You pull out your phone and search "funeral home near me."

There you are. Number one. You smile and put your phone away, confident families can find you.

Here's the problem: you just lied to yourself.

That top ranking you see? It's fake. Google customized those results based on your search history, your location, and dozens of other factors tied to your phone. What you're seeing has almost nothing to do with what grieving families see when they need help.

And while you think you're dominating your market, families in half your service area are calling your competitors instead.

The Mistake Almost Every Funeral Director Makes

Most funeral directors check their Google ranking the exact same way: they pull out their phone, search for their business, and feel good when they see themselves near the top.

This is like checking your bank balance by guessing. It feels productive, but the information is worthless.

Here's what's actually happening when you search for yourself:

Google knows it's you. Your phone has searched for your business dozens or hundreds of times. You've probably clicked on your own website. Maybe you've called your own number to test it.

Google sees all this activity and thinks, "This person really likes this funeral home. Let's show it to them first."

So you get bumped to the top. Not because you rank well. Because Google is trying to be helpful.

Meanwhile, a family searching from across town sees completely different results. They might not see you at all.

The Real Way to Check Your Funeral Home Ranking

Want to know where you actually rank? Here's how to check properly:

Open incognito mode on your phone first.This prevents Google from using your search history to customize results. On iPhone, use a private tab in Safari. On Android, use incognito mode in Chrome.

Ask a friend or colleague in a nearby neighborhood to search.Have them pull out their phone and search for funeral services from their location. Compare what they see to what you see. You might be shocked by the difference.

Search from different locations. Drive to different areas you serve and search from there. Each neighborhood might show completely different results.

Check multiple neighborhoods where you serve families. If you serve three cities, check all three. Don't assume strong ranking in one area means you rank well everywhere.

Use ranking tools to track automatically. Services like BrightLocal or Whitespark show you exactly where you rank across your entire service area without manual checking.

The difference between thinking you rank well and knowing you rank well is the difference between guessing and growing.

What Happens When You Check Rankings Wrong

A funeral director in the Midwest was certain he dominated his area. He Googled himself every week.

Always number one or two. His confidence was sky-high.

Then his wife searched from her office ten miles away.

He wasn't in the top ten results. Nowhere to be found.

Confused, he started checking from other locations. What he discovered shocked him: he only ranked well in one neighborhood. Three other areas he'd served for fifteen years? Families there saw his competitors, not him.

After tracking his rankings properly using a local search tool, he found a neighborhood where he was completely invisible. Families there had no idea he existed, even though he'd handled cases in that area for over a decade.

He fixed his Google Business Profile to target that neighborhood properly. Eight weeks later, he moved from nowhere to number three for funeral home searches in that area.

The result? His phone started to ring, new families started to reach out.

(Want to know exactly what elements your Google Business Profile needs to rank in the top 3? Check out our complete 15-point checklist that shows you every essential element.)

Why Location Matters More Than You Think

Google doesn't show the same results to everyone. When someone searches for "funeral home near me" or "cremation services near me," Google considers their exact location and shows businesses closest to them.

This means you could rank number one in your own neighborhood but not even show up in a neighborhood five miles away. Families searching there see different funeral homes entirely.

If you're not tracking rankings across your full service area, you're invisible to huge portions of your community. And you don't even know it.

The funeral homes winning the most cases don't guess about their visibility. They know exactly where they rank in every neighborhood they serve, and they fix the weak spots.

The Professional Approach to Rank Tracking

Want to stop guessing and start knowing? Here's what professional funeral homes do:

Set up automated rank tracing. Tools like BrightLocal or Whitespark check your rankings daily across multiple locations. You get reports showing exactly where you appear for key searches in every neighborhood.

Track the searches that matter. Don't just track your business name. Track "funeral home [city]," "cremation services near me," "funeral services [area]," and other terms families actually use.

Monitor your competitors. See where they rank compared to you. If they're beating you in certain areas, you know where to focus your effort.

Check rankings monthly, not daily. Rankings fluctuate. Checking daily creates unnecessary stress. Monthly tracking shows real trends and helps you make smart decisions.

The pro move? Get a local search report that shows your ranking for key terms across all the neighborhoods you serve. This baseline tells you exactly where you're strong and where you're invisible.

What Your Ranking From the Office Actually Means

Your search ranking viewed from your office phone cellphone search means nothing.

What matters is where families see you when they're grieving at midnight, searching from their bedroom, desperate for help.

They're not searching from your office. They're searching from their homes, hospitals, and nursing facilities scattered across your service area.

If you're not visible in those locations, it doesn't matter what you see on your phone. You're losing calls.

Take Action: Find Your Real Rankings

Stop checking your rankings the wrong way. Start tracking properly so you know where families actually see you.

Here's what to do today:

Open incognito mode and search for funeral services from your location. Then ask someone in a different neighborhood to do the same. Compare the results.

The differences might surprise you. They might also explain why your call volume isn't what you expected.

Want help understanding your true visibility across your service area?

Visit us on Facebook and send us a message saying "RANKING" - we'll show you exactly where families see you (and where they don't).

Your local search ranking matters. Make sure you're looking at the right results.