Visibility Scanner

Visibility Scanner measures where each location actually appears in Google Maps results — not from a single address, but from a grid of points spread around it. Maps rankings change with the searcher’s position, so the grid shows the neighbourhoods where you win and the ones where a competitor does. Use it to prove local SEO progress over time and to see who is outranking you, keyword by keyword.

Before you start

• Visibility Scanner is available on paid accounts in good standing — an active subscription, within your location and user limits.
• Locations access (locations:restricted) is enough to view results, configure tracking and run scans. You see only the locations assigned to your team. See Users and permissions.
• A location can only be scanned when it has a connected Google profile and usable coordinates. See Managing locations.

Where to find it

Locations → Visibility Scanner, or go to https://app.pluspoint.io/locations/visibility-scanner.

How the score is calculated

Each scan searches Google Maps from every tracked point in the location’s grid, for every tracked keyword, and records where the location ranks.

The location’s Visibility turns those ranks into a percentage: a top-3 position at a grid point is worth the most, lower positions progressively less, and a location outside the top 20 counts as not found there. Ranks are tracked down to position 20, which is why Avg rank never rises above 21.

Read the overview

The three cards at the top summarise every location you can see. Average visibility and Average map rank also show their movement against the scan closest to 90 days ago.

The Visibility report table below lists the locations themselves. In Rank change (90d), green with an up arrow means the rank climbed toward #1, red means it dropped.

To take the numbers out of Pluspoint, open the ⋮ menu at the top right of the Visibility report card and choose Export as CSV or Export as Excel.

Set up tracking on a location

1. Go to Locations → Visibility Scanner.
2. Open the ⋮ menu on the location’s row and select Configure.
3. Under Tracked keywords, review the suggested keywords. Remove any that do not fit by selecting the × on the chip.
4. To add one, select Add keyword and type it.
5. Choose a Grid size and a Grid spacing.
6. On the map, select any pin you do not want to track. It turns grey with a ×. Select it again to bring it back.
7. Select Save.

Changes take effect from the next scan. If the location has not completed a scan yet, saving also starts one immediately.

Grid settings reference

Until you save your own keyword list, Pluspoint suggests keywords for the location, up to the limit of 5. The suggestions start with its Google primary category, that category with the city, and that category with a “near me” phrase. Pluspoint then adds the location’s top Google Business Profile search queries, with branded ones removed. Once you save a list of your own, the location keeps your keywords and suggestions stop.

Run a scan

• On demand — open the ⋮ menu on a row and select Run scan, or open the location’s report and select Run new scan.
• Every month — switch on Monthly scan in the location’s row. Locations with the toggle on are rescanned automatically every 30 days.

The Monthly scan toggle stays disabled until the location has been configured or has results. The scheduler never starts a first scan: that happens when you save the location’s configuration or run a scan yourself.

Read a location’s report

Open the ⋮ menu and select View reports, or select any row that has data.

• Scan date — when the location has more than one completed scan, pick which one you are looking at.
• The three tiles show Visibility and Avg map rank for the whole scan, averaged across every tracked keyword. Top-3 points covers the selected keyword only.
• Tracked keywords chips each carry the average rank for that keyword. Select a chip to switch the map below.
• Every grid point is a pin showing the rank found there, or 20+ when the location was not in the top 20.

Who wins here lists the businesses competing with you across the grid. In top 3 is the share of scanned grid points where that business appeared in the local top 3 in the latest scan. In Reviews, the figure in brackets is the monthly change, estimated from the difference between the last two scans.

Select a competitor’s row to drill into them: their share of top-3 points, their rating and reviews, their keywords, their own grid map and their Google profile details, with an Open on Google Maps link.

Print report produces a clean printout of the report you are looking at, useful for sharing a single location’s results.

Troubleshooting

Related articles

• Location analytics
• Profiles
• Local Directories
• Managing locations
• Google Business Profile