Heatmap Analytics

A heatmap scan probes your local-pack ranking from a grid of physical locations around your business and shows where you rank well — and where competitors win — for a given keyword. It's the only honest way to see "what does Google show in my customer's neighborhood, not just at my front door".

Use it to spot dead zones in your service area, set a baseline before SEO work, and measure improvement after profile changes, category edits, or a review-velocity push. Each scan is a snapshot in time, so the real value shows up when you compare two scans side-by-side on the same keyword.

Running a Heatmap Scan

1. 1

   Open /heatmap and pick a location

   Use the top-bar location picker to choose which business you're scanning. Heatmap settings — grid, keywords, auto-scan schedule — are all per-location, so each location you manage has its own setup.

2. 2

   Add the keywords you want to track

   Click Manage Keywords and add 3-10 search terms your customers actually type — things like dentist near me or emergency plumber. You'll be billed 75 credits per keyword per scan, so the keyword list is also your cost dial. Keywords are saved on the location and re-used by every future scan and auto-scan until you change them.

3. 3

   (Optional) Adjust the grid

   Click Grid Settings to see the scan grid laid over a map. The default grid is built around your business address with a 5 km radius and 1 km spacing between points. The grid is capped at 21 points total (one center point plus up to 20 you generate or add by clicking on the map). System-generated points are blue, user-added points are orange, the center point is green and can't be removed. Most users never need to touch this — the default grid is fine for a typical service area.

4. 4

   Run the scan (confirmation required)

   Click New Scan. A confirmation dialog shows the total cost (keyword count × 75 credits) and your current balance — you have to confirm because heatmap scans are one of the most expensive actions in the app. Each keyword fires a Google API call at every grid point, so a typical scan takes up to 15 minutes. Progress shows in the Scan Status Bar at the top of the page.

5. 5

   Read the results

   When the scan completes, the page renders a colored grid for each keyword. Each grid point is a real lat/lng around your business, and the number on it is your rank in Google Maps results from that physical coordinate. Use the keyword pills to switch between keywords, the timeline slider to walk through previous scans, and Compare Mode to overlay two scans on the same keyword.

Key Concepts

The grid

A heatmap scan is N physical points around your business address — by default a 5 km radius, 1 km spacing layout, capped at 21 total points. At every point, GMBMantra issues a Google Maps search for your keyword as if a user were standing at that coordinate and records where your business shows up in the results. Adding more points means denser geographic coverage but doesn't change the per-keyword price.

Rank at a point

The number rendered on each grid cell is your position in Google Maps for that keyword, queried from that exact coordinate. Lower is better: 1 means you're the top result a user at that point would see; 20+ or not found means you don't appear in the first 20 results. Ranks are recorded per keyword and per scan, so you can watch a single grid point's rank move over time.

Color band

Cells are colored by rank so you can read the map at a glance:

• Green (1-3) — you're in the local 3-pack at that point. This is the only band that gets clicks at meaningful volume.
• Yellow / amber (4-10) — first page, but below the fold of the 3-pack. Visible but rarely clicked.
• Red (11-20) — ranked, but you're effectively invisible.
• Grey (20+ or not found) — Google didn't return your business in the first 20 results from that coordinate. Treat these as dead zones.

Auto-scan

The Auto-Scan dialog (gear icon on /heatmap) lets you put scans on a schedule so you don't have to remember to click New Scan. Pick weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or custom (every N days, 1-90). The dialog shows a per-scan cost estimate and a monthly burn estimate so you can size the schedule against your credit balance. Scheduled scans fire automatically on the next due date and still cost 75 credits per keyword — there's no auto-scan discount.

Frequently Asked

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