Here are some common questions and answers about Scout.
How does Scout scan locations to rank them against competitors?
Scout scans each location and the surrounding competitors using keywords that match the location’s brand name and Primary Categories in the Yext Knowledge Graph. Scout picks a point within an approximately 2 mile radius of the location and scans surrounding competitors, allowing for an accurate representation of nearby competition regardless of zip code or other geographical factors.
Then, Scout captures the top 20 Google search results or top 10 AI search results (depending on the metric being measured) to get detailed information on competitors. If the location is ranked among the top search results, it is compared against the other top competitors. If it is not ranked in the top results, it is compared against all competitors.
Does Scout use any PII or other personal information to gather data?
No, Scout does not use any PII or other personal information to scan locations and gather data. Scout uses brand name, location, and the location's primary category to generate relevant keywords and search for publicly available information.
How often are scores updated?
Monthly
Is there historical data to track performance over time?
Not currently
What does a “neutral” sentiment mean?
A neutral sentiment means the AI engine returned a lot of objective information about your brand that was neither favorable nor unfavorable.
What sources are used to determine sentiment? (Yelp, Google reviews, social media, etc)
Each AI model has its own method for finding information on the internet, processing it, and returning it as answers to questions. Typically, they use a mix of sources like customer reviews, social media sites, business listings sites, and the brand's own website. After the AI model provides an answer, an LLM determines whether the language in an answer was positive, neutral, or negative.
What AI models are scanned?
Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity
How does Scout determine what actions to recommend?
Scout scans each metric for each location and compares the metric value against top competitors. If the value is off the benchmark value by more than 10%, Scout generates an action.
Can I dismiss or resolve actions?
Not currently
Does marking an action as Done have any effect on future data or the behavior of the tool?
Not currently
Why is my location marked as “unranked”?
Your location did not appear in the top 40 results for Google rank or in the top 10 results for AI rank.
What should I do if a location’s data looks incorrect?
Please contact Yext support.
Is there a way to export data or share it with other people?
You can export Visibility Report data to a CSV file by clicking the download icon in the upper right of the screen, or you can click Copy URL to clipboard icon in the upper right corner to share that page with a team member. The team member must have Scout access in order to open the URL. You can also export the Benchmark table to a CSV file in the Visibility Report view.
Is Scout available internationally?
Currently, Scout is only available for US-based locations.
How far back do you track “per month” metrics? (New reviews per month, Google Social Posts Per Month, etc)
In general, this data goes back 12 months. For reviews, there is a limit of 1,000 reviews per location over a year. So, if a location has more than 1,000 reviews in the past twelve months, Scout only captures data for the first 1,000 reviews.
How are benchmark values calculated against competitors?
Benchmarks are local to each entity. For each entity, Scout performs a Google search, and the benchmark for any given metric is the average score on that metric for the businesses that ranked 1-5 in the search results.
Why is the “Below Benchmark” average sometimes higher than the “Above Benchmark” average?
Benchmarks are set by each location’s local market average. So, a location in a high-review market like Los Angeles can be “below benchmark” with many reviews, while a location in a lower-review market like Sacramento can be “above benchmark” with fewer reviews. As a result, the “Below Benchmark” group can have a higher average than the “Above Benchmark” group.
How does Scout determine what my location's local page URL is?
Scout scans the website URL in the Listing.