Local Falcon Skill — Geogrid Trend Tracking and Campaign Measurement

LocalSEOData’s geogrid_scan endpoint gives you a point-in-time snapshot: where does this business rank right now, at each point across the service area? That answers the question of the moment. But it does not answer the questions that matter for ongoing management: Is the ranking getting better or worse? Did last month’s optimization work actually move anything? Which grid points improved and which ones did not?

The local-falcon-tool skill connects Claude to Local Falcon’s historical geogrid data, turning point-in-time snapshots into trend lines. When a strategy skill needs to understand ranking movement over time — not just current position — dispatch routes to Local Falcon.

What This Skill Does

The local-falcon-tool skill enables Claude to pull historical geogrid data from Local Falcon’s tracking campaigns, compare scans across time periods, calculate trend metrics (ARP, ATRP, SoLV changes over time), identify which grid points improved or declined, and correlate ranking changes with optimization actions.

Prompt: "Show me how our geogrid rankings for 'dentist Phoenix' have changed
over the last 3 months. Which areas improved and which declined?"

Skills fired: dispatch → geogrid-analysis + local-falcon-tool
Data pulled: Historical scan data for target keyword, 3-month trend

Output:
3-Month Geogrid Trend — "dentist Phoenix"
ARP: 4.8 → 3.2 (improved 1.6 positions)
ATRP: 5.1 → 3.4 (improved 1.7 positions)
SoLV: 34% → 52% (gained 18 points)

Grid point movement:
  Improved (12 points): Strongest gains in SW quadrant (+3.2 avg)
  Stable (8 points): Central cluster holding at #2-3
  Declined (5 points): NE corridor dropped 1.4 positions avg

NE decline correlates with new competitor "Bright Smile Dental"
opening at 44th St — they now hold #1 at 4 of 5 NE grid points.

When Dispatch Routes Here vs LocalSEOData

Dispatch sends geogrid requests to localseodata-tool by default. It routes to local-falcon-tool when:

The prompt asks about trends, changes, or progress over time (“how have rankings changed,” “show improvement since”)
The prompt references a specific time period (“last 3 months,” “since January”)
The prompt asks for campaign data or recurring scan results
The prompt references Local Falcon by name
The prompt asks for before/after comparison across a date range

If the prompt asks for a current geogrid scan with no time component, localseodata-tool handles it.

Tracking Campaigns and Measuring Optimization Impact

Local Falcon’s primary value is campaign-level tracking. You set up a keyword, a location, and a scan schedule. Local Falcon runs geogrids on that schedule and stores every scan. The skill accesses this full history.

Campaign measurement follows a before/after pattern. You run a GBP optimization — adding secondary categories, updating attributes, responding to reviews. Two weeks later, you pull the trend data to see if the optimization moved rankings at specific grid points.

Prompt: "We added 4 secondary categories to our GBP on March 1st.
Pull the Local Falcon trend data for 'plumber near me' in Buffalo
and show me what changed at each grid point since March 1st."

Skills fired: dispatch → geogrid-analysis + local-falcon-tool

Output:
Pre/Post Category Addition — "plumber near me" Buffalo
Baseline (Feb avg): ARP 5.4, SoLV 28%
Current (Mar 15-30): ARP 3.8, SoLV 41%

Grid points with significant improvement:
  Point (3,2): #7 → #3 — now eligible for "emergency plumber" queries
  Point (4,1): #6 → #2 — strongest single-point improvement
  Point (2,4): Not ranking → #5 — new visibility in NW corridor

No change at 6 points closest to business address (already #1-2).
Decline at 0 points.

This is the data that proves optimization value to clients. Not “we updated your categories” but “your rankings improved at 12 of 25 grid points within two weeks of the category update, with the strongest gains in areas where you were not previously visible.”

Long-Term Trajectory Reporting

For ongoing client engagements, Local Falcon provides the monthly trajectory data that feeds into reporting and retention conversations.

Prompt: "Pull the full ranking trajectory for Mountain View Dental since
we started working with them in September. Monthly ARP and SoLV."

Skills fired: dispatch → geogrid-analysis + local-falcon-tool
Endpoints: get_rankings (multiple dates), get_businesses

Output:
RANKING TRAJECTORY: Mountain View Dental
Keyword: "dentist Portland"
Campaign start: September 2025

Month     | ARP  | SoLV | Top 3 Coverage | Key Action
----------|------|------|----------------|------------------
Sep 2025  | 6.2  | 28%  | 18%            | Baseline scan
Oct 2025  | 5.8  | 32%  | 22%            | GBP optimization
Nov 2025  | 5.1  | 38%  | 29%            | Citation cleanup
Dec 2025  | 4.6  | 44%  | 35%            | Review campaign started
Jan 2026  | 4.1  | 49%  | 41%            | 30 new reviews added
Feb 2026  | 3.7  | 54%  | 47%            | Landing pages launched
Mar 2026  | 3.4  | 58%  | 52%            | Link building initiated

TREND: Consistent month-over-month improvement. Each initiative
contributed measurable gains. Current trajectory suggests top 3
coverage above 60% by May if link building sustains.

This trajectory data feeds directly into the client-deliverables and local-reporting skills for monthly reports and retention conversations.

The Metrics: ARP, ATRP, and SoLV Over Time

The geogrid-analysis strategy skill interprets these metrics. The local-falcon-tool skill provides the historical data that makes trend analysis possible.

ARP (Average Rank Position) is the mean ranking across all grid points. Useful as a single-number summary but masks geographic variation. A business ranking #1 at half their grid points and #20 at the other half has an ARP of about 10 — which looks mediocre despite strong local dominance.

ATRP (Average Top Rank Position) adjusts for positions beyond the local pack. Positions 1-3 are the local pack. Position 4+ means you are in the local finder but not the pack. ATRP weights pack positions differently from finder positions, giving a more accurate picture of true visibility.

SoLV (Share of Local Voice) measures what percentage of the grid your business dominates. A SoLV of 60% means you hold a top-3 position at 60% of the grid points. This is the metric that best captures geographic market share and is the most intuitive number for client communication.

Tracking all three together reveals the nature of improvement:

ARP improves, SoLV flat — Getting slightly better in existing zones, not expanding reach
SoLV improves, ARP flat — Entering new zones at lower positions
Both improve — Broad improvement across the service area (the goal)

Campaign Configuration

Setting up Local Falcon campaigns through the skill:

Prompt: "Set up a Local Falcon campaign for Valley Plumbing:
- Keywords: 'plumber Phoenix', 'emergency plumber Phoenix'
- Grid: 7x7
- Radius: 12 miles from business location
- Frequency: Weekly"

Skills fired: dispatch → local-falcon-tool
Action: Campaign creation via Local Falcon API

Configuration decisions that matter:

Grid size: 5x5 (25 points) for routine monitoring of small service areas. 7x7 (49 points) for most local businesses — enough resolution to identify quadrant-level patterns. 9x9 (81 points) for large service areas or multi-location businesses needing fine-grained geographic data.

Keywords: Track 2-4 keywords per campaign. The primary money keyword plus 1-2 high-intent variants. Too many keywords creates noise and increases cost without proportional insight.

Scan frequency: Weekly during active optimization when you are making changes and want to see their impact. Monthly for maintenance monitoring after rankings stabilize. Switching from weekly to monthly once targets are hit saves significant budget.

Radius: Match the realistic service area. Scanning 20 miles around a neighborhood business wastes budget on grid points where the business will never rank. Match the radius to where customers actually come from.

When to Use Local Falcon vs LocalSEOData

Scenario	Use This
One-time geogrid diagnostic	localseodata-tool (`geogrid_scan`)
Current-state ranking snapshot	localseodata-tool (`geogrid_scan`)
Ranking trends over 30-90 days	local-falcon-tool
Before/after optimization comparison	local-falcon-tool
Monthly client reporting with trend data	local-falcon-tool
Automated recurring scans	local-falcon-tool
Ad-hoc scan for a prospect call	localseodata-tool (`geogrid_scan`)
Campaign ROI measurement	local-falcon-tool

Both tools produce geogrid data. The difference is time. LocalSEOData answers “where do we rank now?” Local Falcon answers “how has that changed?”

The two tools are complementary, not competitive. LocalSEOData is the audit tool. Local Falcon is the monitoring tool. Many practitioners use both: LocalSEOData for initial assessment and ad-hoc scans, Local Falcon for ongoing tracking of key keywords.

Connecting Local Falcon to LocalSEOSkills

Local Falcon account with API access from LocalFalcon.com
API key from Local Falcon dashboard under Settings then API
In Claude Code, add the MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localfalcon": {
      "url": "https://api.localfalcon.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code
Verify connection:

List my Local Falcon businesses and active campaigns.

Set up your first campaign and wait for at least two scan cycles before requesting trend data. Trends require multiple data points — a single scan gives a snapshot, not a trajectory.

Get Started

Pull my Local Falcon campaign data for [keyword] and show me
the ranking trend over the last 30 days with ARP, ATRP, and SoLV.

If you have an active Local Falcon campaign with scan history, this pulls the trajectory data immediately. If you do not have a campaign set up yet, start with LocalSEOData’s geogrid_scan for point-in-time data while you configure tracking.

Learn More

To learn what this skill can do for your local SEO workflow, see the skill overview.