✦ Task type · Research and checks
Local search checks from people actually in the city
Your own search results are personalised, located and logged in. Whatever you are looking at, it is not what a stranger in Manchester sees, and no incognito window fixes that.
Local search is the clearest case of a question you cannot answer from your own desk. Every signal that personalises a result is a signal you cannot switch off convincingly.
What to put in the public brief
- The country and cities you need
- That screenshots are required
- Roughly how many searches
- Whether they need to be on mobile, desktop, or either
Keep the brand name and the exact search terms private. A public brief naming both tells anyone reading the marketplace which brand is worried about which query.
What to put in the private instructions
Give the exact search terms, one per line
Paraphrasing changes results, so leave no room for it.
Say whether to search logged out
And on which device. "Logged out, on mobile, from your usual connection" is a repeatable condition; "search normally" is not.
Ask for the full visible screen, not a rank
Screenshot the map pack and the first screen of results. A worker reporting "you are third" has already interpreted; a screenshot lets you interpret yourself.
Ask for their city and rough neighbourhood
Local results vary within a city, and a result from one suburb is not the city's result.
Proof worth requiring
Ask for
Screenshots of each search, plus the city, the device and the time. Time matters more here than in most tasks, because local results move through the day.
Do not ask for
Any interaction with the listings. Clicks, calls and direction requests are ranking signals, and a campaign that generates them is manipulating the thing it was meant to measure.
When this task type is the wrong tool
If you want ongoing rank monitoring, a rank-tracking tool is cheaper and more consistent, and this is the wrong shape for it. Use this when you need to see the actual screen once, in places you cannot reach.
If what you need is a visit rather than a search, that is a mystery shopping brief and it prices differently.
Common questions
Why can I not just use a VPN?
A VPN moves your apparent IP and nothing else. Search personalisation also runs on account history, device signals and precise location, so a VPN result is a fourth thing that is neither your view nor theirs. The only reliable way to see local results is for someone local to look.
What reward is fair?
Four to ten dollars for a handful of searches with screenshots. Raise it for cities where few workers are registered, because scarcity, not effort, sets the price on geographically constrained tasks.
How many cities should I cover?
Start with the three where the result matters commercially and one where you believe you are already fine. The control city is what tells you whether a bad result is a local problem or a general one.
Can they check competitor rankings too?
Yes, and it is usually worth the extra minute. Ask for the full visible results rather than a rank number, because the number is an interpretation and the screenshot is evidence.
Thinking of taking this task?
The same job, from the other side. Rewards are set by the poster, so treat these as the range this task type usually sits in rather than a promise.
- Usually pays
- $4 to $10
- You need
- To live in the city being checked, and a phone
- Proof expected
- Screenshots of each search with your city and the time
Do not click, call or request directions from the listings. Those are ranking signals, and interacting would corrupt the thing the poster is measuring.
Create a worker accountCheck your local results
Set the reward and the cities you need covered. Workers in those places reserve a spot; the brand and search terms stay private until they do.
Post this task