How to Check Google My Business Ranking

Checking your Google My Business ranking feels like it should be simple, but searching for your own business often gives you a skewed, inaccurate picture. To truly understand how customers see you in local search results, you need a different approach. This guide will walk you through the correct methods for checking your ranking, explain the factors that actually matter, and show you how to start improving your visibility today.

Why a Simple Google Search Is Misleading

When you type your business name or a related service into Google, the results you see are tailored specifically for you. This personalization is great for casual browsing but terrible for accurately assessing your local SEO performance. Here are the three main reasons why your own search isn't a reliable test:

• Location Bias: Google knows where you are. If you're searching from your office or home, it's more likely to show your own business profile, since proximity is a huge ranking factor. You're seeing the results from your exact location, not the results a customer a few miles away might see.
• Search History: Google’s algorithm considers your past behavior. If you’ve visited your own website or clicked on your Google Business Profile (GBP) frequently, Google assumes you like it and will prioritize showing it to you in future searches. Your customers don’t have this search history, so their results will be different.
• Device & Account Personalization: The results can vary based on whether you're signed into a Google account, what device you're using, and other personalized settings.

To get a real sense of your ranking, you need to remove these biases and see what a potential customer sees.

How to Accurately Check Your Google Business Profile Ranking

To get an unbiased view of your local search ranking, you need to simulate being a new customer searching from various locations. Here are three effective methods, from a quick check to a more advanced, precise technique.

Method 1: The Incognito Check (The Quick and Easy Way)

Using a private or incognito browsing window is the fastest way to get a slightly more accurate picture. It removes the bias from your search history and signed-in Google account, giving you a cleaner result.

How to do it:

1. Open a new Incognito (in Chrome) or Private (in Safari/Firefox) browser window.
2. Go to Google.com.
3. Search for one of your target keywords, such as "auto repair in [your city]" or "best coffee shop near me."
4. Scan the results for the "Local Pack" - the map with three business listings underneath it. This is where your GMB ranking really matters. See where (or if) you appear.

A quick tip: Incognito mode removes search history bias, but it can still use your general location to deliver results. To check what customers see in a different neighborhood, you can manually add the location to your search (e.g., "bakery in downtown Miami"). It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.

Method 2: Google's Ad Preview Tool (The Most Accurate Way)

For a truly precise and location-specific view, the best free tool is one hidden inside Google Ads. You don't need to be running an ad campaign to use it. The "Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool" lets you see search results as if you were searching from any location in the world, right down to a specific zip code or neighborhood. This is the single best way to see exactly what a customer sees.

How to find and use the tool:

1. Go to Google and search for "Google Ad Preview Tool" or navigate directly to ads.google.com/aw/diagnostic/AdPreview. You may need to sign in with a Google account.
2. Once in the tool, you'll see a search bar. Look below it for the settings: Location, Language, and Device.
3. Click on the Location setting. Enter the specific location you want to check your ranking from. You can use a city, a neighborhood like "East Nashville," or a zip code like "90210." Be as specific as possible! This removes your physical location from the equation.
4. Change the Device to "Mobile," as the majority of local searches happen on mobile devices.
5. Enter your target search term in the search bar and press enter.

The tool will show you an unbiased search engine results page (SERP) from that exact location. You can see precisely where you rank in the Local Pack without any personalization getting in the way. Test this with several of your most valuable keywords from a few different neighborhoods your customers live in.

Method 3: Using Third-Party Rank Trackers

If you want to track your local rankings consistently over time without doing manual checks, dedicated SEO tools can automate the process. Services like BrightLocal, Semrush, or Whitespark are built for local SEO and offer rank tracking features. They can automatically check your position for dozens of keywords from multiple zip codes daily or weekly, then present the data in easy-to-read charts.

These tools are great for agencies or businesses that are serious about their local SEO because they provide historical data and show you trends over time. While they are paid services, they save a lot of time and give you a broader, more strategic view of your performance.

What Your Ranking Actually Means: Local Pack vs. Organic Results

When checking your rank, it's important to know what you're looking for. For a local business, your prime real estate isn't the number one organic result - it's the Local Pack.

• The Local Pack (or "Map Pack"): This is the highly visible box that appears at the top of the search results page, featuring a map and three business listings. Most users click on one of these three businesses. Getting into the top 3 here should be your primary goal. This is where your GMB profile has the biggest impact.
• Local Organic Results: These are the standard "10 blue links" that appear below the Local Pack. While it's great to rank here too, these results are driven more by your actual website's SEO (content, backlinks, technical health).

But for attracting local customers who are ready to call or visit, dominating the Local Pack is what drives the most direct business.

The 3 Key Factors That Influence Your GBP Ranking

Once you know how to check your ranking, the next step is improving it. According to Google, three main categories of signals determine who shows up in the Local Pack.

1. Relevance

Relevance is how well your business profile matches a searcher's query. If someone searches for "vegan bakery," Google looks for business profiles that signal they are, indeed, a vegan bakery.

Actionable Advice:

• Choose the Right Categories: Your primary category is the most important. Choose the most specific category that accurately describes your main service (e.g., "Italian Restaurant" instead of just "Restaurant"). Then, use additional categories for your other services (e.g., "Pizza Delivery," "Caterer").
• Fill Out Everything: Complete every single section of your Google Business Profile. List all your services with descriptions, add your products, operating hours, and attributes (like "women-owned" or "outdoor seating"). The more information you provide, the better Google understands what you do.
• Encourage Questions & Reviews: Keywords used naturally in customer reviews and in the Questions & Answers section also count as relevance signals.

2. Proximity

Proximity refers to how close your business is to the person searching. You can't change your physical location, but understanding this factor is critical. This is exactly why checking your ranking from different zip codes with the Ad Preview Tool is so powerful - it shows you the radius where you are most competitive. While you can't move your store, you can create location-specific content on your website (e.g., service area pages like "Plumber in The Heights") to signal your relevance in surrounding neighborhoods.

3. Prominence

Prominence is essentially your business's authority and reputation, both online and offline. Google wants to recommend well-known, trusted businesses. Prominence is built from several sources.

Actionable Advice:

• Get More Reviews: The number of reviews you have, your average rating, and how recently you've received them all matter. Actively and systematically ask every happy customer for a review. Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to show you're engaged.
• Build Local Citations: Make sure your business Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) are consistent everywhere online - from your website to directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and industry-specific sites. Inconsistent information can confuse Google.
• Earn Local Backlinks: Links from other local websites (like a local news blog, a chamber of commerce site, or a neighborhood event you sponsored) act as a strong signal of local authority.
• Keep Your Profile Active: Regularly post updates using Google Posts, upload fresh photos, and promptly answer questions in the Q&A section. An active, well-maintained profile signals to Google that your business is open and engaged.

Final Thoughts

Checking your Google Business Profile ranking is the first step toward improving your local visibility. By using unbiased methods like the incognito window or Google's Ad Preview Tool, you get an accurate baseline. From there, you can focus on strengthening your relevance, managing your reputation to build prominence, and engaging with customers directly on your profile.

These consistent updates and brand-building activities are essential for local ranking, but they mirror the same effort needed across all your platforms. At Postbase, we know that managing all these channels - from Instagram and TikTok to GBP updates - can feel scattered and overwhelming. Our platform centralizes your social media planning, scheduling, and engagement into one dashboard so you don't have to jump between a dozen different apps. By simplifying your core social media workflow, we help you save time that can be reinvested into other essential marketing efforts, like replying to reviews and making your business impossible to miss in your local community.