Google Maps Rank Tracker: local rank grid and geo-grid heatmap for local SEO

A local rank tracker for Google Maps. See where your business ranks on Google Maps from every part of town: the Actor lays a geo-grid of GPS points around your business (3 x 3 up to 15 x 15, square or circle, km or miles), runs the Maps search for each keyword at every point and returns your rank at each point, the top competitors there, average rank (ARP / ATRP), share of the top 3 and an HTML heat map. Pay per grid point, with no monthly seat per client.

Built for:

• Local SEO agencies: grid scans for client reports and pitches, scheduled weekly, without a monthly SaaS seat per client.
• Multi-location brands and franchises: the best-ranked branch at every point of a city ("any location" mode).
• Local businesses: dentists, plumbers, lawyers, HVAC, restaurants, car dealers. Find the neighbourhoods where you drop out of the map pack and who takes your place.

You pay per grid point scanned. Points where Google Maps shows no businesses, failed requests and the business lookup are free.

What you get

Row (type)	What's in it	Charged
point	one per grid point and keyword: rank (null if not in the results), rankLabel, inTop3/inTop10/inTop20, point label (A1 = north-west corner), latitude/longitude, distance and direction from the center, the top N competitors there (rank, name, rating, reviews, category, website, place ID), #1/#2/#3 names, results and ads count, Google Maps link	grid-point
summary	one per keyword: ARP, ATRP, median/best/worst rank, % of points in top 3 / top 10 / top 20, % found, rankGrid (2-D array) and a text heatmap, top competitors	free
competitor	leaderboard per keyword (top 20): every business seen in the top 20 across the grid with its ATRP, average rank, share of top 3, % of points where it appears, rating and reviews, and isYou	free

Plus a heat-map report (REPORT, HTML, no scripts) in the run's key-value store: a colour-coded grid per keyword (green = top 3, light green = 4-10, orange = 11-20, red = 20+ or not found), the stats and the leaderboard. Every dot links to that Google Maps search. Open it from the run's Output tab.

Metrics

• ARP (averageRank): your average rank over the points where you're in the top 20.
• ATRP (averageTotalRank): your average over all points, counting "not in top 20" as 21. Lower is better.
• SoLV (top3Pct): share of points where you're in the Google Maps 3-pack.

Input examples

5 x 5 grid around your business, 1 km apart (the default):

{ "keywords": ["dentist"], "googleMapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/Swish+Dental+Downtown/@30.2674035,-97.7451433,17z/data=..." }

Find the business by name, 3 keywords, 7 x 7 circle with 1-mile spacing:

{ "keywords": ["emergency plumber", "plumber near me", "water heater repair"],
  "businessName": "Applewood Plumbing Heating & Electric", "businessLocation": "Denver, CO",
  "gridSize": 7, "gridShape": "circle", "pointSpacing": 1, "distanceUnit": "mi" }

A brand's best branch at each point of a city grid:

{ "keywords": ["gym"], "businessName": "Planet Fitness", "website": "planetfitness.com",
  "matchMode": "any_location", "center": "41.8781, -87.6298", "gridSize": 7, "pointSpacing": 2 }

Tips

• Use the Google Maps URL of the business (or a maps.app.goo.gl share link) for an exact match. A name works too: the Actor looks it up once (free) and locks on to that exact listing.
• Spacing: 0.3-1 mi (0.5-1.5 km) for city-centre businesses, 2-5 mi for service-area businesses and car dealers.
• Zoom sets the map view of each search: 13 (default) covers a city district, like a searcher scanning the map; 12 suits wide metro grids; 15 and up is one neighbourhood, so a business outside that small view won't appear there.
• Circle grids skip the far corners, so you pay for fewer points (a 7 x 7 circle is 37 points instead of 49).
• Schedule the same task weekly to track progress; every row has scrapedAt.

Output example (one grid point, shortened)

{
  "type": "point", "keyword": "dentist", "business": "Swish Dental Downtown", "point": "D2", "row": 2, "col": 4,
  "latitude": 30.2763967, "longitude": -97.7347302, "distanceKm": 1.414, "direction": "NE",
  "rank": 1, "rankLabel": "1", "found": true, "inTop3": true, "inTop10": true, "inTop20": true,
  "top1": "Swish Dental Downtown", "top2": "Enamel Dentistry Saltillo (East Austin)", "top3": "Primavera Dental Group - Downtown Austin",
  "competitors": [
    { "rank": 1, "title": "Swish Dental Downtown", "placeId": "ChIJdWgENLS1RIYReos4IrRuTmQ", "rating": 4.5,
      "reviews": 991, "category": "Dentist", "domain": "www.swishsmiles.com" }
  ],
  "resultsCount": 100, "adsCount": 0, "googleMapsUrl": "https://google.com/maps/search/dentist/@30.2763967,-97.7347302,13z?hl=en&gl=US&...",
  "chargedEvents": ["grid-point"], "scrapedAt": "2026-10-17T05:14:18Z"
}

Summary row heat map for that 5 x 5 scan (heatmap, north at the top; X = not found, 20+ = found below 20):

10   6   6   7  11
 13   4   2   1   7
 10   3   1   3  10
 12   5   5   5  12
 19  10  11  15  13

The dataset has four views: Overview, Grid points, Summary per keyword and Competitor leaderboard. Export to CSV, Excel or JSON, or use the API.

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	When it is charged
Actor start	once per run
grid-point	one grid point scanned for one keyword: Google Maps results at that spot with your rank (or "not in the results") and the competitors there

You are not charged for:

• points where Google Maps shows no businesses for the keyword;
• failed requests;
• the business lookup by name;
• summary, leaderboard and report rows;
• skipped inputs (duplicate or invalid keywords);
• anything beyond your run's maximum charge. The run scans as many whole keyword grids as fit (or a smaller grid) and lists what it didn't scan.

A 5 x 5 grid is 25 grid-point events per keyword; a 7 x 7 circle is 37.

Apify free plan: 1 keyword and grids up to 5 x 5 (25 points) per run. Any paid Apify plan unlocks up to 20 keywords and 15 x 15 grids (up to 2,500 points per run).

Use from AI agents (MCP)

AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor can run this Actor through Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com). The agent can look up the Actor, read its input schema, run it and read the results. Runs use your own Apify account and are charged at the prices on this page.

• Actor name: vncntlabs/google-maps-rank-tracker
• Server URL with only this tool: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=vncntlabs/google-maps-rank-tracker. The default https://mcp.apify.com also works; the agent can then search Apify Store and call the Actor by name.
• Claude (desktop app or claude.ai): Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector, paste the server URL, then sign in to Apify.
• ChatGPT: turn on Developer mode, then Settings > Apps & Connectors > Create, paste the server URL and choose OAuth.
• Cursor: run /add-plugin apify in Cursor chat and connect the Apify MCP server under Cursor Settings > Tools & MCPs, or add the server to mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=vncntlabs/google-maps-rank-tracker" } } }

Example prompt: "Use the Apify Actor vncntlabs/google-maps-rank-tracker to check where the business "Acme Plumbing" in Denver, CO ranks on Google Maps for "emergency plumber" on a 5 x 5 grid."

To cap the cost of an agent's run, it can pass maxTotalChargeUsd in the run options.

FAQ

How accurate is a grid point? Each point is a real Google Maps search centred on that GPS coordinate at the chosen zoom, as Google answered at scrapedAt. Real people can see slightly different results depending on device, personalisation and time, so watch trends across scans rather than single points.

How deep does it look? Up to about 100 listings per point. If you're further down (or not listed), rank is null and rankLabel says "Not in top N".

Does it work outside the US? Yes, anywhere Google Maps works. Set language for local-language results; country only helps find a business by name.

Can I track several locations of my brand? Use "Any location of the brand" (matchMode: any_location) with the brand name or website; each point shows which branch ranked (matchedListing).

Is this the official Google Maps API? No. This Actor uses DataForSEO's licensed Google Maps data and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.