Here is something that surprises a lot of business owners. Two people can search for the exact same thing, at the exact same moment, and see different businesses. The only thing that changed was where each person was standing.
A geo-grid heatmap is a picture of that. This guide explains what it is, how it works, and what you can do about it. We will keep the words simple.
Same search, different answer
Picture this. You are standing in the middle of downtown Bozeman, Montana. Your kitchen sink is leaking, so you pull out your phone and search for plumber. Google shows a little map with three plumbers on it. Say the first one is a company called Ace Pipe Pros, because their shop is only a few blocks away.
Now you jump in the truck and drive about 6 miles out of town. You stop and search for plumber again. The same words. The same phone. This time Google may show three different plumbers, and Ace Pipe Pros might be way down the list or missing altogether. Maybe a company called Valley Drain Co. is on top now, because their shop is out that way.
Just an example. Ace Pipe Pros and Valley Drain Co. are made up to show the idea. They are not real businesses.
Nothing is broken. Google is doing what it was built to do. It tries to show you the businesses that are best for you, right where you are.
How Google picks the winners
Google has told business owners how it chooses. It says local results are mainly based on three things:
- Relevance. How well a business matches what you searched for. Someone who searches for a plumber should get plumbers, not pizza.
- Distance. How far each business is from the person searching. If you do not say where you are, Google uses what it knows about your location.
- Prominence. How well known a business is. Google looks at things like reviews and how many other websites mention the business.
Think about choosing a pizza place. You would want one that actually sells pizza (relevance). You would not want to drive an hour (distance). And you would probably pick the one your friends love (prominence).
Here is the important part. Relevance and prominence belong to the business. They stay the same wherever you stand. But distance changes every time the searcher moves. That is why the answer changes when you drive 6 miles.
What is a geo-grid heatmap?
Doing this by hand would take forever. You would have to drive all over town and search from every spot. A geo-grid tool does it for you, on a computer.
Here is how it works, step by step:
- Find the business. The tool starts at your shop on the map.
- Lay down a grid. Imagine a tic-tac-toe board spread over your town, with a dot at each spot where the lines cross. A small grid might have 9 dots. A big one can have hundreds.
- Search from every dot. The tool pretends to stand on each dot and searches for the same words, such as plumber. Each dot is its own search.
- Write down the spot. At each dot, the tool records where your business showed up in the results. First place, fifth place, not there at all.
- Color the map. Each dot gets a color. Green means your business showed up near the top. Red means it was far down the list or did not show up. Yellow and orange are in between.
The finished picture is called a heatmap. At one glance, you can see where customers find you and where they do not.
An example you can read
Here is a made-up heatmap for Ace Pipe Pros. The shop is in the middle square. Each number is the place Ace Pipe Pros shows up when someone searches plumber from that spot. A 1 is the very top. 20+ means they are way down the list or missing.
| 20+ | 20+ | 12 | 20+ | 20+ |
| 20+ | 9 | 3 | 8 | 20+ |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 20+ | 7 | 3 | 10 | 20+ |
| 20+ | 20+ | 13 | 20+ | 20+ |
Look at the middle. Right by the shop, Ace Pipe Pros is first. That is the green. As you move away from the shop, the numbers get bigger and the colors change. At the edges, the business has almost disappeared. Customers out there are seeing other plumbers.
This is very common. Businesses tend to show up best close to home and fade farther out. A heatmap shows you exactly how far your good spot reaches.
Why only three?
The map at the top of a local search shows just three businesses. People call this the local pack. Most customers pick from those three, so being first, second, or third is a big deal. That is why green on a heatmap usually means the top three spots.
What does this have to do with your Google Business Profile?
Your Google Business Profile, or GBP, is your business’s free listing on Google. It is the thing that shows up on the map with your name, phone number, hours, photos, and reviews. It is also what Google reads to decide how relevant and well known you are. So the heatmap is really a report card for your profile.
You cannot move your shop, so you cannot change distance. But you can improve the other two things Google looks at. Here is how:
- Pick the right category. Choose the one that matches your main job. This tells Google what you are relevant for.
- List your services. Spell out each thing you do in plain words, like “water heater repair.”
- Fill in everything. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search.
- Get reviews and answer them. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask happy customers, and reply to everyone.
- Keep your details the same everywhere. Your name, address, and phone number should match on your profile, your website, and online directories.
- Add photos of real jobs. They show people, and Google, what you really do.
- Make pages for the places you work. If you serve a nearby town, a page about your work there can help show you belong in that area.
Over time, a stronger profile can help the green spread outward. Nobody can promise exactly how far or how fast. Google does not publish a formula, and your competitors are working too.
What a heatmap can and cannot tell you
A heatmap is a very good picture, but it is still a picture. Keep these things in mind:
- It is a close guess, not a perfect copy. Real results can shift a little depending on the person, the phone, and the time of day.
- Different tools draw it differently. They pick different numbers of dots and different colors. Some scan a small neighborhood and some scan a whole town. Always check the legend on the map you are looking at.
- It shows one search at a time. A heatmap for plumber will not match one for drain cleaning. Check the words your customers really use.
- It points to the problem. It does not fix it. The map tells you where you are weak. The work on your profile and reviews is what changes it.
Words to know
- Google Business Profile (GBP). Your free listing on Google Maps and Search.
- Local pack. The map with three businesses at the top of a local search.
- Geo-grid. A set of dots laid over a map, like a tic-tac-toe board.
- Heatmap. A map colored from green (good) to red (not showing).
- Relevance, distance, prominence. The three things Google uses to choose which businesses to show.
The big idea
Where the customer stands changes who Google shows. A geo-grid heatmap lets you see that for your own business, one dot at a time. Then you can work on the parts you control, so more of your map turns green.
If you would like help reading one for your business, get in touch.
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