## **🗺️ Overview: Two Separate but Complementary Features**

Search Atlas offers two distinct tools that are often confused with one another: the **Site Analysis** feature for prospecting, and **Local SEO Heatmaps** for tracking local search visibility. This article explains what each tool does, how to access it, and how they work together.

## **🔍 What Is the Site Analysis Feature?**

The Site Analysis feature is designed to help you — or your potential clients — quickly evaluate the SEO health of any website before committing to a service engagement. It provides a high-level snapshot of key on-site and off-site metrics, making it a powerful tool for agency prospecting and client onboarding conversations.

With Site Analysis, you can review data such as:

- Domain authority and backlink profile
- Organic keyword rankings and estimated traffic
- On-page SEO signals and technical issues
- Competitor comparisons at a glance

To access Site Analysis, go to **Left sidebar → Site Metrics (Site Explorer)** (URL: **/site-explorer/list**). From there, enter any domain to pull a full report. You can share insights from this view directly with prospects during discovery calls or proposals.

## **📍 What Are Local SEO Heatmaps?**

Local SEO Heatmaps are a separate feature focused on **geographic search visibility**. They show you how a business ranks for specific keywords across different locations on a map grid — invaluable for businesses targeting customers in a defined service area.

Heatmaps answer questions like:

- Does this business appear in the Google local pack near its address?
- How does visibility change block by block across a city?
- Which areas need the most local SEO improvement?

Local SEO Heatmaps are set up and managed independently from Site Analysis. They are not embedded within the Site Analysis report — you configure them as a standalone workflow, typically after a prospect becomes an active client and you have defined their target keywords and service area.

## **⚙️ How to Set Up a Local SEO Heatmap**

1. Navigate to **Local → Local SEO Heatmaps** in the left sidebar.
2. Click **Create New Heatmap**.
3. Enter the business name, address, and the target keyword you want to track.
4. Set your grid size — this determines how wide an area the heatmap will scan around the business location.
5. Click **Save**. Results typically populate within a few minutes.
6. Review the color-coded grid: **green** indicates strong local rankings, **red** indicates weak or no visibility for that keyword in that location.

You can create multiple heatmaps per client — one for each target keyword or service area. This lets you track progress over time as your local SEO efforts take effect.

## **💡 Can Prospects View Heatmaps During Site Analysis?**

No — Local SEO Heatmaps are **not available within the Site Analysis tool**. They are a separate feature and are not displayed as part of a prospect's initial site report. Here is a quick summary of how both tools fit into a typical agency workflow:

- **Before becoming a client:** Use **Site Analysis** (via Site Explorer) to audit a prospect's domain, identify SEO gaps, and build a compelling proposal.
- **After onboarding:** Set up **Local SEO Heatmaps** to establish a baseline for local visibility and begin tracking ranking improvements by location.

This two-stage approach ensures prospects receive a meaningful overview of their SEO situation upfront, while deeper local tracking tools are activated once an active project is underway.

## **✅ Quick Reference Summary**

- **Site Analysis** — domain-level SEO audit, accessible at **/site-explorer/list**, ideal for prospecting.
- **Local SEO Heatmaps** — geographic ranking visualisation, set up separately under **Local → Local SEO Heatmaps**, ideal for active local campaigns.
- The two features work together across the client lifecycle but are **not combined in a single view**.

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.