Local Map Rank Checker & Free GBP Audit Tool.
Three tools in one free desktop app: a full Google Business Profile audit, a geo-grid rank checker that shows where you actually rank across the map rather than at one address, and an area scan that doubles as competitor research or an agency prospect list. The same tool we run Virginia Maps campaigns with.
Three jobs, one app
Most local SEO work comes down to the same three questions: is the profile right, where does it actually rank, and who else is competing for the same map pin?
GBP Audit
Score any Google Business Profile against the signals that move map rankings, then work down a prioritised fix list.
Geo-Grid Rank Checker
Check your rank at many map points across the service area and see the true shape of your visibility, not one flattering number.
Competitor Scan & Lead Finder
Sweep a city and category to size up rivals, or build an agency prospect list where every row already shows what is broken.
Every GBP signal.
One health score.
Profile Completeness Audit
Score every GBP signal: business name, categories, attributes, service areas, hours, and description quality, flagged with actionable fix priorities.
NAP Consistency Check
Cross-reference your Name, Address, and Phone against your website and major data aggregators. Mismatches are silent ranking killers.
Photo and Media Health
Audit cover photos, logos, interior and exterior shots, and product images against the profiles you compete with. Photo depth is a visible trust signal, and thin galleries are one of the most common gaps we find.
Review Signal Analysis
Analyze review velocity, response rate, keyword density in reviews, and sentiment trends. Google weights recency and owner engagement heavily.
Category and Attribute Optimizer
Identify missing secondary categories and attributes your competitors are using. The right attribute set can unlock visibility in zero-click features.
Spam and Suspension Risk
Detect keyword-stuffed names, duplicate listings, fake review patterns, and suspended profile signals before they cost you the map pack.
See where you rank.
Not just from your office.
Home service businesses don't get customers at their office address, they get them across a service area. A junk removal crew in Richmond might own the map pack downtown and be invisible in the suburbs where the money is. Local Spider maps every grid point in your service area so you know exactly where to focus.
Grid-Based Rank Tracking
See exactly where you rank in the local 3-pack across a configurable geo-grid. Understand your visibility radius, not just your office address.
Rank Heatmap Visualizer
Color-coded heatmap overlaid on Google Maps. Green zones show dominance; red zones reveal competitive gaps to target with local content.
Rank Change Tracking
Track ranking movement over time per keyword and grid point. Correlate rank changes with GBP updates, review spikes, or citation builds.
Competitor Grid Comparison
Overlay any competitor on the same grid. Instantly see where they outrank you and reverse-engineer the signals driving their map pack dominance.
Size up a market.
Or build a prospect list.
The same area scan answers two different questions. As a business owner, it shows you who you are really up against and where their profiles are weak. As an agency, it hands you a list of local businesses with their problems already visible, so your first line of outreach can name the issue instead of asking for a meeting.
Scan a city and category at once
Pull every business competing for a term in an area, with their profile signals attached, in a single pass instead of opening tabs one listing at a time.
Sort prospects by what is broken
Missing categories, thin review counts, no website, unclaimed listings. Filter to the businesses with a visible problem so outreach can name it in the first line.
Benchmark against real rivals
Compare a profile to the ones actually outranking it on categories, review velocity, photos, and completeness, rather than guessing what the leaders are doing.
Take the list with you
Export scan results to work them in your CRM or spreadsheet, or drop the findings straight into a pitch as evidence rather than assertion.
Local Spider reads the same public profile information anyone can see on Google Maps. Use it for research and outreach that follows the rules where you operate, including anti-spam and marketing consent laws.
Why grid-based rank tracking matters for local businesses
Google's local results are proximity-based: the map pack a customer sees in one neighborhood is different from the one three miles away. Checking your rank once, from one location, tells you almost nothing about your real visibility. Local Spider checks your rank from dozens of points across your service area at once, so you see the truth: where you win, where you're invisible, and where the next customers are.
Your rankings change street by street
Distance is one of the heaviest local ranking signals. A junk removal company can rank #1 within a mile of its office and not appear at all in the wealthy suburb fifteen minutes away, exactly where the biggest jobs are. A geo-grid scan exposes that gap in one run. A single rank check from your own address hides it completely.
The map pack is where the calls happen
For home services, most customers never scroll past the top three map results, they compare ratings, check photos, and call, often without visiting a single website. Which three businesses appear is decided by profile completeness, review velocity, categories, and proximity. If you're not in the pack in a given zip code, you effectively don't exist there.
Your Google Business Profile is your real homepage
Local Spider audits your GBP across 40+ signals: primary and secondary categories, service areas, attributes, photo coverage, review velocity and response rate, and NAP consistency against your website and the major directories. Small gaps compound, one wrong category or a mismatched phone number can quietly suppress rankings across your whole service area.
What to do with the heatmap
Green zones are yours, defend them. Red zones are your growth map: build service-area pages for those neighborhoods, collect reviews that mention them, and post GBP updates targeting them. Re-run the scan every few weeks to verify movement. And if you'd rather have specialists close the gaps, that's exactly what the SEOforVA Google Maps ranking service does for Virginia home service businesses.
From setup to insights
in under 2 minutes.
Connect
Enter your Google Business Profile URL or Place ID. No API key setup required.
Audit
Full GBP health scan runs in seconds, surfacing your completeness score, NAP issues, photo gaps, and review signals.
Track
Set your keywords and geo-grid. Local Spider maps your exact rank position at every grid point.
Dominate
Act on prioritized recommendations. Re-run to verify improvements. Export heatmaps for client reports.
Before you download
What does Local Spider actually do?
Three jobs in one desktop app. It audits a Google Business Profile against the signals that drive map rankings, it checks where a business actually ranks across a geo-grid of map points rather than at one address, and it pulls a scannable list of the businesses competing in an area so you can size up rivals or build a prospect list.
Why does a geo-grid matter more than a single rank check?
Because there is no such thing as one map ranking. Local results change with the searcher location, so a business can sit in the top three at its own address and be invisible two miles away. A grid checks many points across the service area and shows the shape of your visibility instead of a single number that flatters you.
Can I use it to audit competitors, not just my own profile?
Yes, and that is one of its main uses. Any public Google Business Profile can be audited, so you can see how a competitor is categorised, how their review velocity compares, and where their coverage is thin. That gap is usually the fastest route to a plan.
How do agencies use the lead finder?
Scan a city and a category, and you get the businesses operating there with their profile signals attached. Filter for the ones with obvious problems, missing categories, thin review counts, no website, and you have a prospect list where you can already name the issue in the first sentence of your outreach.
Do I need a Google API key to run scans?
No. You point it at a profile or an area and it works out of the box. There is no billing account to configure and no key to paste in before you can see your first result.
Is there a macOS version of Local Spider?
Windows is available now and macOS is on the way. If you are on a Mac today, the practical option is running the Windows build in a virtual machine until the native release lands.
How often should I re-run a grid scan?
Every two to four weeks is enough for most businesses. Map rankings move gradually, so scanning daily mostly captures noise. Re-scan sooner after a specific change, a category edit, a burst of new reviews, or a citation cleanup, so you can attribute the movement to what you did.
Stop guessing your
local rankings.
Get the full picture of your Google Business Profile health and your true local pack position across your service area. Free, with no limits. And when you find the red zones, our Google Maps ranking service is how Virginia home service businesses turn them green.