{ "name": "Track a business's Google Maps rank on a geo-grid every week in Google Sheets", "nodes": [ { "parameters": { "content": "## Track a business's Google Maps rank on a geo-grid every week in Google Sheets\n\n### Who's it for\nLocal SEO agencies and business owners who want a weekly geo-grid report (like Local Falcon) without a monthly plan: where the business shows up on Google Maps around its location, for the keywords that matter, and who takes the local pack where it does not.\n\n### How it works\n1. Every Monday the Schedule Trigger starts the workflow.\n2. The **Settings** node holds the business (name and city, Google Maps link or place ID), the keywords, the grid size and the spacing between points.\n3. The **Google Maps Rank Tracker** Actor on Apify (`plainrows/google-maps-rank-tracker`) searches Google Maps from every point of the grid and returns the rank at each point, plus one summary per keyword.\n4. A Code node keeps the summaries: one dated row per keyword with the average rank, the share of points in the top 3 (share of local voice), the points where the business ranks and the competitor ranked first most often.\n5. The rows are appended to the `Local rank` tab, so you can chart the trend week after week.\n\n### Requirements\n- An Apify account (free plan available, limited to 1 keyword and a 3x3 grid) and its API token.\n- A Google Sheets account and a spreadsheet with a `Local rank` tab.\n- The Apify node is the verified community node `@apify/n8n-nodes-apify` (available on n8n Cloud; on self-hosted n8n install it from Settings > Community nodes).\n\n### How to customize\n- Edit `business`, `keywords`, `gridSize` (3, 5, 7 or 9) and `gridSpacingKm` in **Settings**. A place ID is the surest way to name the business.\n- Keep the same grid and zoom from week to week to compare like with like.\n- Add a Slack message when the share of local voice drops below last week's.\n", "height": 760, "width": 520 }, "id": "ea5a32fb-597b-5cb9-9d83-ae93eca37be8", "name": "Description", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ -660, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "content": "### Setup\n1. In **Settings**, put the `business` (name and city, Google Maps link or place ID), the `keywords` (one per line, without the city), `gridSize` and `gridSpacingKm`.\n2. Add your Apify credential (free account at apify.com) to *Scan the grid*.\n3. Connect Google Sheets in *Append to sheet* and pick a spreadsheet with a `Local rank` tab.\n4. Run once by hand to check the rows.\n\n**Cost:** a price per grid point and keyword (see the Actor's Pricing tab); the node caps each run with *Maximum Cost per Run*.", "height": 340, "width": 420, "color": 7 }, "id": "6740fe63-7136-5baf-80f0-3865ece29191", "name": "Setup", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, -340 ] }, { "parameters": { "rule": { "interval": [ { "field": "weeks", "triggerAtDay": [ 1 ], "triggerAtHour": 7 } ] } }, "id": "24b89fa8-fbd4-555e-bc8b-738876528aff", "name": "Every Monday", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger", "typeVersion": 1.2, "position": [ 0, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "assignments": { "assignments": [ { "id": "b8de4aa9-892f-516c-9b09-319fdf429d54", "name": "business", "value": "Monmouth Coffee Company, Borough, London", "type": "string" }, { "id": "0b9dce08-7882-51e7-be17-a32b0bd2989e", "name": "keywords", "value": "coffee shop\nespresso", "type": "string" }, { "id": "ec9f5823-9190-5b10-9a7e-fb60b0ea9d4b", "name": "gridSize", "value": "5", "type": "string" }, { "id": "6313139f-15e7-5315-973c-82a93fd0329c", "name": "gridSpacingKm", "value": "1", "type": "string" }, { "id": "2db622b5-344d-5bc2-a658-007df0dc4348", "name": "country", "value": "GB", "type": "string" } ] }, "options": {} }, "id": "7204187c-a79b-5703-a282-14e27c4640e0", "name": "Settings", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set", "typeVersion": 3.4, "position": [ 220, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "resource": "Actors", "operation": "Run actor and get dataset", "actorId": "plainrows~google-maps-rank-tracker", "customBody": "={{ JSON.stringify({ business: $json.business, keywords: $json.keywords.split('\\n').map((k) => k.trim()).filter(Boolean), gridSize: String($json.gridSize), gridSpacingKm: String($json.gridSpacingKm), country: $json.country }) }}", "maxTotalChargeUsd": 1 }, "id": "f8972b9a-2905-579f-be24-ec1f7362ab91", "name": "Scan the grid", "type": "@apify/n8n-nodes-apify.apify", "typeVersion": 1, "position": [ 440, 120 ], "credentials": { "apifyApi": { "id": "", "name": "Apify account" } } }, { "parameters": { "jsCode": "// One dated row per keyword from the free summary rows; the per-point rows stay in the Apify dataset.\nconst week = new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10);\nreturn $input.all()\n .map((i) => i.json)\n .filter((r) => r.type === 'keyword-summary')\n .map((r) => ({\n json: {\n week,\n business: r.businessName,\n keyword: r.keyword,\n grid: `${r.gridSize}x${r.gridSize}, ${r.gridSpacingKm} km`,\n averageRankWhereFound: r.averageRankWhereFound,\n averageRankAllPoints: r.averageRankAllPoints,\n shareOfLocalVoiceTop3Pct: r.shareOfLocalVoiceTop3Pct,\n pointsFound: `${r.pointsFound}/${r.pointsTotal}`,\n topCompetitor: r.topCompetitor ? r.topCompetitor.name : '',\n },\n }));" }, "id": "ad303235-54e7-516e-a2c8-80df1441eeb9", "name": "One row per keyword", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [ 660, 120 ] }, { "parameters": { "operation": "append", "documentId": { "__rl": true, "value": "", "mode": "url" }, "sheetName": { "__rl": true, "value": "Local rank", "mode": "name" }, "columns": { "mappingMode": "autoMapInputData", "value": {}, "matchingColumns": [], "schema": [] }, "options": {} }, "id": "1a0caa66-661e-52f5-898e-74c32e3f5c86", "name": "Append to sheet", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleSheets", "typeVersion": 4.5, "position": [ 880, 120 ], "credentials": { "googleSheetsOAuth2Api": { "id": "", "name": "Google Sheets account" } } } ], "connections": { "Every Monday": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Settings", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Settings": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Scan the grid", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "Scan the grid": { "main": [ [ { "node": "One row per keyword", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] }, "One row per keyword": { "main": [ [ { "node": "Append to sheet", "type": "main", "index": 0 } ] ] } }, "pinData": {}, "settings": { "executionOrder": "v1" }, "meta": { "templateCredsSetupCompleted": false } }