What is Local Tracker and How to Use it?

What is Local Tracker?

Local Tracker is a tool that allows you to track the local rankings of any business registered in Google Business Profile (previously Google My Business). With this tool you can:

Access detailed ranking tables and historical graphs to see where your or your client's business ranks in Google's local results and how these rankings evolve over time. Local rankings can be updated as often as you choose: every day, every few days or every week.

Get automated Local Rankings reports emailed to you or your client.

Track your competitors' local rankings alongside your own and compare the results.

View local rankings in different locations on a map.

Note Local Tracker tracks local businesses listed in Google Business Profile, it does not track webpages like Rank Tracker.

Below is an example of Local Rankings in Google.

How to Use Local Tracker?

Local Tracker is located in the Rank Tracking section, in the TOOLS menu.



Before you can track local rankings via Local Tracker, you must either add the Business Name and Phone Number (as shown in Google Business Profile) or connect to Google Business Profile in Site Manager. This step is necessary in order for us to recognize the business in the Google Map Pack. You can read more about Site Manager here. If you have not done this, you will be asked to do so before you can add a keyword.

Overview

Once you open Local Tracker, you will land on the Overview page, where you can see an overview of all your local rankings as well as your position breakdown, biggest winners and biggest losers. From the Overview page, you can either click on a local business in the list, or select one from the drop-down menu located at the top left. This drop-down menu will help you easily navigate between all the different local businesses that you are tracking.

Keyword View

Click on the Keyword View section and you will see the list of keywords you are currently tracking for a particular business, with their respective positions in the local results, search volumes, a mini history graph and your position breakdown.



If you click on a keyword, you will be directed to a page dedicated to that keyword, with a detailed history graph, as well as more information about the website, including Moz and Majestic metrics, social signals and much more. You can also see a history graph with competitor rankings over time as well as a table of your rankings over time.




To track a new keyword, simply click the + button located at the top right of the screen. This will open a modal window, where you can enter your keyword(s), location(s), set the frequency of your checks and pick Search Volume Country and Language (advanced options).



Note that credits are charged for each search and the number of credits charged will depend on the number of keywords, the number of locations and the frequency that you select for the search to occur. The more frequent the checks, the more credits that will be required.

You can edit the check period of keywords at any time by clicking on the 3-dot icon on the right hand side of the keyword results and selecting Edit Check Period. You will then be able to change the check period and your credit spends will be automatically adjusted.




From the keyword view page, you can click on the 3-dot icon on the right hand side of the result and you will also have the options to:

Analyze Keyword - This will send the keyword to Keyword Analyzer. You can read more about this tool here.
Send to Local GeoGrid - This will send the keyword to Local GeoGrid (see below for more information).
Send to Competitor Citations - This will send the keyword to Competitor Citations, so you can compare the citations of your business against their top competitors. You can read more about this tool here.

Graphs

From the left menu, you can access the Graphs section, where you can find a variety of useful graphs, including the Average Position graph, Estimated Traffic graph, Search Visibility graph and % in Top 10 graph.



From the Graphs menu, you can also access the Potential Traffic section, where you can modify your past positions and have an idea of the traffic the page could have received.

Competitors

Here you can add a competitor's business and view a graph of how the competitor's rankings compare to yours over time.



To add a competitor to Local Tracker, you first need to add them as a competitor to your business in Site Manager. If you did not add any competitor at the time of adding your website to Site Manager, you can simply go to Site Manager, select the site and select the Competitors tab. Then click on the square + button at the top of the page and fill in the competitor's details.



Note that you must input the Competitor's Business Name and Phone Number (as shown in Google Business Profile) in order for us to recognize the Competitor's business in the Google Map Pack.

Local GeoGrid

From the left menu, you can also select Local GeoGrid. It lets you track your Google Business Profile rankings in different locations on a map. For example, in different suburbs in a given city. You can read more about Local GeoGrid and how it works here.

Fantastic 13

From the left menu, you can access the Fantastic 13 graph, which is where we show the ranking fluctuations of the Top 13 results for all the keywords you track.



Note that Fantastic 13 is reserved to Ultimate and Enterprise members. However, if you are a Premium member, check it out anyway as you have access to sample data and can see how powerful this feature is.

Reports

Finally, you can generate reports from the Reports section. You can generate 2 types of reports:

Quick Public Reports: reports you can generate in just a few clicks and easily share with your clients through a public URL. These reports can also be customized to include your company logo and contact details. Here is an example of a quick public report:



In-Depth Rankings Reports: you can build more detailed reports using our report builder and even schedule them to be emailed, so your clients receive them at the frequency of your choice. You can read more about In-Depth Ranking Reports here.

Updated on: 22/09/2023