## **🔍 Why Your Heatmap Shows 20+ for a #1-Ranked Site**

If your site ranks **#1** for a branded term but your heatmap displays a position of **20 or higher**, the most common cause in multilingual markets is **language mixing in Google's search results**.

In regions like Lebanon, Google serves a blended SERP — combining Arabic-language and English-language results based on the user's language settings, device locale, and search history. When a heatmap tool scans grid points across a geographic area, it simulates searches from different virtual users who may have different language preferences. The tool then **averages the position data** across all those simulated results — including both language variants — which can dramatically inflate the reported ranking number.

For example, if your English-language site ranks **#1** in English-language SERPs but does not appear in the top 20 of Arabic-language SERPs for the same query, the heatmap may average those results to show a position around **10–20+**, even though your actual English-language visibility is excellent.

## **🌐 How Google Mixes Languages in Multilingual Markets**

Google personalizes search results based on several signals:

- **Browser and device language settings** — a user with Arabic as their primary language will see more Arabic results.
- **Google account language preference** — signed-in users receive results tuned to their account's language.
- **Regional search trends** — in Lebanon, both Arabic and English queries are common for the same topics, so Google often blends results.
- **Query language** — even an English-language query typed by an Arabic-preferring user may return a mixed SERP.

This means two users in the same city searching the same branded term can see completely different result sets depending on their language settings. Heatmap tools that do not lock to a specific language will capture this variation and reflect it in averaged position data.

## **📊 How Heatmap Tools Average Positions Across Language Variants**

Heatmap ranking tools place virtual grid points across a geographic area and simulate a search from each point. Unless a specific language or locale is pinned, the tool uses a default or mixed-language query environment. The result is:

- Grid points where English results dominate → your site shows **#1**.
- Grid points where Arabic results dominate → your site may not appear in the top 20.
- The heatmap displays an **average or blended position** across all grid points, hiding your true English-language performance.

This is not a data error — it is an accurate reflection of the **full multilingual SERP landscape**. However, it can be misleading if you are only trying to measure performance for one language segment.

## **⚙️ How to Filter Reports by Language to Isolate Rankings**

To get an accurate picture of your English-only or Arabic-only rankings in Search Atlas, follow these steps:

1. Go to **Left sidebar → Keywords** to open the Keyword Researcher tool.
2. When setting up or editing a keyword tracking project, locate the **Language** and **Location** settings.
3. Set the **language to English** (or Arabic, depending on the segment you want to isolate) and confirm the location is set to **Lebanon**.
4. Save the configuration and allow the tool to re-pull ranking data under those specific parameters.
5. Compare the language-specific report against your blended report to identify the gap caused by multilingual SERP mixing.

Running **two separate keyword tracking configurations** — one for English, one for Arabic — is the most reliable method for markets like Lebanon where both languages are actively served by Google.

## **🏷️ Branded vs. Non-Branded Rankings in Multilingual Markets**

Branded terms behave differently from non-branded terms in multilingual SERPs:

- **Branded terms** — your site typically dominates English-language SERPs for your own brand name. However, if Arabic-language pages about your brand are thin or absent, Arabic-preferring users may not see you at all, pulling down blended heatmap averages.
- **Non-branded terms** — competition is higher in both languages, so multilingual mixing has a less dramatic visible effect on your reported position.

If your heatmap shows a poor average position for a branded term, it is a strong signal that your site has **low visibility in Arabic-language SERPs**, even if your English-language ranking is perfect. Consider whether adding Arabic-language content or hreflang tags could improve your Arabic SERP presence.

## **🇱🇧 Troubleshooting Steps for Lebanon-Specific SEO Tracking**

1. **Confirm your tracking language settings** — in the Keywords section, verify that your project is set to the correct language (English or Arabic) and location (Lebanon).
2. **Run a manual Google search** — open an incognito window, go to **google.com.lb**, and search your branded term in both English and Arabic to compare raw SERP results.
3. **Check hreflang implementation** — if your site has both English and Arabic versions, confirm that hreflang tags correctly signal the language and region to Google (`en-LB` and `ar-LB`).
4. **Create separate heatmap scans per language** — set one scan to English/Lebanon and another to Arabic/Lebanon to get clean, language-isolated position data.
5. **Review your Google Search Console data** — filter by country (Lebanon) and check impressions and average position split by query language to validate what Search Atlas is reporting.
6. **Monitor over time** — multilingual SERP blending can shift seasonally as user language behavior changes. Track both language segments weekly for the most reliable trend data.

## **💡 Key Takeaways**

- A heatmap showing **20+ positions** while you rank **#1** for branded terms is almost always caused by multilingual SERP averaging, not a tracking error.
- In Lebanon, Google actively mixes Arabic and English results, and heatmap tools capture this blended reality.
- Filtering your reports by a single language in the Keywords tool gives you accurate, actionable data.
- Running parallel tracking projects — one per language — is best practice for any multilingual market.

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.