Where to Track Local Rankings From Choosing Your Location
Oct 17,2026
By SEO ANALYSER
Tracking location
How to choose the location your local rankings are tracked from, so the results show what your customers actually see.
Short answer
Where should you track your local rankings?
Track from the area where your customers search, not only from your front door. Centre the grid on your business, or on the middle of your service area, and cover the places you want to win.
The setup choice
Why the tracking location changes your results
Google shows different local results to people standing in different places, so a ranking is only meaningful together with the spot it was measured from. Track from the wrong place and you get a tidy report about a search nobody is making.
The location you choose sets the centre of your local search grid, and the grid then spreads outward from it. Get the centre right and every point around it is useful. Get it wrong and the whole map is shifted away from your customers.
In SEO Analyser you are not tied to a street address when you set the reference point, so the choice is yours to make deliberately rather than by default.
Two reference points
Your business location or your customers' location?
Most people start with their own address. That is a sensible default, but it answers only one question. The two reference points answer different ones.
Where you are
Tracks how you rank for people standing at or near your premises. It suits a shop, a clinic or a restaurant where customers come to you. Because Google weighs how close a business is to the searcher, this is where you usually do best.
Where your customers are
Tracks how you rank for people searching from the places you want to serve. It suits a plumber, a cleaner or a mobile groomer, who go to the customer (see local SEO service area business). It often shows weaker results than your own address, and that is the useful part.
If you only ever track from your own address, you will see your best case. The customers you are trying to win are often somewhere else.
Decision guide
How to choose the right tracking location
- 01
Decide where your customers come from
Look at where your jobs, bookings or orders come from. A café may draw from a few streets. A roofing company may serve a whole region. The answer tells you which area the tracking has to cover.
- 02
Centre the grid on the middle of that area
For a shop, that is usually the shop. For a service business with no premises or a spread-out area, use the midpoint of the area you serve, or a common job site, rather than a corner of it.
- 03
Compare the two views
Read the results from your business location next to the results from the middle of your customer area. The gap between them shows how much of your visibility depends on being close to your premises.
- 04
Check the result and adjust
If many points are empty because the map reaches places you do not serve, pull the centre back toward your core area. If your best results sit at one edge, move the centre toward that side.
Grid size, point spacing and keyword choice are set up in the local search grid guide.
Multiple sites
Tracking more than one branch
In SEO Analyser each project tracks one Business Profile. If you run several branches, set up a project for each branch and centre each grid on its own location. That keeps every branch's results separate, which matters because each one competes in a different neighbourhood. Because every branch needs its own project, how many you can track depends on your plan, so check the pricing before you set up a large number of branches.
The same logic applies to multi-location local SEO in general: every site competes in its own neighbourhood. Avoid the shortcut of tracking one branch and assuming it speaks for the others. A branch downtown and one in the suburbs rarely rank the same way for the same keyword. Our local SEO software tracks each one on its own grid, so the differences show up instead of being averaged away.
Quality control
Common mistakes when choosing a tracking location
Tracking only from your own address
It gives you the best case and hides the places where you are weak. Use it as one reading, not the whole picture.
Making the grid too wide
A grid that stretches past the area you serve fills the map with points where you will never rank, and it makes a healthy business look weak. Cover the area you want to win, not the whole city.
Making the grid too small
A tight grid around the premises can look strong while customers two suburbs away never find you. If your service area is large, widen the spacing between points.
Changing the centre too often
If you move the centre every week, the results stop being comparable. Settle on a location, then compare the same grid over weeks. When a profile problem is behind the weak points, Google Business Profile monitoring is the next place to look.
SEO Analyser
Set your tracking location and run a grid
Choose the centre, run the grid and track your keyword at every point. Start a 7-day trial and see how your rankings change from one neighbourhood to the next.
FAQ
Tracking location questions
Should I track from my business address?
It is a good starting point, especially for a shop or clinic. Add a second view from the middle of your wider service area, because your address shows your best case.
Can I track a service area with no shop?
Yes. You are not tied to a street address, so you can set the reference point in the middle of the area you work in or at a common job site.
How many locations can I track?
Each project tracks one Business Profile. For several branches, create one project per branch.
Why do my rankings look different on my own phone?
Google personalises local results by the searcher's position, so your phone shows what someone standing where you stand would see. A tracked grid shows the same keyword from many points, which is closer to what your customers get.
How often should I change the tracking location?
Rarely. Pick a location that matches where your customers are and keep it, so you can compare the same grid over time.
Summary
Rankings only mean something with the place they were measured from. Track from where your customers search: centre the grid on your business if customers come to you, or on the middle of your service area if you go to them.
Use one project for each branch, keep the location steady so results stay comparable, and adjust the centre after you see the first map. Grid size, spacing and keywords are covered in the local search grid guide.
Sources
Sources and related guides
- Google Business Profile HelpTips to improve your local ranking on Google
- SEO Analyser BlogLocal SEO service area business
- SEO Analyser BlogMulti-location local SEO
- SEO AnalyserPricing
