1. Define the geography before reading the numbers
DeKalb city and DeKalb County are not interchangeable reporting areas. The Census record identifies DeKalb as a municipality and places it in DeKalb County. If your firm serves the city, the wider county, or additional Illinois locations, the dashboard review should preserve those distinctions. A city ranking, a county call and an Illinois-wide keyword position answer different questions. The population estimate of 40,443 describes the city during the 2020–2024 ACS period; it does not indicate how many people search for legal services or how many matters a firm can expect.
Recommended approach
Ask Bosseo to show the geographic labels used for rankings, calls, forms and leads. Agree in writing whether a report concerns DeKalb city, DeKalb County, another county, or Illinois more broadly. Do not use the city population as a forecast. Use it only to make the geographic scope explicit before comparing performance.
