🧭 Overview
When you map keywords like Roofer near me and Roofer Vero Beach in Search Atlas, you may notice they produce different scores even though they seem to target the same service. This is expected behavior. The two keywords carry different geographic intent signals, and their scores reflect your actual SEO coverage across each intent type — not a configuration error on your part.
📊 Why 'Roofer Near Me' and 'Roofer Vero Beach' Score Differently
These two keywords are not identical in the eyes of search engines, even though both relate to roofing services in the same area.
- Proximity keywords (e.g., Roofer near me) are resolved dynamically based on the searcher's real-time location. Search engines evaluate your business's proximity to that location, your Google Business Profile signals, and local pack visibility.
- Location-specific keywords (e.g., Roofer Vero Beach) are evaluated against geo-targeted content relevance, on-page optimization, and backlinks mentioning that city or region.
Because each keyword type draws on different ranking factors, your site is likely stronger in one area than the other. A lower score on either keyword is a signal of an SEO coverage gap, not a problem with how you set up the map.
📏 How Radius Expansion Affects Keyword Scoring
When you expand your radius to 20 miles or more, Search Atlas plots a wider grid of geographic data points around your target location. Each point is scored individually based on how well your business ranks from that location for the mapped keyword.
It is common to see lower average scores at larger radiuses. This happens because:
- Points farther from your business address tend to return weaker local rankings.
- Competitor businesses located closer to those outer points will outrank you there.
- Your Google Business Profile authority decreases with distance from your verified location.
A dropping score as you expand radius is not a sign that something is misconfigured. It is accurate data telling you where your local SEO coverage fades out — and where you have room to grow.
🌊 Ocean Point Handling at 20+ Mile Radiuses
If your business is near a coastline — such as Vero Beach, Florida — a wide radius will include data points that fall over water. This is a known behavior when working with coastal locations.
Here is how to manage it:
- Navigate to Left sidebar → Local → Overview and open your keyword map project.
- Review the grid overlay on the map. Points appearing over ocean or water areas will return no ranking data, which can skew your average score downward.
- Reduce your radius or adjust the center pin of your map slightly inland to shift the grid away from water coverage.
- Alternatively, use a custom grid shape if available in your project settings to exclude non-relevant geographic areas.
Excluding ocean points from your visible grid gives you a more accurate picture of your true land-based coverage and prevents empty data points from artificially lowering your score averages.
🎯 When to Use Proximity Keywords vs. Location-Specific Keywords
Choosing the right keyword type for your map depends on what you want to measure and improve.
- Use proximity keywords (near me variants) to track how well you appear when someone searches without typing a city name. This reflects your Google Business Profile strength and proximity authority. These are high-intent, high-conversion searches.
- Use location-specific keywords (city or neighborhood name included) to track content relevance and organic ranking in a defined area. These are useful when you serve multiple cities and want to measure reach in each one.
- Use both together when you want a complete picture of local visibility. A gap between your proximity score and your location-specific score highlights whether your issue is with proximity signals, content relevance, or both.
🗂️ Managing Duplicate Keyword Maps
If you have created separate maps for Roofer near me and Roofer Vero Beach, you may end up with overlapping projects that are harder to compare. Follow these steps to keep your maps organized:
- Go to Left sidebar → Local → Overview and review your active keyword map projects.
- Identify any maps that cover the same service category but use different keyword types.
- Consolidate where possible by grouping proximity and location-specific variants under a single project or labeling them clearly so you can compare scores side by side.
- Archive or delete maps you no longer need to keep your dashboard clean and reduce confusion when reviewing score trends.
Keeping your keyword maps well-organized makes it easier to spot patterns — such as strong proximity rankings but weak city-specific rankings — and take targeted action to close those gaps.
✅ Quick Reference: Score Interpretation Guide
- High proximity score, low location-specific score: Your Google Business Profile is strong, but your on-page and content signals for that city need improvement.
- High location-specific score, low proximity score: Your content targets the city well, but your GBP authority or distance-based signals may need attention.
- Scores drop as radius increases: Normal behavior — indicates the outer boundary of your current local SEO reach.
- Score drop near coastline: Likely caused by ocean data points — adjust your map center or reduce radius to exclude water areas.
💬 Need More Help?
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.