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Map pack

The block of three local business listings, with a map, that Google shows above the ordinary results for a local query.

Also called the local pack or the three-pack. It is the highest-value real estate in local search: it sits above the organic results, it carries reviews, hours and a call button, and for many queries it is where the search ends.

What ranks in it is decided by three things Google names openly: relevance, distance and prominence. Distance is the one you cannot change, which is why a business rarely ranks in the pack across a whole city and why tracking a single average position hides more than it shows. Position should be measured from a grid of points across the area actually served.

Prominence is the lever most businesses ignore. It is largely review count and review recency, and a profile with two hundred reviews routinely outranks a better-optimised one with eleven.

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