Local rank tracking isn't just for large marketing agencies and enterprise organizations with huge marketing budgets — small businesses can use a local rank tracker as well to monitor and improve their local SEO strategies at scale.
Businesses of all sizes need to make the most of their marketing budgets, but small businesses particularly need to ensure they're using every dollar efficiently.
So, we put together this quick list of tips on how small businesses can do local rank tracking effectively without breaking the bank.
Do These Five Things To Maximize Your Small Business's Local Rank Tracking Budget
1. Use a Local Rank Tracker with a Flexible Credits System
Digital marketing tools, local rank trackers included, have pricing plans that are all over the place, and not all of them are ideal for small businesses starting out with limited marketing budgets.
In order to ensure flexibility and freedom to use your budget as needed, look for a local rank tracker with a credit system that allows you to purchase different numbers of credits and spend them how you want.
It's ideal if there are different sizes of credit packages to choose from, as well as a pay-as-you-go option in case you want a different number of credits to start with.
2. Choose the Optimal Map Scan Grid Size and Radius
When it comes to local rank tracking for Google Maps, the grid size and map radius are two of the most important scan settings you can manipulate.
The grid size determines how many data points in total your local ranking scan will use. For example, a 5x5 grid will have a total of 25 data points.
The radius specifies the distance from the central data point (typically your business location) to each outermost data point.
In order to maximize your local rank tracking budget, you should experiment with a few different grid and radius settings to find the perfect balance between amount of data and cost.
3. Make Sure To Disable Irrelevant Data Points
After you set the grid size and radius for any local rank tracking scan, don't forget to disable irrelevant data points in order to avoid spending budget on retrieving data from points that don't matter.
For example, you always want to disable data points over water, as it is highly unlikely that customers are searching for businesses on Google from out on a boat.
You may also choose to disable data points from other areas where customers are unlikely to be performing Google searches for your business, such as areas with a very low population (non-residential areas, like industrial zones or parks), or areas you simply don't serve.
Using a local rank tracker with flexible grid points allows you to create fully custom grid shapes for your local rank tracking scans that not only ensure efficient use of budget, but also provide the precise data you need to implement local SEO strategies.
4. Scan for a Mix of Geo-Specific and General Keywords
The number and type of keywords you scan for also play a big role in how cost-effective your local rank tracking campaigns are.
We recommend scanning for about 10 keywords on average to get a good amount of data, but you can scan for more or less, depending on what your budget allows for.
No matter the number of keywords you're tracking, it's important to use a mix of general and more geo-specific keywords.
For instance, if you're scanning for 10 keywords, you might choose five general terms related to the goods and/or service your business sells, and five search terms with city/town/region names attached to keywords for what your business does.
5. Get Recurring Reports at the Right Intervals
In order for local rank tracking to be effective, you need to collect data at regular intervals. This allows you to consistently monitor the performance of local SEO efforts, as well as provide regular updates to stakeholders.
For small businesses, you may choose to get weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly scan reports, depending on what your budget allows for. You can always change this cadence as your needs and goals shift, or as your budget increases due to ROI from your local SEO efforts.
Final Words
Local rank tracking is one of the best ways for both small businesses and large enterprises to improve reporting and analytics and boost local SEO strategies.
Following the tips we discussed above will help you maximize whatever budget you have for local rank tracking, and you can easily scale up your tracking using the same tactics as your budget increases.
Local Falcon is a local rank tracker built for businesses of all sizes, across all industries. Its flexible credit system and highly customizable scan settings make it ideal for everything from small service-area businesses with tight marketing budgets, to multi-location enterprises looking to support growth through extensive local rank tracking campaigns.