Site Selection Report
Per-ZIP opportunity scoring across one metro, with incumbent quality (not count) as the signal.
The Site Selection Report scores every ZIP in a target metro for opportunity in a named business category, weighting incumbent quality (rating distribution and review volume) above incumbent count, then overlaying local economic and demographic tailwinds and demand-side search signal cross-referenced to the local pack.
The deliverable is a per-ZIP scoring grid across fifty ZIPs at the base scope (one hundred ZIPs at the upgrade tier), with the top opportunity ZIPs written up in narrative form and the full grid available as a companion data file.
Built for franchise development teams and multi-unit operators who need to choose where to plant the next location.
Where should we open the next location — and which markets are already lost?
What buyers actually ask.
How do I rank ZIPs in a metro for the next location?
The Site Selection Report scores every ZIP on opportunity for your named business category. Incumbent quality, demographic tailwinds, and local-pack demand are joined into a single per-ZIP score. The top-scoring ZIPs are written up in narrative form and the full grid ships as a companion data file.
Why incumbent quality and not incumbent count?
Count tells you saturation. Quality tells you whether saturation is real — five high-rated incumbents is closed market, five low-rated incumbents is opportunity. The report weights quality above count because that is the empirically better signal.
How are tailwinds measured?
Tailwinds combine three Census-derived demographic series (population growth, household income trajectory, age-band shifts) with one local-economy series (BLS local employment) and one demand-side series (Google Trends and local search demand). The composite is reported per ZIP.
What if my category is not on Google Maps?
We adapt the incumbent-quality methodology to whatever review surface is most active for the category — Trustpilot for online services, G2 for SaaS, Yelp for legacy hospitality categories. The report names the substituted source per category.
How is this different from a real-estate broker's site report?
A broker report is a real-estate document — traffic counts, foot traffic, lease comps. The Site Selection Report is a demand document — incumbent quality, demographic momentum, search signal. Buyers commonly run both and join them.
How many ZIPs does the base scope cover?
Fifty ZIPs in one metro at the base scope. The hundred-ZIP upgrade is +$999 and is the right tier for buyers covering an entire metro rather than a sub-region. Additional metros are +$999 each.
Can I run multiple metros at once?
Yes. Each additional metro is +$999. Buyers running franchise expansion typically scope three to five metros in a single commission with shared methodology so the rankings are directly comparable.
The deliverable, in detail.
- Per-ZIP opportunity score across one metro at the base scope of fifty ZIPs (one hundred ZIPs available as a $999 upgrade).
- Incumbent quality scoring weighted above count, with rating-distribution detail and review-volume weighting visible in the companion data file.
- Local economic and demographic tailwind overlay combining three Census series, BLS local employment, and demand-side search signal.
- Demand-side search signal cross-referenced to the local pack so the report joins the demand the ZIP carries with the supply the local pack already serves.
How the report is built.
The Site Selection Report begins with the metro and category at intake. We pull every ZIP in the metro and every public business registration in the named category at ZIP resolution, joined to the relevant review surface — Google Maps for most categories, with category-specific substitutions for SaaS, online services, and hospitality.
Incumbent quality is computed as a review-volume-weighted rating distribution per ZIP. We deliberately weight quality above count: a ZIP with five high-rated incumbents is scored as closed; a ZIP with five low-rated incumbents is scored as opportunity. The literature on local-market entry supports the inversion.
Demographic tailwinds combine three Census-derived series — ACS population growth, household income trajectory, age-band shift — with BLS local employment and Google Trends or commercial search demand. The five-series composite is reported per ZIP and joined to the incumbent-quality score.
A senior analyst reviews the joined grid and writes the top opportunity ZIPs up in narrative form. The Counter-Signal Pass surfaces the strongest reason any named ZIP might fail — zoning constraint, lease-cost outlier, demographic-trajectory reversal, local-pack saturation that the count signal under-states.
Counter-Signal Pass is included on every report. The full Foragentis methodology is documented in The State of AEO and GEO in 2026.
What this report does NOT do.
Procurement-grade reports scope themselves. The work below is adjacent and important — and is not in this SKU.
The Site Selection Report does not include lease-cost analysis or real-estate availability data — those are the broker's document, not ours. The report is the demand-side input; the supply-side is the broker's report.
The scoring grid is at ZIP resolution, not at parcel or trade-area resolution. If your operating model demands sub-ZIP scoring (drive-time isochrones, for example), scope a custom commission rather than the standard SKU.
Tailwinds are measured at the ZIP-month level. Step-change events between intake and the reporting window — a major employer leaving, a zoning change — are flagged when public, but we do not undertake to predict step changes.
What the engagement costs.
The Counter-Signal Pass — every thesis stress-tested against its strongest opposing case — is included on every report at no extra cost. See the Counter-Signal block on the catalog hub →
Methodology preview on request.
A redacted public sample for this SKU is in production. To preview the methodology now, email forintel@foragentis.com and we will send the methodology one-pager. The published methodology white paper — The State of AEO and GEO in 2026 — covers the underlying analytical framework.
Adjacent reports.
About Foragentis.
Foragentis is an AI research and product company based in Sacramento, California. ForIntel is the business-intelligence research arm — producing custom dossiers across four buyer lanes: Search & AI Visibility, Markets & Locations, Capital & Innovation, and Specialty.
Every claim in a ForIntel report traces to a public source. Findings are re-verified before delivery. The Adversary/Analyst architecture pairs a senior analyst with a counter-signal pass on every thesis. Anything below our statistical thresholds is labeled directional rather than validated.
Methodology is documented in The State of AEO and GEO in 2026 — a 9,900-word, 42-page public study with effect-size statistics across four frontier AI engines.
Ready to commission the report?
Intake takes under five minutes. We confirm scope, timeline, and cost within one business day.