Guide
The Google map pack
The three businesses with a map, above the ordinary results. It is where most local searches are decided, it is fed by your profile rather than your website, and getting into it is the fastest-moving work in SEO.
and a large share of people never scroll past them.
The map pack is the block of three business listings with a map that Google shows above the blue links whenever a search looks local. It is also called the local pack or the 3-pack. It is chosen almost entirely from Google Business Profiles, which is why a business with an excellent website can be missing from it while a competitor with a poor one sits at the top.
The three things that decide it
Google names relevance, prominence and distance. They are not equal, and the order below is the order they are worth working on for a business that is not in the pack today.
- 1
Relevance
How well the listing matches what was typed. This is the one you control most directly and the one most businesses leave half-done: the primary category, the secondary categories, the services list, and whether the profile says what the business actually does in the words customers use.
- 2
Prominence
How well known the business is. Reviews and their recency, mentions across the web, consistent listings, and how the website itself performs. This is the slowest to move and the one that compounds.
- 3
Distance
How far the business is from the searcher. You cannot change it and it is not fixed either: the pack a customer sees changes street by street, which is why checking your ranking from your own office tells you almost nothing about what anybody else sees.
The work that moves it
All of this is relevance, which is the half you control. None of it needs a developer and most of it is an afternoon.
- Set the primary category to the one thing you most want to be found for. It filters the pack before anything else is considered.
- Add every other relevant category as a secondary, and fill the services list out completely in the words customers use.
- Decide the address question properly: visible if customers come to you, hidden with a declared service area if you go to them.
- Make the hours true, including the ones you are closed, because the open-now filter decides who appears for urgent searches.
- Point the website link at the page about the thing, not the home page.
- Add real photographs of the premises, the team and the work.
- Get reviews arriving steadily rather than in bursts, and reply to every one.
- Make the name, address and phone identical across the profile, the site and every directory.
- Check for edits the public has suggested and Google has quietly accepted.
How to check your position honestly
Distance is a ranking factor measured from the searcher, so the pack changes street by street. Checking from your own premises is the least representative place you could stand, and it is where almost everybody checks. Look from where your customers actually are, and treat any single number as one sample rather than as your ranking.
The numbers worth watching are in the profile itself: calls, direction requests and website clicks, month on month. Those are outcomes rather than positions, and they are the ones that reconcile with the phone ringing.
Where to go next
Questions about the map pack
What is the Google map pack?
The block of three business listings with a map that appears above the ordinary blue links for searches with local intent. It is also called the local pack or the 3-pack. It is fed almost entirely by Google Business Profiles rather than by websites, which is why a business with a strong site can be missing from it while a competitor with a weak site is in it.
How do I rank in the map pack?
Google names three factors: relevance, prominence and distance. In practice, start with relevance because it is the one you control directly and the one most businesses leave half-finished: the primary category, the services list, and whether the profile describes the business in the words customers type. Then prominence, which is reviews and consistency and takes months.
Why does my ranking look different to my customer’s?
Because distance is a factor and it is measured from the searcher, not from you. The pack changes street by street. Checking your position from your own premises is the least representative place you could stand, and it is where almost everybody checks.
How long does it take to get into the map pack?
Faster than ordinary search. Category and services changes can show within days and a complete profile usually settles within a few weeks. Reviews and prominence take months. It is the quickest-moving thing in local SEO, which is also why it is the first thing worth doing.
Do I need a physical address?
You need a real place of business, which is not the same as a public address. If you work at customers’ properties you should hide the address and declare a service area instead. What you cannot use is a mailbox, a virtual office or an address you do not operate from, and doing so is one of the most common causes of a suspension.
Does my website affect the map pack?
Yes, but less than people expect and less than the profile does. The site contributes to prominence and it decides what happens after the click. The three listings themselves are chosen mostly on the profile.
Book a call with us
A 30-minute call in your working hours. Tell us what you sell and where, and we will tell you what we would do first and what it involves. Prefer email? Send your website through the form and the Passieon Team will reply within two working days.