How to Use Wincher to Track a Local Business in Search and Maps

The short answer: a local business needs two numbers, its organic position in each city it serves and its position on the map around each address, and Wincher tracks both: organic positions daily, the map grid weekly. Add the site once per city with the exact URL Google indexes, choose keywords with the AI suggester and Search Console, add the competitors Wincher proposes, draw a map grid around the Business Profile, then read the weekly map coverage and the daily positions through one summary email.

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A plumber in Utrecht does not compete with plumbers in Rotterdam, and a national ranking hides that. So the setup below treats every city as its own tracking profile, which is also how Wincher counts them. For plans and prices, see the Wincher glossary entry.

Price the map before you draw it:

1. Grid points are credits. A 5x5 grid uses 25 credits per keyword, per the local tracking guide. For example, 8 keywords on a 5x5 grid use 8 x 25 = 200 credits, against the 25 credits every plan includes and extras at €10 per 500 on the pricing page, checked on 24 October 2026. The guide does not say whether each weekly update spends them again, so ask support before you widen the grid.
2. Cities are websites. Each added location counts as a separate website, per the multi-location article. For example, three cities on mobile use 3 x 1 = 3 of the 10 websites on Basic.
3. Start from the Business Profile you have. The map tracker can only find a profile with a verified address, per the Business Profile article.
4. Note week one's coverage figure. The share of the area where you rank in the top 3 is the number to compare four weeks later.

Before you begin

• A plan that covers city tracking. The location guide says localized tracking is for paid subscribers; Basic starts at $49 a month on the pricing page, checked on 24 October 2026, after a 7-day trial.
• The URL exactly as Google shows it, with or without "www".
• Owner access in Search Console for the keyword import.
• A list of the services and areas you want to be found for.

Step 1. Add the site for the first city

Click Add website, enter the URL exactly as it appears in Google's results, and choose the Google market, language and device, per the setup article. Pick the device your customers search on; mobile and desktop are separate websites in Wincher's count, per the mobile tracking article. In the next field, narrow the location to a state, county or city, per the location guide.

Step 2. Choose keywords, with the AI doing the first pass

Click Add keyword and pick a method: type keywords one per line, search a seed word for suggestions, let AI generate suggestions from a URL's content, or import from Search Console, a CSV or Excel file, or another tracked site, per the keyword article. Give the batch a group tag such as the service name.

Paste the service page's URL and let the AI propose the list. Then a person removes every keyword that names a service you do not offer or an area you do not serve, before clicking Add keywords, because each one counts toward the plan's allowance. For the Search Console import, connect it under My Profile, Your connected services, and allow up to 72 hours for data to arrive, per the Search Console article.

Step 3. Add the other cities

On the dashboard, open the current location in the top-left corner, click Add Google Market and choose the next city, per the multi-location article. If the language is the same, import the keywords you already track instead of adding them again.

Step 4. Add the competitors Wincher suggests

Open the Competitors tab, then type a root domain or click one of the suggested competitors that rank for your keywords, per the competitor article. Basic allows 5 per site, Standard 10 and Professional 20, per the competitor limits article. My view: for a local business, track the rivals that appear in the same map results, not the national chains.

Step 5. Draw the map grid

Select Locations at the top of the screen, enter the business name and city, and choose the right profile from the list, per the local tracking guide. Then set Grid and Area. A 3x3 grid covers more ground with fewer points, and a denser grid gives a sharper picture. The guide suggests an area of 0.5 by 0.5 km for a small retailer and 20 by 20 km for a large hotel chain. Add the keywords, with the city in some of them, and click Continue.

Step 6. Read both results

The Location Overview shows the business details Google holds, the share of the area where your keywords rank in the top 3, the split across top 10, top 20 and beyond, your best keyword and your reviews, per the local tracking guide. Map positions update weekly from the day you created the profile. Organic positions update daily, overnight Central European Time, per the update article. A keyword shown as beyond 30 is outside the top 30, not lost, per the ranking article.

Step 7. Set the weekly summary

In the account menu, open Notifications, switch on the weekly Ranking Summary and switch off the types you do not need, then choose which websites the emails cover, per the notifications article. For someone outside the team, scheduled PDF reports come with every plan, per the pricing page.

What the help centre warns about

• The wrong version of the URL. If Google shows example.com and Wincher has www.example.com, no rankings appear, and the fix is to delete the site and add it again, per the ranking article.
• The wrong market. A site tracked in the wrong country shows no positions, per the same article.
• Keywords that are too broad. Single words such as "car" often sit beyond 30, and the same article suggests starting with longer, more specific terms.
• A profile without a verified address. The map tracker cannot find it, per the Business Profile article.
• An ad blocker during the Search Console connection. The Search Console article suggests disabling it or using another browser.

A grid with more points looks more precise and uses more credits. The guide's own suggestion for a small shop is the smallest area, so start there and widen it only when customers come from further away.

FAQ

How often does the map grid update?

Weekly, counted from the day you created the local profile. A keyword added later starts on its own date and then joins the same weekly cycle, per the local tracking guide.

Can I refresh organic positions by hand?

On Standard and Professional, once every 20 hours, on top of the daily update, per the manual update article.

Can I bring ranking history from my old tracker?

On Standard and Professional, from a CSV in Wincher's template, under the website's Settings, per the history import article. Imported positions override the ones Wincher provides, per the same article.