Local Falcon is a different way of visualizing ranking data in local search. Below is a list of answers to our most frequently asked questions. For even deeper learning, you can always check out our knowledge base as well.
Evaluates the quantitative aspects of a business's Google reviews, focusing on the frequency and total number of reviews. The RVS is composed of two equally weighted sub-metrics: Review Velocity and Total Reviews. Review Velocity Total Reviews Calculated by multiplying the Review Quality Score (RQS) and the Review Volume Score (RVS), resulting in a single percentage value that represents the overall strength of a business's online reputation. Local Falcon is a local rank tracker that scans multiple points at varying distances from the target business. It then displays Google Business Profile rankings for listings that show up either in the Maps portion of the organic search or from a search in the Google Maps Local Finder (i.e. Google Maps). Local Falcon can also track local search ranking for Apple Business Connect listings on Apple Maps. Local Falcon's AI Reviews Analysis reports contain detailed insights drawn from every last word in customer reviews, so the strategic suggestions it provides could be related to anything that customers have mentioned. For example, a report might suggest providing additional training, coaching, or mentorship to improve staff skills. Or, it could suggest implementing a client portal on your website to streamline communication. There's really no limit to what tips the AI can provide — if reviews mention an issue, the AI Reviews Analysis will suggest ways to fix it to improve sentiment about your business! Yes, every AI Reviews Analysis Report includes analysis of your top three competitors' reviews. This allows you to quickly compare your review sentiments and identify opportunities to improve your business's offerings and service compared to competitors. Ultimately, this can go a long way towards helping you outrank them and achieve better overall visibility in local search. Focuses on the qualitative aspects of a business's Google reviews, taking into account three key sub-metrics: rating percentage, responded to percentage, and review freshness. Rating Percentage Responded to Percentage Review Freshness As accurate as possible. While there's no one "right" SERP result, we wouldn't have released the tool if it wasn't providing accurate information. If you want more details, check out this article where we compare our scan to two other local rank trackers. ARP = Average Rank Position The difference is that the ARP is an average of only the pins that actually have a result (position 20 or less). ATRP averages all the pins, even when a business is not found (20+). This difference helps you compare if a business is ranking well across a wide area, or if they are ranking well in only a small area within the search grid. Yes! Our rank scanner works for all businesses, including Service Area Businesses (SAB) with hidden addresses. Rankings are highly variable and dependent on many factors. These variables include whether or not you're logged into Google, if you're browsing "Incognito," whether or not the IP address has been used for similar searches, and more. Even the zoom level of your map can affect your final results. Local Falcon pulls data from "clean" Google searches that aren't influenced by previous search history; therefore, they may be slightly different. There is no "perfect" rank scan for local results, because everyone sees slightly different results in a real-world scan. To provide as much flexibility to our clients as possible, we offer four retail packages, four enterprise packages, annual packages for both, and a pay-as-you-go system. Credits in the annual packages do not expire until the end of your billing year, credits in the monthly package plans expire at the end of the billing month, and individual credit purchases do not expire and will stay in your account until they are used. The details of each pricing plan are available here when logged in (although we have a public pricing page as well for those who haven't made an account yet). Once the address is officially updated on Google Business Profile, you can update the address in your account by navigating to your "Saved Locations" from the "Locations" drop-down and clicking the button with the pencil icon to enter a new address for your listing. This will ensure you continue to receive accurate scan results. To cancel your subscription, click the "cancel subscription" button available on this page. Your existing monthly credits will be available for use until the end of your billing month. If you have any individual credits left in your account, those will not expire and will still be available to you after the end of your billing month. Note: By canceling your credit package, at the end of your billing month your payment method will remain on file and your Local Falcon account will downgrade to "pay as you go" (with no recurring monthly credit package charges). This is done in order to accommodate any Auto Scans you may have set up. In order to remove a payment method entirely, all packages must be in a state of cancellation or fully cancelled. We will only ask for information that is necessary to be in compliance with the law. For example, we will need your address when upgrading your account to comply with tax regulations. All scan data is saved in your account for future reference and that information is kept on our servers. We are in compliance with GDPR and will not release any information about you or your account without your authorization or being compelled to by law. Every scan you perform is saved in your account. Numerous reports are available after each scan. Saved scan results can be found in the "Reports" drop-down menu in your Local Falcon Dashboard. Yes. In addition to our monthly subscription packages, you may also elect to purchase an annual package, where your credits do not expire each month (instead, this happens only once per year). In addition to this, annual and enterprise users will enjoy virtually unlimited access to Falcon Assist, Local Falcon's AI assistant. Please email us if you do not see a map on the Map Scan page. You can always try loading the Map Scan page in another browser. If the map loads, then the issue is specific to one browser and you may need to change a setting. Here are some setting updates that may fix the problem: Chrome Fix SoLV stands for "Share of Local Voice". This shows how often a business ranks in the top three positions on the grid you are viewing. "Share of Local Voice is an invaluable metric that can help estimate the true possibilities for improvement for any local keyword." Additionally, over time, SoLV may be an excellent tool for understanding brand lift. SoLV is a registered trademark of Local Falcon LLC. Normally the best ranking position should be at the location of the business and then the numbered positions should get higher as you radiate away from the center. If you see a scan that is very jumpy or ranks better further away from the center point, this can indicate an error and we would be happy to take a look at the specific search. There are millions of businesses with all kinds different variables and although we have done our best to accommodate the majority of them, there will always be some that don't fit the mold for whatever (technical) reason. As always, we appreciate your continued use, and if you have any questions feel free to contact us at account [at] localfalcon.com. Using the Local Falcon Map Scan tool only takes a few steps. While there are multiple ways to perform a scan (Quick Scan, Campaign Scan, or via the API), we've outlined the basics in the steps and in the video, below: Don't forget you can also convert your favorite one-time scans into "Auto Scans" so you can see how business ranking changes over time by using the popular "Trend Report". Here's a quick overview video, narrated by Yan Gilbert: Yes. Local Falcon offers two different types of API access: Data Retrieval and On-Demand Scan. If you want to receive suggested keywords based on actual search terms and their volume of impressions, you must connect the Google Business Profile account you use to manage your business listing(s). If you don't, you will only receive suggestions based on your business locations' current Google Business Profile categories. There are numerous applications for creating custom Local Falcon reports using Looker Studio, and getting started is simple! Our Knowledge Base has a step by step tutorial on how to get started: Using the Looker Studio Integration for Local Falcon. In addition to finding us on our live chat, or by emailing us directly, you can also use the step by step guide found over in our Knowledge Base. We've created a detailed article here: Using the Looker Studio Integration for Local Falcon. The larger the grid you select, the more data points your Map Scan uses, which means you get more detailed data and more accurate ARP and ATRP scores. In general, it's always better to use more data points, but each data point you use also adds to the cost of your Map Scan, which is why you may sometimes choose to use smaller grids, depending on your budget and the number of locations you want to run scans for. For example, Map Scans using 11 x 11 grids offer a good balance between detail of data and cost, which is why this is one of the most popular Grid Sizes among Local Falcon users, especially those running lots of scans for multiple locations. Yes! It's easy to share the results of your Local Falcon scans. Just tap the "Share" button on the report page. Sharing is available on all report types and for all account types. No login is necessary to view the results of a scan, and the reporting URL is provided in a "white label" format, so you don't have to let the recipient know what tool you used to perform the scan, either! We'd like to think that it has, yes! We've been pretty well-reviewed over the years, we've even been covered by Ranking Academy, Local Search Forum and others. Disable any data points over large bodies of water or other irrelevant areas, where people are not likely to be searching for your business on Google, to save credits on your Map Scan. Campaigns work best when you group together businesses that are in areas with similar population densities, such as businesses in rural areas and businesses in urban centers. You can also create Location Groups, and add those groups to a Campaign Scan. The Map Scan Radius is a search area defined by the distance from your business that your Map Scan covers (in all directions), as well as the number of data points you are using within the search area. Changing these parameters allows you to see better, more detailed data on how your business ranks for different keywords at specific distances, so you can pinpoint exactly where your rankings for different keywords start to fall off. Yes! There are many ways to do this; however, you'll need to run a scan at least twice in order to export in bulk or use Campaigns. You can also use this Looker Studio Template if neither of those cases are applicable to you. The ultimate SoLV goal is always 100, but in most cases that isn't going to happen for a number of reasons. We recommend running a few scans to see how far you currently reach (i.e., grid points where you have a SoLV above 0), then using that info set a goal on how far you want to reach in X number of months. Use that distance goal when setting up your reports, then strive to get your SoLV to as close to 100 as possible. However, depending on how competitive the area is, getting your SoLV to 100 may not be possible. You could then use the Competitor Report to see who has the highest SoLV in the area and set the goal to surpass them. You can enable auto-recharge or upgrade to one of our retail or enterprise packages. We would also highly recommend you consider moving to an annual package, because you will get a full year's worth of credits immediately (and those credits do not expire until the end of your yearly billing cycle). Pay-as-you-go credits purchased through auto-recharge have the benefit of not expiring. However, we're continuously adding new features, so your credits won't go to waste if you upgrade your monthly subscription! If your needs exceed the number of credits in the available enterprise credit packages, you can email us at account [at] localfalcon.com for a custom pricing package. There are two ways to send reports to Looker Studio. You can either view and send any report directly from the report's screen in Local Falcon, or select a recent report to send using a Looker Studio Template. Many of the scan settings, such as Grid Size, Scan Frequency, and the keywords scanned for, will come down to preference. For Scan Radius, however, you want a majority of your data points to be green or yellow; if most of them are red, you'll want to use a smaller radius. Check out our blog on choosing Scan Settings for more info. Looker Studio Templates are custom report templates we've built out for different types of Local Falcon reports, making it easier to instantly get the data visualization you need when you send reports to Looker Studio. You don't really ever need to run daily scans, except in very niche scenarios. Weekly and bi-weekly scheduled scans are the most cost-effective options, as they offer a good balance between data frequency and credit usage. If budget is a concern, you may opt to run Campaign Scans on a monthly basis instead. Scan Settings are various settings you can choose for running Map Scans in Local Falcon to optimize your local rank tracking data visualization and Local Falcon credit usage. The main Scan Settings you can change are the Scan Radius and Grid Size, the keywords scanned for, and the Scan Frequency for Auto Scans. Yes! You can edit the business locations and keywords, Campaign Scan schedule, and Campaign Report notification email, as well as toggle the Campaign on and off, at any time after you create a Campaign in Local Falcon. Grid Size and Scan Radius settings can be edited up until the first scan runs. As-needed pricing is still available upon creating an account and logging into the portal, but we think you'll find the cost of our packages much more affordable than purchasing individual credits. Create an account today to learn more. Local Falcon AI works by analyzing data from your Scan Reports and organic search results to provide notes on potential problems with your listings as well as suggestions for how to optimize them. There are two ways to do this. The first is by opening up a Campaign Report and selecting the group you want to filter for from the "Filter Campaign Data by group" drop-down. The second is by going to the hub for any report type, clicking the "Filters" button, and setting a Location Group as one of your filter parameters. Local Falcon AI is automatically turned on for all Scan Reports and you can turn it on or off at any time in your account preferences. To analyze a past Scan Report with Falcon AI, simply open up any existing Scan Report that has run in the last 48 hours and click the "Generate AI Report" button (indicated by the OpenAI icon). Go to "Credits Explorer" in the "Billing" drop-down from your account dashboard to see how many credits you have remaining and what your predicted credit usage is for upcoming scans. If you don't have enough credits, the Credits Explorer tool will let you know and you can purchase more credits or change your subscription level accordingly. Location Groups allow you to create groups of business locations that you plan to run scans using the same Scan Settings for. When setting up Campaigns and other types of scans, you can then simply select a Location Group instead of manually adding each business location. Location Groups also make it easier to filter reports, as you can choose to filter by group in order to only view reports for certain sets or subsets of business locations. Google Maps locations are businesses listed via Google Business Profile, while Apple Maps locations are businesses listed via Apple Business Connect. In terms of relevance, Google Business Profile listings are much more widely used, as users can access Google Maps from any device, and it's the preferred maps app for the majority of users. On the other hand, only people using Apple Maps on iOS devices can see Apple Business Connect listings, and many iOS users replace the native Apple Maps app with Google Maps. To understand the number of credits you will need for Local Falcon, there are six variables to keep in-mind: + Grid Size (for example, a 7x7 grid is 49 credits). + Number of keywords you plan to scan (the average user typically scans about 10 keywords). + Number of locations you want to scan (keep in mind you may also want to schedule dedicated scans for competitor's listings as well). + Whether or not you would like to use Falcon AI for scan report analysis and recommendations (the average user adds Falcon AI on their listing scans, but not on competitors; also keep in-mind Falcon AI is just 25 credits per scan report). + The platforms you plan to track your rank on (Google and Apple). + The frequency of how often you want to run your scans (we recommend either weekly or bi-weekly to get a good trend analysis).  Once you've determined what makes the most sense, take a look at the packages on our pricing page. Keep in mind you may want to leave some extra room for experiments and one-off scans as well! Local Falcon's Sales Enablement Tool finds and populates sales lead lists (in CSV files) with local ranking data and additional information pulled from the Google Business Profiles of sales leads. This enrichment provides the ability to outreach to prospective clients with personalized local ranking information. Go to your saved locations and click the "Text Search" button, then toggle the platform selection to Apple Maps. After that, search for the business location by its name or address and click on it to instantly add it to your Saved Locations. Alternatively, you can search for and add an Apple Business Connect location when setting up a new Map Scan to run. Just click the "Search" button at the bottom of the locations drop-down to pull up the same text search box described above. There are six variables to keep in-mind when planning your credit usage: + Grid size (for example, a 9x9 grid is 81 credits). + Number of keywords you plan to scan (the average user typically starts scanning about 10 keywords). + Number of locations / listings you want to scan (keep in-mind you may also want to schedule dedicated scans for your competitor's locations as well). + Whether or not you would like to use Falcon AI for scan report analysis and recommendations (the average user adds Falcon AI on their listing scans, but not on competitors; also keep in-mind these are just 25 credits per report). + The platforms you plan to track your rank on (Google and Apple). + The frequency of how often you want to run your scans (we recommend either weekly, or bi-weekly to get a good trend analysis).  Once you've determined what makes the most sense, take a look at the packages, above. Keep in-mind you may want to leave some extra room for experiments and one-off scans as well :) Another helpful tool for keeping an eye on credits as you schedule Campaigns and Scheduled Scans, is Local Falcon's Credit Explorer; a usage estimator that is available in your account. Yes, Falcon Guard can also track changes made to competitor listings, giving you insights into any shifts in their profile that could impact your business in local search rankings. To monitor a competitor's listing, simply add the location to your Local Falcon account and activate the monitor in Falcon Guard settings. Falcon Guard monitors critical changes to your Google Business Profile, including edits to business name, address, phone number, website, business hours, categories, latitude, longitude, business description, star rating, review count, store code and Place ID. Monitoring these fields helps ensure you are alerted when any changes have been made to your listing. Access to Local Falcon's on-demand API requires a subscription fee of $199 per month. There are also reasonable usage fees of $0.0032 per request or $3.20 for 1,000 requests. You can find full API pricing and usage fee details here. Rather than charge any type of flat fee, Local Falcon uses a flexible credit system, wherein each credit is equal to a map pin used in a geo-grid rank tracking scan. This allows you to tailor your scans and credit usage to perfectly suit your needs and budget, paying either monthly or annually depending on what makes the most sense for you and your business. You can find detailed credit package pricing information for all available plans on our pricing page. Local Falcon's integrations, including the Looker Studio and Zapier integrations, are free with any credit package larger than the "Starter" monthly plan. This means you can gain access to these integrations with either the "Basic" monthly package, which costs $49.99 per month, or even the "Starter" annual plan, which costs $299.88 per year. If you happen to run out of credits for the month or year and wish to purchase additional credits, you can do so on an as-needed basis from within the "Credits and Subscriptions" section of the Billing menu in your Dashboard. These pay-as-you-go credits cost $0.05 per credit and never expire. Various credit packages are available, ranging from $24.99 to $199.99 when billed monthly (for 7,500 to 63,000 monthly credits) or $299.88 to $2,399.88 when billed annually (for 90,000 to 756,000 annual credits).Â
Local Falcon also offers enterprise credit packages ranging from $499 to $4,999 when billed monthly (for 157,000 to 1,570,000 monthly credits) or $5,988 to $59,988 when billed annually (for 1,884,000 to 18,840,000 annual credits). Local Falcon's data retrieval API is free with any credit package larger than the "Starter" monthly plan. The "Basic" monthly credit package, the lowest level of monthly plan required to gain access to the data retrieval API, costs $49.99 per month. You can also gain access by signing up for the "Starter" annual plan for $299.88 per year. Credits for monthly credit packages expire at the end of each month and credits for annual plans expire at the end of each year. So, if you're on a monthly plan and find you're not using all your credits every month, consider upgrading to a yearly package to roll your credits over at the end of each month!
Measures the average number of reviews per month, with a maximum score achieved by maintaining an average of 10 reviews per month in the last 90 days.
Considers the cumulative number of reviews a business has received, with a minimum of 50 total reviews required to earn the maximum score.
We use an exponential decay function to emphasize high ratings: 5 stars get 100%, 4.5 stars get 95%, 4 stars get 80%, 3.5 stars get 50%, and 3 stars or below get 0%.
Responding to every review, regardless of rating, shows that a business values its customers' feedback. The score rewards businesses that actively respond to a high percentage of reviews, with a 100% response rate receiving the maximum score.
Fresh reviews provide an up-to-date view of a business's quality. We use an exponential decay function to calculate the score: reviews from the last day get 100% weight, within a week get 80%, and those older than 30 days get minimal weight.
ATRP = Average Total Rank Position
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