Feature
Competitor tracking
Every rank scan also records every other business Google Maps shows at each point. Competitor tracking turns that into a short list of the businesses that beat you most often, and shows exactly where they're ahead.
- Source
- The same Google Maps scans as rank tracking
- Compared on
- Rating, reviews and photos
- Shortlist
- The five that outrank you most often
- Head to head
- You against the top three
- Refreshed
- With every monthly scan
What it does
At each grid point the search returns up to 20 businesses. Competitor tracking keeps every one that isn't you and counts how often it ranks above you, across all your points and keywords. The five that do it most often become your main competitors.
For each one it records what their Google profile shows: the rating, the number of reviews, the number of photos, their category and website, and whether they list opening hours.
Not everything in a map search is a competitor. Parks, schools and churches are dropped, and so are businesses in an unrelated trade and anything more than 50 miles away. The Competition screen tells you how many were set aside, and why.
Why it matters
Ranking is relative. You don't need a perfect profile; you need a better one than the businesses Google is picking instead of you. Knowing who they are turns a general ambition into a specific target.
The comparison is in plain numbers. If the three businesses above you each have far more reviews than you do, that's the gap, and you can watch it narrow from one month to the next.
It also shows who's moving. From the second scan on, the screen shows how many reviews and photos each competitor gained since the last one, which separates a rival who is actively working their profile from one coasting on an old lead.
How it works
Your scans run
Competitor data comes out of the rank scans themselves, so it starts with your baseline and refreshes every month. No separate searches are run.
Irrelevant results are filtered out
Listings in other trades, public places and anything too far away are removed, and the screen shows how many were removed and for what reason.
The shortlist forms
The businesses that appear above you at the most points, across all your keywords, become your primary competitors.
You're set against the top three
The three relevant competitors with the best average position sit beside you on rating, reviews and photos, each marked either 'Behind by' a number or 'You lead'.
Momentum shows up
Once there are two scans, each competitor's gain in reviews and photos since the previous one appears, alongside the map of where they sit.
What you do
Read it and decide. The screen tells you the size of the gap; closing it is ordinary work, like asking customers for reviews and adding photos from real jobs. The product helps with both, but the customers and the photos are yours.
Use your own judgment about the names on the list. The relevance filter works from the categories businesses choose on Google, and some businesses choose badly, so you'll sometimes know a listing isn't really a competitor before the software does.
Where it stops
- You can't add a competitor by hand. The list is whoever Google Maps actually shows in your scans, so a rival who never appears for your keywords won't be on it.
- Your own photo count means photos added through this product, not everything on your Google profile, and the screen says so. Keep that in mind when you set it against a competitor's total.
- It only knows what a competitor's public profile shows. Their revenue, their advertising and anything that happens away from Google are outside what it can see.
- The numbers are as current as your latest scan, which means they refresh once a month.
Questions about competitor tracking
Where does the list of competitors come from?
From the same Google Maps searches that build your rank map. Any business that appears above you at a grid point is a candidate, and the ones that do it most often make the shortlist.
Why isn't a business I compete with on the list?
Either it isn't showing up in the Maps results for your keywords at your grid points, or Google lists it under a category the filter treats as a different trade. If it never appears where your customers are searching, it isn't taking those particular searches from you.
Why is my photo count lower than what Google shows?
Your figure only counts photos added through OneViewPro, which the Competition screen points out. Photos you put on Google yourself before joining aren't included.
Does it contact or report my competitors?
No. It reads what their public Google profiles show and compares it with yours. Nothing is sent to them, and nothing is reported about them.
When do the momentum figures appear?
They need two scans to compare, so they show up after the first monthly scan that follows your baseline.
Keep reading
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