What is a search result heat map and how does it inform strategy?
A search result heat map plots every priority keyword against every geography, coloring each cell by SERP composition, green where owned and friendly content dominates, red where negative content concentrates, yellow where it is mixed, with a week-over-week temporal layer that tells the account team where to direct the next month's effort.
A search result heat map visualizes ranking exposure across keywords, geographies, and time. It shows where positive content is concentrated, where negative content clusters, and where the program’s next intervention should go, making it one of IMPACT™’s most useful diagnostic views.
How the heat map is built
For each tracked client, every priority keyword is plotted against every geography, with cell color indicating SERP composition:
- Green, owned and friendly content dominates the result page.
- Red, negative content concentrates and needs attention.
- Yellow, the picture is mixed.
A temporal layer adds week-over-week movement, so a deteriorating market shows up before it becomes a problem and an improving one validates the program’s interventions.
How it informs strategy
The output is operational: the heat map tells the account team where to direct the next month’s effort. Two patterns recur:
- Geographic concentration of negative content often points to a single contested source that needs targeted work.
- Keyword concentration points to a missing piece of authoritative content.
Five Blocks clients see the heat map in monthly reporting, alongside the underlying data.
Last reviewed: 19/05/2026
