Run your first geo-grid scan

A geo-grid scan checks your Google Maps ranking from many points across a map, not just one. That gives you a true picture of where you are visible in your area and where you fade out, which is far more useful than a single position number.

What you'll need

A location that is matched to a real Google listing. See Add your first location.
Enough scan credits for the grid size you choose (more on cost below).

Run a scan

Go to Scans and select New scan to open the Run New Scan page.
Choose the Location.
Choose a Keyword. These come from the keywords on that location, so add some first if the list is empty. Use a phrase a customer would search, like "emergency plumber", not a question.
Set the Grid size: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, or 21 points across. A 5 means a 5x5 grid, so 25 points.
Set the Coverage, which is how wide the grid spreads across your area (for example 2 km or 5 km). SearchOps spaces the points evenly across that distance.
Select Run Scan. The button shows the credit cost before you commit.

Tip: For a first scan, a 5x5 grid over 2 to 5 km around a single location is a good, affordable baseline.

What a scan costs

A scan costs one credit per grid point, so the cost is the grid size squared:

3x3 = 9 credits
5x5 = 25 credits
7x7 = 49 credits

Coverage distance does not change the cost; only the number of points does. The button updates live, and shows your balance after the scan, so there are no surprises.

Note: If a scan fails, your credits are refunded automatically. See How credits and quotas work for what your plan includes.

A couple of guardrails

SearchOps warns you in two helpful cases:

Question-style keywords (starting with what, how, why and similar) often do not trigger Maps results, so you will be nudged toward a service-style phrase.
Very tight grids, where points sit closer than about 100 m, tend to return identical rankings, so you will be nudged to widen the coverage.

Larger grid sizes are available on higher plans. If a size is greyed out, it is offered on a higher tier.

After the scan

While it runs you will see live progress and an estimated finish time. When it completes you get a color-coded grid, your average rank, and a competitor breakdown. Learn to read it in Reading your geo-grid results.

To keep this refreshed automatically, set up recurring scans.