Understanding how customers find and interact with your locations is critical for driving foot traffic, boosting online visibility, and fostering meaningful engagement. But raw data alone isn't enough. You need to know how you’re being found, how people are interacting with your presence, and what their experience is once they do. That's where local insights step in.
What exactly are “Local Search Insights”?
Local insights are location-specific performance signals gathered from platforms like Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, and Bing. They tell you:
- How often your locations appear in search results
- What people are searching for when they find you
- What actions they take next (calls, direction requests, clicks)
- How customers rate and review your services
- How engaged your audience is with your social content
And while it's possible to check performance metrics on each platform individually, the real value emerges when this data is aggregated across all locations and networks. When insights are mapped over time, filtered by city, region, or location type, and organized in a way that reflects both macro and micro trends, they become actionable.
Inspiring Local Teams with Real Results
For multi-location brands, having access to location-specific insights helps you:
- Track performance by location – See which stores are driving visibility, actions, and positive reviews, and which ones need support.
- Compare and benchmark – Identify top and low-performing locations based on real data, not assumptions.
- Support local teams – Give store managers the insights they need to improve visibility and engagement in their area.
- Create reports quickly – Filter and export data for reporting across regions, brands, or platforms—no manual work needed.
- Drive better strategy – Use trends and review feedback to shape marketing, operations, and customer service decisions chain-wide.
These insights help both HQ and local teams stay aligned, spot issues early, and focus efforts where they’ll have the biggest impact.
Types of Insights Your Brand Should Be Tracking
Visibility & Reach
- How often are your listings being shown in search results?
- On which platforms are you performing best (Google, Apple Maps, Bing)?
- Is your visibility growing or declining over time?
Customer Actions
- Are people clicking for directions or calling from listings?
- Are they engaging with social posts or store locators?
- Which listings drive the most conversions?
Reputation & Review Management
- What's the average rating per location?
- Are reviews being answered promptly and consistently?
- Is your rating improving, stagnating, or declining?
Social & Brand Engagement
- Are your Facebook or Instagram pages generating reach and engagement?
- Is social content translating into real-world visits?
Top vs. Bottom Performing Locations
- Which locations consistently perform best—and why?
- Where is support or training needed for underperforming stores?
Keyword & Search Behavior
- Are people finding you through branded or generic searches?
- Which keywords are showing up in review content or discovery queries?
How PinMeTo Transforms Insights into Local Impact
Once you know what insights to track, the next challenge is making them accessible, actionable, and scalable across all your locations. That’s where local marketing tools like PinMeTo come in, acting as a command center for local performance across Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook, and more. With PinMeTo, you can:
- See performance at a glance – across your full footprint and per location. Monitor search visibility, clicks, direction requests, and engagement trends in a unified dashboard that lets you zoom in or out—from high-level overviews to individual location metrics.
- Identify top and bottom performers. Our ranking method considers both review volume and rating quality—so standout locations rise to the top, even without hundreds of reviews.
- Explore trends and patterns using flexible filters by region, channel, or timeframe—and quickly connect activity (like posting or engagement) to outcomes.
- Access social and search insights side by side, including follower growth, post performance, and keyword discovery from your business profiles.
- Export data and create custom reports for detailed overview and data-driven decisions.
Don’t Overlook Apple Maps
While Google often dominates local SEO discussions, Apple Maps is the default navigation tool for iOS users, and its influence is only growing. With Apple Business Connect, brands can now access first-party data and control how their business is displayed on Apple’s ecosystem — from Maps to Siri search.
PinMeTo’s recent direct integration with Apple Business Connect makes it easier than ever for multi-location brands to:
- Ensure listings are accurate and prioritized in Apple Maps.
- Unlock exclusive performance insights on user engagement.
- Sync updates directly without third-party overwrite issues.
This means faster updates, deeper control, and better visibility where a large part of your audience is searching.
Advanced Insight Capabilities with PinMeTo’s APIs
Need deeper reporting or want to embed location data and your local search insights into your own dashboards? The Insights API provides direct access to your performance data, including:
- Search impressions, clicks, and direction requests across networks
- Review sentiment and volume by location
- Follower growth and post engagement from social pages
- Apple Maps performance metrics via our direct Apple Business Connect integration
Use it to:
- Feed your BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker, Power BI) with location-level metrics
- Generate custom reports filtered by time period, network, or region
- Monitor trends across your store footprint—and make faster, smarter decisions
To Sum Up
Local search is no longer just a marketing checkbox—it’s a strategic engine for visibility, reputation, and growth. But without the right insights, brands are flying blind.
From understanding customer sentiment and search behavior to tracking multi-location performance and review trends, actionable data is what turns local presence into real-world impact.
Lily Adamyan, April 3
