Search Grid

1. The instrument. A set of geographic coordinates across a city from which a query is run, so that results are collected from many vantage points across the city.
2. The output. The map of positions produced, often rendered as a coloured lattice.
3. The method. Scanning before work, doing the work, and rescanning the identical grid.

Why a single rank number is not a measurement

Distance is a local ranking factor, so results differ by where the searcher stands. A firm can be first at its own office and fifteenth four miles away. Checking rank once, from one place (usually the office) produces the most flattering number available and says almost nothing about whether prospective clients across the city can find the firm.

A rank is a point. Local visibility is a surface. Reporting the point as though it were the surface is the most common way agency reporting misleads without lying.

The method

1. Define the grid: points across the area the firm can realistically serve.
2. Define the query set, the charge-specific terms that matter, in local statutory vocabulary.
3. Scan before: every query from every point, producing the baseline.
4. Do the work.
5. Rescan identically: same points, same queries, same method.

The discipline is entirely in the fifth step. Changing the grid, the radius or the query set between scans makes the comparison meaningless, and is the easiest way for a report to show improvement that did not occur.

Published scans

Reading “total grid performance gained”

The headline figure aggregates movement across the tracked keywords over the whole grid. It measures visibility surface, not traffic, calls or cases. A firm whose grid performance rose +316% became visible across substantially more of its city for the terms it cares about. Whether that converted into signed matters depends on intake, reviews, fees and competitors, none of which a grid measures.

The parameters that must be fixed

A comparison is only meaningful where both scans are the same instrument. The grid centre stays put, since moving it toward the office flatters every later reading. The dimensions and spacing stay fixed, because a tighter grid over a smaller area concentrates on ground the firm already holds. The query list stays fixed, which is where agency reporting most often drifts. Both scan dates are recorded, since a figure without a date cannot be checked.

Every point counts, including the ones where the firm did not appear. A report averaging only the successful points has discarded the information about reach.

Reading the pattern

The shape of a grid carries more than its average. A firm strong at the centre and absent at the edges is proximity-bound, and content across the metro is where the remaining market sits. A firm middling everywhere is usually short on prominence. A firm strong on one side of a city is frequently looking at a competitor concentrated in the other.

Two cautions apply to any grid figure. A large percentage from a low base is a small absolute movement. And a grid measures visibility, which leads cases signed without counting them.

Field check

To check Search Grid in a live criminal defense SEO file, begin with the asset or observation named in the definition. Record its owner, date and market. Then compare the visible record with this entry's scope. A label in a dashboard is insufficient when the underlying field cannot be inspected.

Keep the native unit for Search Grid. A profile field is an entity record. A grid value is a visibility observation. Structured markup describes visible page facts. An answer-system mention is a dated generated output. Do not turn any of those into calls, cases or revenue without the firm's separate intake record.

Definition limit

The Search Grid entry fixes usage; it does not promise that applying the term will produce a ranking. Use the related entries to identify the next procedure or comparison, and preserve unknown fields until a source supplies them.

See also
How is progress measured? · Map pack · Local SEO