

Annotations

Since v1.30.0, the GMB Rank Tracker timeline has been updated to support annotations directly on the snapshot tree. This lets you easily add notes about important changes you’ve made to your Google Business Profile—like updates to your business info, new photos, or review responses—so you can better track what might be influencing your local rankings.

You can add your own annotations and hide them from the tree.

Tracking Grid Styles

Markers: Color & Size

By default, SEO Utils only show 3 main colors for the markers, if you would like to display more colors, you can toggle the "Show More Color Variants" switch on. You can also set a smaller marker size for your ranking grid if you have a small screen.

You can visit the Google My Business Rank Tracker settings page from the Service settings menu on the left sidebar to view all the options.

Dark Mode

Coming soon...

Troubleshooting

Snapshots Stuck When Using DataForSEO

If you’re using DataForSEO to scrape SERP data and notice some snapshots remain stuck loading for hours, you can resolve the issue using the “Free Stuck GMB Rank Trackers” tool.

Here’s how:

1. Navigate to Service Settings > DataForSEO Settings.

2. In the DataForSEO Actions dropdown, select “Free Stuck GMB Rank Trackers”