Methodology
How We
Do Research
The Florida Local Search Index is not one dataset collected one way. It is a multi-method measurement program that we test, version, and refine over time. Here is how we measure, what we stand behind, and where we are still improving.
Client Reviews
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Measurement Program
Three Tiers of Measurement
We do not use one tool for everything. We use the best available measurement for each signal, and we upgrade modeled inputs to directly measured ones as our capability grows.
Manual Deep Audits
Ground-truth audits of individual businesses (97 in Brevard County, 47 data points each): GBP completion, schema, page speed, reviews, and response patterns, reviewed by hand. This is our accuracy anchor.
Statewide Market Intelligence
Across 93 Florida cities and 12 industries, we measure real market structure from the Google Places API and by fetching the top-ranking businesses' sites: listing density, review depth, ratings, and structured-data adoption. Measured, not estimated.
AI Visibility Instrument
We record what AI assistants (ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Claude) actually recommend for local searches, run repeatedly and captured verbatim. Whether a business appears is a reproducible fact about that assistant at that time. Original data nobody else publishes locally.
We are transparent about how we measure and what each number means. The captured response corpus, the exact prompt sets we run against AI assistants, and our scoring configuration stay proprietary. We publish the method and the findings, not the turnkey recipe.
Tier 1 · Ground Truth
Inside a Deep Audit
How the Tier 1 ground-truth audit works, the process that anchors the accuracy of everything else.
Define the Sample
For a deep audit we identify the businesses in the target industry and market using Google Maps and local sources, and include every verifiable business, not a curated subset. Our first full deep audit covered Brevard County; the same process extends to new markets.
Manual Audit
Each business listing is individually reviewed. We document GBP completion, website presence, schema markup, mobile responsiveness, page speed, review count, rating, and response patterns.
Automated Testing
We run Google PageSpeed Insights and schema validation tools against every website. Results are captured with timestamps for reproducibility.
Data Normalization
Raw data is cleaned, deduplicated, and normalized. Businesses with multiple locations are counted individually. Permanently closed businesses are excluded.
Analysis & Peer Review
We analyze the data for patterns, compute benchmarks by industry and city, and have findings reviewed by at least two team members before publication.
Publication
Results are published with full methodology documentation, data sources, and known limitations. We update studies quarterly when new data is available.
What We Score
Analysis Framework
GBP Completeness Score
We score each profile on 15 factors including business description, categories, hours, photos, posts, Q&A, and attributes. Each factor is weighted by its impact on local rankings.
Technical SEO Audit
Schema markup presence, mobile responsiveness, HTTPS adoption, page speed (LCP, FID, CLS), and indexation status are tested for every website.
Review Health Score
We measure total review count, average rating, review recency, response rate, and response time. These factors are combined into a single review health score.
Industry Benchmarking
All metrics are segmented by industry and city. This allows businesses to compare themselves against direct competitors, not the market average.
Known Limitations
All data is captured at a point in time and reflects what we measured on that date. AI answers, listings, reviews, and rankings change, so we re-measure and version each release.
Tier 2 statewide data samples the leading listings in each market, not every business. It reflects competitive structure, not a full census.
AI-visibility runs use the assistants' APIs with live search, the best measurable proxies for the consumer apps but not identical to them. Google AI Overviews have no API and are not yet included.
We cannot measure some ranking factors (domain authority, backlink profiles) without third-party tools that carry their own accuracy limitations.
Review counts and ratings are public data. We cannot verify review authenticity.
The program is evolving. We continuously test methods, benchmark results, and upgrade modeled inputs to directly measured ones as capability allows.
We publish these limitations because we believe transparency is more valuable than appearing infallible. If you spot an error in our research, please contact us.
Measured components
What We Publish Per Market
Every market number in the Index is one of five directly measured components, published with its sample and date. The composite "market opportunity score" (0 to 100) was retired on October 15, 2026: a weighted formula over a single capped Google Places call cannot carry a score, and a city and trade cell that returned no listings scored 100. The components stay; the composite does not.
listings returned (20 = the API cap) · typical reviews = median review count of the top 20 · rating floor = 25th-percentile rating · established rivals = listings past 100 reviews · schema share = top-ranked sites crawled that carry structured dataEach number is a count or a percentile of what Google returned on the collection date, so anyone with the CSV can recompute it. No weights, no blend.
Typical Reviews and Rating Floor
- Median Google review count among the top 20 listings
- 25th-percentile rating: three quarters of the top 20 rate at or above it
- Both move in whole reviews or 0.1-star steps, so they are easy to check
Established Rivals
- How many of the top 20 listings have passed 100 reviews
- Fewer than 5 reads as open, 5 to 11 as contested, 12 or more as heavily contested
- 20 of 20 means every top listing is established
Structured-Data Share
- Share of the top-ranked sites we crawled (up to 3 per cell, 3,073 statewide) that carry structured data
- Reported with the number of sites behind it
- A city figure rests on 3 sites, so trade and statewide shares are the ones to quote
Listings Returned
- The Places text search returns at most 20 results
- 786 of 1,116 cells hit that cap, so the count is an API limit, not market size
- Cells that returned nothing are shown as such, never as an open market
Tier 2 statewide market data is measured from the Google Places API and by fetching the top-ranking businesses' sites: real listing counts, review-count distributions, ratings, and structured-data adoption. These are measurements, not estimates, though they sample the leading listings in each market rather than every business and reflect a point in time. Tier 1 adds manual, 47-point Brevard deep audits. Tier 3 records AI-assistant recommendations directly. The opportunity score is a versioned formula over those measured inputs, refined as we add signals.