---
title: "Rank Above Replacement (RAR): The WAR of Local Search | LEVERAGEAI"
url: https://leverageaisearch.com/rank-above-replacement
description: "Rank Above Replacement compares local map rankings with an average business at the same distance. VAR and AAA turn it into dollars. Share of Local Voice can't."
author: "Mike Schlottig"
published: 2026-10-06
updated: 2026-10-07
---

# Rank Above Replacement: the WAR of local search

By Mike Schlottig, Founder, LEVERAGEAI LLC. Last updated October 7, 2026.

Rank Above Replacement (RAR) measures how much better a business ranks on a local map grid than an average business would from the same distance. LEVERAGEAI built it in Grants Pass, Oregon because Share of Local Voice, the metric most agencies report, behaves like batting average: easy to count, blind to context, and easy to fool.

**TL;DR**

Share of Local Voice counts top-three map appearances with no baseline. RAR compares every ranking on a 49-point grid with where an average business, one that typically lands around 10th, would rank from the same distance. On a grid LEVERAGEAI measured on 2026-10-03, Daley Organics in Grants Pass shows just 4.8% Share of Local Voice but a positive RAR of +6.6, rising to +24.7 at 8 miles. Value Above Replacement and Alpha Above Average turn that position into dollars.

## Why is Share of Local Voice the batting average of local SEO?

Share of Local Voice is a raw rate with no context. It counts how often a business appears in the map pack across a grid, but it cannot tell a hard-won appearance from a free one, or a weak business from a well-run one in an awkward location.

What Share of Local Voice ignores

| What it ignores | Why that distorts the number |
| --- | --- |
| Distance | Almost any business ranks near its own front door. A business outside town looks weak even when it outperforms. |
| Market density | A top-three spot against six competitors in Grants Pass and one against forty in Eugene are different achievements. |
| Spend | Paid placements raise appearances without raising organic standing. Stop paying and the number drops. |
| A baseline | It never answers "compared to what?", so it can't show whether the work did anything. |
| Value | An appearance for a $55 yard of mulch counts the same as one for a $300 tote of premium soil. |

## How does the baseball comparison work?

WAR measures a player against a freely available replacement-level player at the same position. RAR measures a business against an average business at the same distance. Both count only what you add above an ordinary baseline.

### From batting average to WAR, in four steps

1.  #### Batting average
    
    Hits divided by at-bats. Easy to count, blind to the ballpark, the position and the era.
    
    #### Share of Local Voice
    
    Top-three appearances divided by grid points. Easy to count, blind to distance, density and ad spend.
    
2.  #### Park and position
    
    A shortstop in a pitcher's park is judged against what that spot normally produces.
    
    #### Distance and density
    
    A search two miles out in a 40-competitor metro is judged against what that spot normally produces.
    
3.  #### Replacement level
    
    The production of a freely available player. WAR counts only what a player adds above that floor.
    
    #### Replacement level
    
    Where an average business, the kind that lands around 10th, would rank from the same distance. RAR counts only what you add above it.
    
4.  #### Dollars per win
    
    Front offices price a win, so WAR becomes a salary argument.
    
    #### VAR and AAA
    
    Value Above Replacement prices your extra clicks at ad rates. Alpha Above Average counts the customers your rankings bring in beyond an average business.
    

## What does each LEVERAGEAI metric answer?

LEVERAGEAI reports four replacement-level metrics. Each one asks a different question, and none of them can be raised by spending more on ads or by moving closer to the searcher.

LEVERAGEAI's replacement-level metrics

| Metric | The question it answers | Definition | Measured on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rank Above Replacement (RAR) | Do you outrank an ordinary competitor from the same distance? | How much better a business ranks on a local map grid than an average business, one that typically lands around 10th, would rank from the same distance. | Google Maps geo-grid |
| Value Above Replacement (VAR) | What would that visibility cost to buy as ads? | A business's map advantage priced in dollars, using the keyword's cost per click and the clicks expected at each ranking. | Google Maps geo-grid |
| Alpha Above Average (AAA) | What is it worth in customers, beyond an average business? | What a business's rankings are worth in customers, beyond the expected value of an average rank-10 position at an average conversion rate. | Google Maps geo-grid |
| Mention Above Replacement (MAR) | Do AI models name you more than an ordinary competitor? | How often AI models name a business when asked local questions, compared with an average business in its competitive set. | Answers from four AI models |

LEVERAGEAI publishes the definitions; the calculations run on its own servers. Mention Above Replacement has its own page: [Mention Above Replacement](/mention-above-replacement).

## What does RAR show that Share of Local Voice hides?

RAR shows where a business beats an ordinary competitor and where it falls behind. Daley Organics looks almost invisible by Share of Local Voice and clearly above replacement by RAR, because its shop is 7.8 miles from downtown Grants Pass.

LEVERAGEAI ran 11 soil and compost searches, such as "Best place to buy organic soil in Grants Pass", from each of 49 points centered on downtown, and recorded the top 20 businesses for every one: 539 result lists and 86 businesses. Switch the grid between the two metrics and hover any point.

### Daley Organics on the Grants Pass soil grid

Color the grid by

Share of Local Voice

4.8%

Rank Above Replacement

+6.6

Shows up in

84% of searches

Distance from downtown

7.8 mi

Share of Local Voice says Daley Organics barely registers: it ranks in the top three at only 4 of 49 search points. Switch to Rank Above Replacement to compare it with an average business at the same distance.

Against an average business at the same distance, Daley Organics is above replacement overall (+6.6) and dominates its own side of the market: +24.7 at 8 miles, where its shop sits. Downtown it runs slightly below replacement.

Raw average rank (11.6) looks mediocre everywhere. It can't tell a shop 7.8 miles out of town from one downtown, which is the job replacement level does.

Measured 2026-10-03 with RAR Grid Lab: 11 searches from 49 points, 539 results, 86 businesses. Competitors are not named.

**Ring by ring as a table**

Daley Organics by distance from downtown Grants Pass

| Ring | Average rank | Average business at this distance | Rank Above Replacement |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Center | 13.4 | 12.0 | −0.9 |
| 0.25 mi | 13.1 | 12.0 | −0.5 |
| 0.5 mi | 12.9 | 11.8 | −0.7 |
| 1 mi | 12.7 | 12.1 | +0.5 |
| 2 mi | 12.8 | 12.8 | +1.6 |
| 4 mi | 10.9 | 12.5 | +8.6 |
| 8 mi | 8.8 | 12.5 | +24.7 |

## How much is a map position worth in dollars?

Two numbers answer it. Value Above Replacement prices the extra clicks a business earns over an average competitor at what those clicks would cost as ads. Alpha Above Average counts what its rankings bring in as customers, beyond an average rank-10 business.

The ranks below are Daley Organics' measured grid, priced with Daley's own conversion rate and customer value. Search volume and cost per click are still example figures: enter numbers from a business you know and watch where the value sits. In this grid it concentrates 4 to 8 miles out, on the side of the valley the shop serves.

### What Daley Organics' map position is worth

Ranks are Daley Organics' measured grid. The conversion rate and customer value are Daley's own figures; the market rate is an estimate\*; monthly searches and cost per click are still example figures until the search data lands. Change any of them to match a business you know. The calculation runs on LEVERAGEAI's servers.

Value Above Replacement

+$10

a month, priced at what those clicks would cost in ads

Alpha Above Average

−$19

a month in customers, beyond an average rank-10 business

**Values as a table**

Dollars per month by distance from downtown, at the inputs shown

| Ring | Value Above Replacement | Alpha Above Average |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Center | $0 | −$5 |
| 0.25 mi | −$2 | −$42 |
| 0.5 mi | −$2 | −$41 |
| 1 mi | −$1 | −$36 |
| 2 mi | $0 | −$27 |
| 4 mi | +$4 | +$19 |
| 8 mi | +$12 | +$113 |

Total alpha $619 a month, against $638 expected for an average rank-10 business at the market conversion rate.

\* Estimated. Alpha Above Average does not turn on conversion rate alone. At the same 5% rate, a rank-1 listing that earns 200 clicks wins 10 customers and a rank-10 listing that earns 20 wins 1. The gap comes from where a business ranks, so the market rate is set equal to the business's own until a market figure is measured.

## Where is visibility decaying, and what would move it?

A decay curve plots average rank from the center of the market outward against an average business at the same distance. Where the two lines cross tells you which side of the market is yours and which side you are losing.

The levers LEVERAGEAI models in RAR Grid Lab are review velocity (a steady stream of new reviews; Daley Organics has 10), dual-entity capture (being the named answer in both the map pack and the organic or AI results) and category alignment on the Google Business Profile.

### Daley Organics' rank by distance from downtown

Move a lever to see how structural work would reshape the curve. The projection is a transparent model, not a measurement.

Downtown, projected

13.4

At 2 miles, projected

12.8

**Chart values as a table**

Average rank by ring (lower is better)

| Ring | Daley Organics | Average business | Projected |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Center | 13.4 | 12.0 | 13.4 |
| 0.25 mi | 13.1 | 12.0 | 13.1 |
| 0.5 mi | 12.9 | 11.8 | 12.9 |
| 1 mi | 12.7 | 12.1 | 12.7 |
| 2 mi | 12.8 | 12.8 | 12.8 |
| 4 mi | 10.9 | 12.5 | 10.9 |
| 8 mi | 8.8 | 12.5 | 8.8 |

## Why does replacement level keep rising?

In baseball the replacement level is set by the talent pool. In local search it is set by your competitors, and it moves when they improve.

When competitors in a market publish agent-readable pages, collect reviews from every job and answer inquiries in seconds, the average competitor gets stronger. A business that changes nothing then watches its RAR fall, not because it got worse, but because the baseline rose under it. Measuring against replacement shows that slide while there is still time to act.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is Rank Above Replacement in local SEO?

Rank Above Replacement (RAR) measures how much better a business ranks on a 49-point local map grid than an average business, one that typically lands around 10th, would rank from the same distance. Positive RAR beats an average business; zero matches it.

### What is Value Above Replacement (VAR)?

Value Above Replacement (VAR) prices a business's map advantage in dollars per month. It uses the keyword's cost per click and the clicks expected at each ranking, so it answers what the same visibility would cost to buy as ads.

### What is Alpha Above Average (AAA)?

Alpha Above Average (AAA) estimates what a business's rankings are worth in customers each month, beyond the expected value of an average rank-10 position at an average conversion rate. It uses the business's own conversion rate and customer value.

### How is the replacement level set?

Replacement level is where an average business would rank if it stood the same distance from each search point. LEVERAGEAI measures it from every business on the same 49-point grid, with rings at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 miles, so location stops counting as performance.

### How is RAR different from Share of Local Voice?

Share of Local Voice counts top-three appearances with no baseline, the way batting average counts hits. RAR compares each ranking with what an average business would get from the same distance, the way WAR compares a player with a replacement-level player.

### Can Rank Above Replacement be negative?

RAR is negative when an average business at the same distance would outrank the business. Daley Organics in Grants Pass runs slightly negative downtown and strongly positive 4 to 8 miles out, near its shop on Monument Drive.

### What improves Rank Above Replacement?

Structural work raises RAR on the outer rings: steady review velocity, being the named answer in both the map pack and organic or AI results, and precise category alignment on the Google Business Profile. LEVERAGEAI models these levers in RAR Grid Lab before recommending them.

## See your own grid

Send your business name and the area you serve. LEVERAGEAI will run a 49-point grid on your main searches, measure your Rank Above Replacement against local competitors, and show where your map position is worth the most.

Prefer to talk? Call [(541) 450-2082](tel:+15414502082), or visit the office at 744 NW Bellevue Pl, Grants Pass.

## About the author

**Mike Schlottig**, Founder, LEVERAGEAI LLC

Mike Schlottig founded LEVERAGEAI LLC in Grants Pass, Oregon. He builds local search analytics and Cloudflare-based lead systems for service businesses along the I-5 corridor, and created RAR Grid Lab, the instrument behind Rank Above Replacement.

Reach him at [(541) 450-2082](tel:+15414502082) or at the LEVERAGEAI office, 744 NW Bellevue Pl, Grants Pass, OR 97526. More at [leverageai.network](https://leverageai.network).

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LEVERAGEAI LLC, 744 NW Bellevue Pl, Grants Pass, OR 97526. Phone (541) 450-2082. https://leverageai.network