Great Gateway

Are customers finding you in local search? Let’s find out.

A note from Gregory Gorin, CEO

I want to show you what a nearby customer sees on their phone. You know your stores better than anyone, and I can add the one view you cannot get from behind the counter. A customer nearby picks from the few businesses Google shows them; a store they don't see isn't one they can choose. We go and look, and show you in pictures.

Request my free audit

Google AI Mode

“Best dispensary near your neighborhood”

… nearby options include Northside, which has in-store pickup, then Rival A and Rival B …

Named

  • Directory
  • Review site
  • Northside's site

Also asked

  • Google AI Mode
  • ChatGPT
  • Perplexity

Do this first

Example: a fictional store

Northside is in the Google Maps top three at 28 of 81 points, but among the three businesses above the search results at only 10 of 81 points.

Give each store its own page, and point each store's Google listing at its own page.

Logos belong to their owners. They identify the systems measured and imply no affiliation.

The map.

We run the same near-me search, as a phone, from 81 points half a mile apart around each store we scan, once on Google Maps and once on the Google Search page. They are different rankings. A store can hold the top three on Maps for blocks around and still be missing from the three businesses above the search results.

We scan only while the store is open.

Google Maps

Top three at 28 of 81 points

19201641610179894671912322223141893312233873111239993111361874513356131812667371418161117765N0½1 mileNorthside

Northside: Google Maps shows the store in the top three at 28 of 81 points.

On the Google Search page, the three businesses above the search results include Northside at 10 of 81 points.

  • First, second or third
  • Listed, fourth or lower
  • Not listed
  • The store

Fictional example store. Not client data. A drawn plan, not a real place.

The AI assistants.

Customers also ask AI assistants where to go. We put the questions a nearby customer would ask to Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity, and record whether the answer names your store or cites your site, and what it cites instead.

How each is asked: Google AI Mode through Google's search results, ChatGPT by asking the live product through a scraper, and Perplexity through its Sonar API.

Named means the answer says the store's name or cites its site. It does not mean the answer recommends you.

Google AI Mode

“Best dispensary near your neighborhood”

… nearby options include Northside, which has in-store pickup, then Rival A and Rival B …

Named

  • Directory
  • Review site
  • Northside's site

Questions a nearby customer asks, by system

Google AI ModeChatGPTPerplexity
Best dispensary near your neighborhoodNamedNot namedNamed
Dispensary open late in your cityNot namedNot namedNo usable answer
Where can I buy edibles near meNamedNot askedNot asked
Where to buy pre-rolls in your cityNot namedNot askedNot asked

Sources the answers cited: two cannabis directories, a local news list, a review site. Your own site: once.

Logos belong to their owners. They identify the systems measured and imply no affiliation.

Named in 3 of 8 answers. ChatGPT: 0 of 2.

Not every system gets every question; the report prints how many answers each figure rests on.

  • Named
  • Not named
  • No usable answer
  • The store's name, where the answer has it
  • The store's own site, cited

Fictional example store. Not client data.

Who outranks you.

Where you are not first, someone else is. At every point on the map we record which business holds first place, and we compare your reviews with the businesses that showed up on your own scan, not with a national average.

Reviews are compared only with rivals on that same set of points.

First place on Google Maps, of the 81 points

  • Northside7 of 81
  • Rival A27 of 81
  • Rival B18 of 81
  • Rival C29 of 81

Each track is all 81 points.

Reviews, against the businesses on the same map

  • Northside214 reviews, 4.4 stars
  • Rival A1,290 reviews, 4.6 stars
  • Rival B640 reviews, 4.7 stars
  • Rival C380 reviews, 4.3 stars

Bars scale to the largest. Rivals: the businesses on Northside's own scan.

Northside is first at 7 of 81 points. Rival A: 27 of 81.

Rival B is first at 18 and Rival C at 29. Reviews are compared only with rivals on that same set of points.

  • Northside
  • Another business on the same scan

Fictional example store. Not client data.

Your website.

We read up to 40 pages of your site. We also open the menu the way a customer does, and again without the scripts that fill it in. If the products only appear after those scripts run, an assistant sees almost none of them. We also check how fast pages load on a phone, the titles, whether Google can list the pages, and whether each store has a page of its own.

The audit names itself to your site, follows your robots.txt, the public file that says which pages a visitor may read, and keeps to two requests at a time. It passes a public age gate the way a visitor would, and the report says so.

In a browser

1,140 words, 46 products

As an assistant reads it

96 words, 0 products

  • The products live in a menu widget, so they are not in the page the assistant can read.

    Failed, High

  • Riverside has no page of its own; its Google listing links to the home page.

    Failed, High

  • Location pages are slow to finish loading on a phone.

    Failed, Medium

  • Eleven page titles repeat the same words.

    Failed, Low

The menu page: 1,140 words in a browser, 96 as an assistant reads it.

46 products in a browser, none for the assistant. Four checks failed, most serious first.

  • One rule: 250 words read
  • A product on the menu
  • Nothing to read
  • A failed check
  • Severity: high, medium, low

Fictional example store. Not client data.

The one thing to fix first.

Every finding is ordered by how serious it is, then by the weight we give that kind of finding. The report opens on the top one, with its first step, so you know where to start without reading the rest.

Do this first

Northside is in the Google Maps top three at 28 of 81 points, but among the three businesses above the search results at only 10 of 81 points. Riverside has no page of its own for Google to send people to.

First step: give each store its own page with its address, hours and phone in the text, and point each store's Google listing at its own page.

Fictional example store. Not client data.

Request my free audit

You get it three ways.

The film you receive shows the site being read, each store found, the map scanned point by point, and each AI question asked. The loop here is a sample: the site, one answer, and the findings in order.

In a browser As an assistantreads it Google AI Mode “Best dispensary nearyour neighborhood” … nearby options includeNorthside, which has in-store pickup … Named What to fix, in order Menu unreadableNo Riverside pageSlow on phonesTitles repeat Northside Fictional example store Reading the site.Up to 40 pages, in a browser and as an assistant reads them.The menu: 1,140 words in a browser,96 as an assistant reads it.46 products in a browser, none for the assistant.Asked “Best dispensary near yourneighborhood”: named.Google AI Mode, one of eight answers.What to fix, most serious first.First step: give each store its own page.

The film

Played on the call, as each store is measured.

The web report

Opens on the one finding that matters most, then every finding in order, store by store, with the evidence behind each.

Opens on the first fix.

The PDF

The same report on US Letter pages, with bookmarks for each section, to forward to a partner or print for a meeting.

To forward or print.

What it will not do.

It will not promise rankings, traffic or sales, and nobody honest can. The weights we use, and what we count as a pass, are our own judgment, and the report says so. Anything we could not measure on the day is marked unmeasured, never counted as a pass.

If the audit is useful, I would like to help you fix what it finds. If it is not, you keep the report.

Gregory Gorin CEO, Great Gateway

Request my free audit

Questions owners ask.

Do you need a login to my site or my Google account?
No. The audit reads your public site and public search results. Your website address is enough.
Will anything on my site change?
No. The audit only reads public pages, the way a visitor would. Nothing on your site changes.
Does the audit or the call cost anything?
No. Both are free, with no obligation.
Do I keep the report?
Yes. The web report and the PDF are yours to keep, whether or not you work with us afterwards.
I have one store. Is it for me?
Yes. The audit works store by store, so one store is enough. For groups, the AI questions cover up to six stores, and the report names any store it left out.
How is my information used?
What you type here is how we reach you to set up the audit. Our privacy policy says how we handle it.

Request your free audit.

Tell us where to look. We run it live and walk you through what it finds.

The public address is enough. You do not need a login.

No cost and no obligation. Privacy policy. Or email hello@greatgateway.io

What happens next

  1. We read your site and find your stores. Up to 40 pages of your public site. We work out which addresses are stores and match each to its Google listing. Nothing on your site changes.
  2. We scan the map while you're open. Each store is scanned from its own set of points during its opening hours. The AI questions go to Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity for up to six stores.
  3. The audit runs live. The film plays as each store is measured, and the web report and the PDF are ready when it finishes.
  4. We walk you through it. A call to go through what the audit found and the one thing to fix first.

Every store we scan gets its own map scan. The AI questions cover up to six stores; if your group has more, the report names the stores left out.