Research
The Digital Handshake Local Search Index
A quarterly read of Google's local results in Metro Vancouver, built from live search data rather than opinion. What the Map Pack, the AI answers, and seasonal demand actually looked like.
The Digital Handshake Local Search Index is a free quarterly report. Each edition re-runs the same commercial queries from the same five Metro Vancouver cities. It records what the Map Pack and the AI Overviews contained. It pairs that with five years of demand data for twelve trades. The numbers are distributions, not a directory: how many reviews it took to hold a pack seat, how often an AI answer showed, which month each trade peaks. It is written to be checked and cited.
Attribute figures to the Digital Handshake Local Search Index with the edition date, and link to the edition page. Journalists and researchers can ask for the underlying query list through the contact page.
Editions
Reports
Next edition: Q4 2026.
Why we publish this
A local business owner deciding what to do next is better served by an honest read of the market than by another vendor claim. That includes reporting where our own site is not yet cited. Every finding is something the owner can check with the same searches. That is the trade we are comfortable making.
For the method behind the sampling grid, see how the geo-grid works. For your own version of the review-gap finding, the free Map Pack audit produces it for your industry and area.
Next step
Get your market's numbers, not the metro average.
The free Map Pack audit runs the same kind of grid these reports are built on, for your industry and your service area.
Or call 778-200-8644 · One client per industry, per area. No guaranteed rankings.