Straight answers.
The questions owners ask before and after their first scan.
- Is the free scan really free, and really complete?
- Yes and yes. Up to three searches per business a month, each a full 5×5 scan with the interactive map, who beats you where, and your fixes. No email asked, no score withheld, and it doesn't expire into a paywall. The paid plans sell the watching — re-scans on a schedule and alerts — never your own results.
- How accurate is it?
- Each point is a real, anonymous Google Maps search from that coordinate — the same method professional rank trackers use. Google personalizes, so two people at one corner can see slightly different packs; treat one point as a reading and the whole map as the truth. Re-scans show what actually moved.
- Why does my own front door show #1 but not count?
- The grid's center point sits on your business. Standing at distance zero, Google Maps shows the place you're standing in first — so nearly every business is #1 at its own door for nearly any keyword. Cairn measures it and shows it (click your marker on the map), but none of the numbers include it. Map share and the counts are over the 24 points across the city.
- What does the “—” in a red area mean?
- You weren't in the top 100 results at that point. Not ranked low — not shown. Click the area and you'll see the five businesses that were.
- Where does it work?
- Anywhere Google Maps works. The map draws real city and neighborhood boundaries from OpenStreetMap wherever they exist (and Census data for Denver, home); where a place has no mapped neighborhoods, it shows the scan's own cells on the street map instead. Keyword volume and search language are US-English first.
- Where does the data come from?
- Public Google search results and public Google Business Profile listings, through a licensed search-data provider. Cairn never logs into your Google account and never needs to: it reads only what your customers see.
- Does Cairn use AI to write my fixes?
- No. Every fix is a deterministic check against something measured — your listing's real categories, its claim status, review recency, the review counts of the businesses winning your areas, the scan itself. If a check can't run, it stays silent. Pro's fix packs use AI to draft longer how-to guidance, and say so.
- Can I scan a competitor?
- You can scan any listing, since it reads only public data. Most owners scan themselves first — that's the map that's going to change.
- How often should I scan?
- After you make a fix, give Google a week or two, then look again. That's exactly what Watch and Pro (weekly) do for you, and they tell you only when something needs attention.
- What does “watching” include?
- Your map re-scanned on schedule; your categories, name field, review count and recency, and photo freshness re-read; the businesses winning your areas tracked. A plain-English note when something changes that matters.
- Month to month?
- Yes. Annual is 20% off if you'd rather. No countdown, no expiring offer.
See your own map.
Free, complete, about a minute. No email asked.