Free Google Maps heat map: see where you rank, street by street.
Find your business, type the search your customers use, and we run 49 real Google Maps searches across 3.5 miles around you. In about a minute you see every spot where you are in the top 3, and every spot where a competitor takes the call instead.
Step 1 of 2
Find your business on Google
Your business name with the city and state works best. You can also paste your Google Maps link.
Step 2 of 2
What would a customer type?
Why the top 3 is everything
On a local search, the three businesses in the map get most of the calls. Below them, the clicks fall off a cliff, and with ads and Google's AI answer stacked above the map on a phone, anything past third is effectively off the screen.
Estimated share of clicks by map position. Industry estimates, not a guarantee for any one search.
About 8 in 10 clicks go to the map pack
Roughly 80% of people searching for a local business click one of the three map results. Around 16% scroll to the websites underneath, and only about 4% click the ads.
Number 8 to number 1 is about 10x the calls
The eighth spot gets around 3% of clicks, the first around 30%. Even going from third to first roughly doubles what a search sends you.
How to read your heat map
Each dot is a real Google Maps search, run from that exact spot, for the words you typed. The number is where your business came up.
You are in the map pack. Customers here see you first.
You exist, but they have to tap "more places" to find you. Most never do.
Buried. A customer here is almost certainly calling someone else.
Invisible for this search from this spot. "100+" means not in the first 100 results.
Why it changes street by street
Google weighs three things for local results: how relevant you are to the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how prominent your business looks (reviews, photos, activity, links). Close to your address, distance carries you. Further out, a competitor with a stronger profile takes over. The map shows exactly where.
What actually moves the dots
The right primary category, a steady stream of fresh reviews with replies, new real photos every few days, posts, and your name, address and phone matching everywhere online. It is unglamorous and consistent work, which is why most profiles never get it. See how we do it on local SEO and local search.
An honest timeline
Anyone promising the top spot next week is selling something. This is what steady work on a Google profile usually looks like.
Months 3 to 4
The first real movement. Often there is progress in the first six weeks, but this is when it shows on the map.
Months 6 to 7
A second jump. By now most businesses have at least one important search in the top 3.
12 months and on
Most searches improve and the green spreads further from your address. The longer it runs, the further you reach.
Along the way
Rankings zig-zag, because Google regularly tests profiles. Judge the trend over months, not a single week.
Questions people ask
Is the local heat map really free?
Yes. No signup, no card and no email needed to see your map. You get two searches a day. We cap it because every map is 49 live Google Maps searches that cost us real money.
How accurate is a Google Maps heat map?
Each dot is a live Google Maps search run from that exact spot, the way a phone standing there would see it. Results can shift a little by device, time of day and the searcher's history, so read the overall pattern rather than any single dot.
Why do my Google Maps rankings change from street to street?
Distance is one of the three things Google weighs for local results, alongside relevance and prominence. The further a searcher is from you, the more a closer competitor with a stronger profile can outrank you. A heat map shows exactly where that handover happens.
Why does the free map cover 3.5 miles?
Most local customers come from within a few miles, so 3.5 miles in every direction covers the area that pays the bills for most businesses. We run larger and denser maps for clients.
Why does being in the top 3 matter so much?
Industry estimates put roughly 8 in 10 clicks on a local search on the three businesses shown in the map pack. The first spot gets about 30 percent of clicks, the eighth about 3 percent, so moving from eighth to first is close to ten times the calls.
How long does it take to move up on Google Maps?
With consistent work on a Google Business Profile, most businesses see their first real movement in months three to four, a second jump around months six to seven, and a wider reach after a year. Rankings zig-zag along the way, so judge the trend, not a single week.
My business did not show up in the search. What now?
Add your city and state, or open your business on Google Maps, tap Share, and paste that link into the box. If you work from home and hide your address, the map is centred on your service area instead.
Want more of your map green?
It is free to talk to us. We will look at your map with you and tell you, plainly, what is holding your profile back and what we would do first.