How our audits work: what we check, how we score it and what a score cannot tell you

One engine, four audits

All four audits run on the same engine. You give it a business name or a website, it detects which one you gave, and it checks what the public can see about that business.

What each audit checks

Google Business Profile and local SEO

The checks mirror what a nearby customer sees and what Google says drives local results: relevance, distance and prominence. In practice that means whether the profile is complete and accurate, whether the categories fit, how the business looks next to the three nearby competitors that Google shows, and where it ranks on Maps. The local SEO audit adds listing consistency across directories, reviews and replies, and local signals on the website.

Maps rank

Rank changes with where the searcher stands, so the checker measures from nine points around one location rather than one. The result is a rank grid: where the location is strong, and where a competitor wins the next street.

AI visibility

The check asks the engines the kind of question a customer would ask. For each engine it records whether the business is named, how it is described and who else is named. See AI visibility and the GEO guide.

From checks to a score and a fix list

The score summarizes the checks in the audit, so a business that passes more of the checks that matter scores higher. The fix list is the part to act on: it shows the checks that failed, in the order that matters most for that business.

This page describes the method, not the exact weights. We show the checks behind each score so you can see what moved it, and we change the checks as Google and the AI engines change what they read.

Where the data comes from

The audits look at information that is publicly visible about a business: its Google listing, search and Maps results, directories, reviews, its website and the answers the AI engines give. They do not need access to your accounts to run.

What an audit cannot tell you

• It is a snapshot. Results reflect the moment you ran it. Run it again after you make changes.
• Rank depends on where you stand. A single number hides the difference between the block next door and a mile away, which is why the grid exists.
• AI answers vary. The same question can produce a different answer on another day or in another engine. One audit is a sample, not a verdict.
• It does not predict revenue. A higher score means fewer visible problems, not a guaranteed result.

If a lookup fails, the audit shows a retry message. It never shows made-up results in place of a real one.

Try it on one location

Run the free audit for one location or your whole network. It takes about two minutes and does not need a card.

Google Business Profile audit

Business nameAudit

Free. You get a profile score, your Maps rank against the top 3, and the fixes that matter most.