Local SEO · Rank tracking · Updated August 2026
Local rank tracker: city rank tracking and local SERP tracking, city by city.
The short answer
A local rank tracker checks your Google position from a specific city or ZIP code instead of a national average, so you see the result a customer in that market actually gets. Serpstracker runs that check daily for every location you serve, stores the organic top 10 for each one, and alerts you the day a local position drops. Each keyword carries its own location and device, so the same phrase in three cities is three tracked keywords. It records organic results only, not the map pack.
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Type any keyword and see today's top Google results (up to 10). Add your domain and we highlight where you rank. This is a live check of the positions the full product tracks for you daily.
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Track daily and get an alert the day it drops.
Live Google top 10 for any keyword, no signup. This free check runs nationally rather than from a named city. Per-city and per-device checks are what tracked keywords do inside an account.
"Where do we rank" has a different answer in every city.
Google localizes results for almost every query with buying intent. A plumber can sit at position 2 in Austin and position 9 in the suburbs twenty minutes away, and a national-average number hides both. If your customers search from a place, your positions have to be measured from that place.
A generic rank tracker that checks one national position per keyword answers a question nobody in local business is asking. Tracking per city or ZIP turns the same keyword into a map of real positions you can act on.
Local pack and organic are two battles
For "dentist near me" style queries, the map pack sits above the classic results and takes a large share of the clicks. Ranking #1 organically while missing the pack is a very different situation from the reverse. Serpstracker measures the organic fight only: it stores the organic top 10 per location and leaves the map pack out of the count, so the position you read is never inflated by a block you do not hold. To watch the pack itself, pair this with a dedicated map grid tool.
Positions per location, checked daily.
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City and ZIP level tracking
Assign each keyword to one or more locations. Every check runs from that city or ZIP, not from a generic US datacenter view.
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Organic positions, counted honestly
Each check stores the organic top 10 for that city, with ads and the map pack excluded from the count. Your number 4 is the fourth blue link, not the fourth thing on the screen.
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Desktop and mobile
Local searches skew heavily mobile, so every location can be tracked on both devices.
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Per-location drop alerts
A drop in one city pings you the same day, with the location named in the alert. Email on every plan, Slack from Growth upward.
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Per-location reports
Ranking reports break out by location, so a franchise owner or a local client sees their own city, not a blended average.
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Competitor columns per market
Track 5 competitors per site on Growth and 10 on Agency, and see their local positions next to yours, because the business outranking you in one suburb is often not the one outranking you downtown.
Two limits worth knowing before you plan a list. Every keyword is stored with its own location and device, so the same phrase watched in three cities counts as three keywords against your quota. And the alert channel depends on your plan: same-day SEO rank drop alerts arrive by email on every plan, while Slack delivery starts on Growth. Competitor columns run to one competitor per site on Starter and five on Growth.
National, city or ZIP: which granularity you need
Granularity is the decision that sets both your keyword count and your monthly bill. The rule of thumb is to track at the level you can act on. If you cannot do anything different for one ZIP code than for the city around it, you do not need ZIP level rows.
| Granularity | Answers | Best for | Keyword cost |
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| National | Roughly where the domain sits across the country | Ecommerce and SaaS with no physical service area | 1 keyword per phrase |
| City | What a searcher in that metro actually sees | Service-area businesses, multi-town operators, most local SEO | 1 per phrase per city |
| ZIP code | How two of your own locations compete inside one city | Multi-site businesses in a single metro, dense urban markets | 1 per phrase per ZIP |
A twelve town HVAC company tracking 30 phrases per town is a 360 keyword list, which fits inside the $99 Growth plan with room to spare. The same list at ZIP level across a dense metro can pass 1,500 quickly, so decide granularity before you decide plan. Our rank tracker for small business page works through smaller setups, and rank tracker for agencies covers multi-client rosters.
Who a local rank tracker is for
Multi-location businesses
Twelve clinics, twelve leaderboards
A dental group with twelve clinics does not have one ranking for "dentist", it has twelve. Track the same keyword set across every service area, compare locations side by side, and see immediately which branch is slipping in its own market. When one city drops and eleven hold steady, the fix is local and you know where to send it.
Agencies with local clients
Every client sees their own city
Local clients judge you on what they see when they search from their own storefront. Per-location tracking gives each client a report scoped to their market, with local pack and organic movement in plain numbers. A drop in the client's home market reaches you the same day, before it reaches them. If you run many local accounts, the rank tracker for agencies page covers multi-site management, CSV export, and API access.
Priced like a tracker, not a suite.
Everything on this page is what the product does today, nothing more. Location tracking is included on every plan, and plans start at $39 per month. See rank tracker pricing for the full tier breakdown.
Illustration
One keyword, three cities. Sample data.
- #2 Austin, TX up 1
- #5 Round Rock, TX down 3
- #8 Georgetown, TX up 2
Frequently asked questions
What is city rank tracking?
City rank tracking is checking your Google position for the same keyword from several named cities, and storing each one separately. A plumber ranking second in Austin can sit eleventh in Round Rock for the identical search. One national number averages those two into a figure that describes neither of them, which is why per-city history is the only version a local business can act on.
How do I check my Google ranking in a specific city?
Set the location on the check itself rather than trusting what your own browser shows you, because your results are shaped by where you are sitting and what you have searched before. A local rank tracker pins each keyword to a city or ZIP and runs it from that context every 24 hours, so the number is repeatable and dated instead of a personalized snapshot.
What is a local SERP tracker?
A local SERP tracker records the results page as it appears in one city rather than nationally, including which competitors hold each organic spot in that market. Serpstracker stores the organic top 10 per location per day. It does not record the map pack, so if the three-business block above the results is what you need measured, pair this with a dedicated map rank tool. The two move independently: you can gain three organic places in a city and still lose calls to a map block that changed.
Why do my rankings differ between nearby cities?
Google localizes results tightly, often down to a few miles. Proximity to the searcher, the local competitor set, and review and listing signals all differ between two towns twenty minutes apart. That is normal rather than a bug, and it is useful: when one city drops and eleven hold steady, the problem is local and you know exactly where to send the fix.
Should I track by city or by ZIP code?
Track by city for service-area businesses covering a metro, and by ZIP when you have physical locations competing inside one city. A restaurant group with four sites in Chicago needs ZIP level detail to see them separately. A regional HVAC company serving twelve towns is better served by one row per town, kept readable.
Can I track rankings for multiple locations in one account?
Yes. Assign every keyword to one or more locations and each combination is checked and charted separately, with drop alerts that name the city. Multi-location brands and agencies with local clients use the same structure, and the per-location breakout carries through to the reports each owner or client receives.
How do I see Google search results for another city?
Do not rely on your own browser, and do not trust incognito either, because your physical location still shapes the page. The repeatable methods are a rank tracker that pins each keyword to a named city, or the Google Ads Ad Preview tool for one-off manual checks. A tracker is the only option that gives you dated history rather than a single look.
Does a local rank tracker track the Google map pack?
Serpstracker does not. It records the organic top 10 for each city and excludes ads and the map pack from the position count, so your number 4 is the fourth blue link. If the three-business map block is what you need measured, use a dedicated map grid tool alongside this. The two genuinely move independently.
How many keywords do I need for local rank tracking?
Multiply your phrase list by your location list. A service business with 25 phrases across 8 towns needs 200 tracked keywords, not 25. This is the single most common sizing mistake in local SEO, and it is why a plan that looked generous runs out in week two. Count the combinations before choosing a tier.
Is local rank tracking different from local SEO?
Local rank tracking is the measurement layer, not the work. It tells you where you stand per city and when that changes. Local SEO is the work itself: listings, reviews, on-page location signals and links. Tracking is how you find out whether that work moved anything in the market you actually care about.
How often should local rankings be checked?
Daily, if you are actively working on a market. Local results move more than national ones because the competitor set is small, so a single competitor change can shift you two places overnight. Serpstracker checks every tracked keyword and location daily and stores each result, which is what makes a drop traceable to a date.
Local results carry feature blocks more often than national ones, so pair city tracking with AI Overview tracking and read the full page for each location in the Google SERP tracker. Phones and desktops localize differently again, which the mobile rank tracker covers.
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Track every city you serve. Catch every local drop.
Every keyword checked daily, competitor positions beside yours, and an alert the day a ranking falls. Plans from $39 a month.