Home › Blog › Go/No-Go Score for Site Selection: What It Is and How to Read It (2026)

Go/No-Go Score for Site Selection: What It Is and How to Read It (2026)

By Spotfic Editorial Team · Sun May 31 2026

A Go/No-Go score combines competitor density, demographic fit, foot traffic and rent into a single 0-100 decision number. Learn how the score is built, what it covers, what it misses, and when to override it.

A Go/No-Go score is a single number between 0 and 100 that tells you whether a specific street address is a good fit for a specific business. It compresses four messy categories of evidence — competitor density, demographic fit, foot-traffic potential, and rent viability — into one number you can act on. The reason the score exists is that founders rarely have the time to sit with twenty pages of demographic charts and competitor maps. They need an answer, and they need it before the landlord moves on to the next applicant.

This guide explains what the score actually measures, what the buckets mean, what the score does badly, and when you should trust your own observation over a score generated from public data. We use the term Go/No-Go score because that is the language a founder uses when they are standing on a footpath looking at a vacant unit, asking the question that matters: is this it, or do I keep looking.

The short answer

A Go/No-Go score is a composite metric that scores a specific address against four dimensions: how many similar businesses already operate within walking distance, whether the surrounding population matches the customer the business needs, whether the location can attract enough daily foot traffic, and whether the asking rent can be supported by realistic revenue for that format. Each dimension is weighted, normalised, and combined into a 0 to 100 output. Scores above 65 generally indicate a viable location, scores between 40 and 65 require careful judgement, and scores below 40 are usually a no.

Why one number, and not twenty charts

There is a real argument against compressing site-selection decisions into a single number. Location is multi-dimensional. A spot that looks weak on demographics might be saved by an anchor that brings the right customer in from outside the immediate neighbourhood. A spot with high competition might still work if your format is differentiated. A pure data score cannot capture these subtleties.

The counter-argument is simpler: most founders are not making the decision against twenty other carefully-modelled candidates. They are making it against one or two options, often under time pressure, and the alternative to a score is not richer analysis. The alternative is gut feeling, which is the single most common reason new businesses fail in the first year. A score is not the answer. It is a thinking aid. It tells you whether the location passes a basic data check, and it forces you to articulate why you are overriding the score if you choose to.

Founder reviewing location data on a laptop in a vacant storefront

The four dimensions inside the score

1. Competitor density

This dimension measures how many businesses in the same or adjacent categories already operate within a walking or driving radius of your address. A cafe in a 1.5 km circle with 38 other cafes is in a saturated market. The same cafe in a circle with 4 cafes is in a market with breathing room. The score does not punish all competition — for some categories like restaurants and salons, a clustering effect attracts customers — but it punishes oversaturation, where the local addressable market simply cannot support another competitor.

The competitor count is also weighted by quality. Five competitors with average ratings of 4.6 stars and 800 reviews each are a much harder threat than five competitors with 3.1 stars and 60 reviews. Strong, established competitors signal both that there is demand and that the existing players are good at serving it. New entrants need a clear angle of differentiation, not just an empty unit.

2. Demographic fit

Demographic fit asks whether the people who live, work, or pass through the trade area match the customer the business needs. A premium yoga studio needs a population skewed towards 25 to 45 year-olds with disposable income. A neighbourhood pharmacy needs a residential density of all age groups, with an over-50 weighting that increases footfall during weekday mornings. A childrens activity centre needs families with school-age kids within a 3 to 5 km radius.

Demographic fit is rarely the headline factor in a decision but it is the most common silent killer. Locations that score well on traffic and rent but fail on demographic fit produce the businesses that close in their second year — the ones where the founder cannot understand why the footfall is high but the conversion to paying customer is low. The answer is that the people walking past are the wrong people.

3. Foot-traffic potential

Foot-traffic potential estimates how many people pass the address each day. For an instant-decision tool this is necessarily an estimate. True observed visit data costs enterprise money and is mostly available for the United States. For a single-location decision, an estimate based on area type, nearby anchors like metro stations, malls, office clusters, residential density and the physical position of the unit on the street is usually good enough to separate strong locations from weak ones.

It is also important to remember that foot traffic is not destination traffic. Ten thousand people walking past a unit means very little if none of them are in the mindset to stop and spend. A cafe outside a metro station gate sees enormous foot traffic but most of it is in commute mode. A cafe two streets away near a residential cluster sees less traffic but a much higher conversion. The score tries to estimate qualified traffic for the format, not raw footfall.

4. Rent viability

Rent viability checks whether the asking rent can be supported by realistic revenue for the format. The classic restaurant rule is that rent should be 6 to 10 percent of gross monthly revenue. For QSR and cafes the upper bound is closer to 8 to 12 percent. For salons and gyms it is 10 to 15 percent. If the asking rent at a candidate location implies a monthly revenue requirement that is unrealistic for that format and area, the location fails the rent-viability check regardless of how strong the other dimensions look.

Founders consistently underweight this dimension. The location feels right, the traffic looks promising, and the rent is assumed to be a fixed cost the business will simply absorb. By month four it is the line item that destroys the unit economics. A Go/No-Go score that does not weight rent viability heavily is not protecting you from the most predictable failure mode in the industry. For a deeper dive see our guide on the rent-to-revenue ratio for restaurants in India.

How to read the score buckets

Above 80 (Strong Go) — All four dimensions are positive. The location is in the top decile for the format. You should still inspect the unit physically and validate the rent terms, but the data is clearly behind the decision.
65 to 80 (Go with caveats) — The location passes the basic check. Usually one dimension is weaker than the others — often competitor density or rent. This is where most viable locations score, and it is where careful judgement matters most.
40 to 65 (Conditional) — The score is asking you to slow down. There is at least one dimension that is actively concerning. A score in this bucket can still produce a good outcome, but only if you have a specific, articulated reason to override.
Below 40 (No-Go) — Two or more dimensions have failed. The probability of business failure in the first 18 months is significantly higher than industry baseline. Treat a sub-40 score as a strong signal to walk away and use the time saved to find a better unit.

What a Go/No-Go score is not

A Go/No-Go score is not a guarantee. It is a probability-weighted summary of the inputs that historically correlate with location-driven success and failure. Two specific limitations are worth naming.

First, the score does not know your operator quality. A weak location with a brilliant operator can outperform a strong location with a poor one. The score assumes average execution. If your team is exceptional at hospitality, marketing, or product, you can plausibly take on a slightly weaker location than the score suggests, because your operational edge offsets some of the location risk. The reverse is also true: a first-time operator should not be taking on borderline locations.

Second, the score does not know your specific differentiation. If you are opening the only Burmese restaurant in a 10 km radius, the competitor density input is misleading because none of the existing restaurants in your category are direct competition. A founder with a clear, defensible category-of-one position can override a competitor-density-led score with reason. A founder who is opening a generic format should treat the competitor-density signal at face value.

A Go/No-Go score is not a decision. It is a defensible starting point that forces you to articulate why you are overriding it. Most founders who fail at site selection do not lose money because the data lied to them. They lose money because they never looked at the data in the first place.

How Spotfic produces the score

Spotfic generates a Go/No-Go score for any street address in under 60 seconds. The system pulls competitor data live from Google Maps for the relevant radius, profiles the surrounding demographic context from public data, estimates foot-traffic patterns using nearby anchors and area type, and applies format-specific rent benchmarks for the city. Each dimension is normalised, weighted by relevance to the business type, and combined into a 0 to 100 score with a written explanation of which dimensions drove the result. The full report covers 14 sections including SWOT, sentiment from competitor reviews, market trends, and a 90-day launch plan. Every new account receives 2 free reports without a credit card.

Common ways founders misuse the score

Treating the score as a verdict instead of a thinking aid. The score gives you a starting point. The decision is still yours.
Re-running the score with the same address and a different business type until they get a high number. This is location-confirmation bias. The right discipline is to test multiple addresses against your real business type.
Ignoring a sub-40 score because the rent is low. Cheap rent in a no-demand location is the most expensive cost in the long run.
Overriding the score based on weekend visits to the unit. Weekend foot traffic is not representative for businesses that depend on weekday lunch or office demand.
Skipping the physical inspection. A 78 score from a desk does not tell you that the unit has a visibility problem because of a transformer right outside the entrance.

When you should override a low score

There are legitimate reasons to override a low score. If you are intentionally entering an undeveloped neighbourhood ahead of a known infrastructure project, the score will reflect today and not the future. If you are anchoring a destination concept that brings its own demand from outside the trade area, the local foot-traffic input is less relevant. If you have a captive customer base, like a corporate cafeteria contract or a hospital pharmacy tender, the competitor density input is irrelevant. In each case the override should be written down and shared with your investors or partners, so the decision is auditable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Go/No-Go score for site selection?

A Go/No-Go score is a single 0 to 100 number that summarises whether a specific address is a viable location for a specific business. It combines competitor density, demographic fit, foot-traffic potential and rent viability into one composite metric. Scores above 65 generally indicate a viable location, scores between 40 and 65 require careful judgement, and scores below 40 are usually a no.

What scores are considered good?

Scores above 80 are strong (top decile for that format in that area), 65 to 80 are viable with caveats, 40 to 65 are conditional and require a specific reason to override, and below 40 should generally be treated as a no.

How accurate is a Go/No-Go score?

The score is a probability-weighted summary of the inputs that correlate with site-selection success and failure. It is not a guarantee. The accuracy depends on the quality of the underlying data and the relevance of the chosen business type. A score is most accurate when used to compare two or three candidate locations head-to-head rather than as an absolute verdict on a single address.

Can I override a Go/No-Go score?

Yes, and sometimes you should. Legitimate reasons to override include category-of-one differentiation, captive customer demand, planned infrastructure development that will change the area, or operator quality that exceeds industry average. The discipline is to write the reason down so the decision is defensible later.

Is the Go/No-Go score the same as Walk Score or a credit score?

No. Walk Score measures pedestrian-friendliness of an area for general walkability. A credit score measures borrower reliability. A Go/No-Go score is specific to business site selection and is calibrated to a particular business type at a particular address.

How do I get a Go/No-Go score for my address?

Spotfic generates a Go/No-Go score for any address worldwide in under 60 seconds. Every new account receives 2 free reports without a credit card. Enter the address and your business type at https://www.spotfic.com/signup.

Explore related location guides

About Spotfic

Spotfic is an AI-powered location analysis tool for founders, franchise owners and expansion teams. Get competitor mapping, foot traffic, rent estimates, demographics and a Go/No-Go score for any address in under 60 seconds.

Analyze a location →