Google 3-Pack: what it is and how to get into it

The Google 3-pack is the box of local businesses, usually three, with a small map that appears near the top of a Google search for something local, such as "electrician" or "dentist near me". People also call it the local pack or the map pack. Being in it puts you in front of someone at the moment they're choosing who to call, which is why it's worth understanding how Google fills it.

What the Google 3-pack is

When someone searches for a type of business, Google often answers with a map and a short list of nearby businesses before the ordinary web results. Each entry shows the business name, its star rating and number of reviews, the category, and usually the opening hours, with buttons to call, get directions or visit the website.

Google doesn't use the name "3-pack" itself. Its help pages talk about "local results", which it says people find "on Google Maps and Search". The 3-pack is the version on a normal Google search, with a link underneath to see more places on the map.

How Google picks the three businesses

Google's help page, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, says local results are "mainly based on relevance, distance, and prominence":

• Relevance: "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for." Your categories, services and description do most of the work here.
• Distance: "how far each business is from the customer who's searching." You can't change this, but it explains a lot, as the next section shows.
• Prominence: "how well-known a business is." Google says "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking."

The same page is clear on one point: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Ads can show near the local results, but they're labelled as sponsored and don't move you in the pack itself. Our guide to ranking higher on Google Maps goes through each factor in detail.

Why the 3-pack changes from one street to the next

Because distance is part of the decision, there isn't one 3-pack for "plumber" in your town. There's a different one for each place someone might be standing when they search.

IllustrationExample

This is why owners are often surprised by complaints that "you don't come up on Google". From the shop, you might be first. From an estate two miles away, where half your customers live, you might not be in the pack at all. A single check from your own premises shows you your best case, not the picture your customers see. Reading your map explains how to read rankings taken from spots across an area.

The 3-pack and the Google Maps top three are not the same list

There are two lists people tend to mix up, and they're not quite the same:

The two often agree, because Google uses the same factors for both. They don't always match, and a business can be third on Maps and missing from the pack for the same search. When you're checking your position, it's worth knowing which list you're looking at.

Kerbrank's headline figure, top-three share, is the share of spots on your map where you appear in the Google Maps top three. It isn't a measure of the local pack, and every figure in a Kerbrank report says which list it measured. The methodology page explains exactly how each figure is worked out.

How to get your business into the local pack

There's no trick that gets you in. These are the steps that line up with what Google says it looks at, in the order most businesses should take them.

1. Get your listing verified and correct. If you aren't sure your profile is live, start with why a business isn't showing on Google Maps.
2. Choose the right primary category. Search your main service and look at the businesses in the pack. If they're all "emergency plumber" and you're "plumber", that's worth thinking about.
3. Fill in services, hours, description and photos. A complete profile gives Google more to match against a search. Our Google Business Profile optimisation checklist covers each section.
4. Keep your name, address and phone the same everywhere. On your website, your profile and the directories people in your trade use.
5. Ask every happy customer for a review. Google names reviews as part of prominence. How to get more Google reviews has a message you can copy. Our free review link and QR code tool gives you the link to send.
6. Don't fake a location. Google's guidelines say not to create a profile for a virtual office or an address you don't staff during business hours, and breaking the guidelines can get a profile suspended.

Once you've made a change, check again from the same spots a few weeks later. Relevance changes, like a better category, can show fairly quickly. Reviews and reputation take months.

If you'd like to see where you stand before changing anything, the free local rank checker checks one search from 25 spots around your business, with no account and no card.

How to check whether you're in the 3-pack across your area

The simple way costs nothing: ask a few customers or friends in different parts of town to search your main service on their phones and send you a screenshot. Note who's in the pack in each place. It's rough, but it'll tell you more than checking from your own desk.

The trouble is doing it often enough to see whether a change worked. That's what a local rank tracker is for. Kerbrank searches from a grid of spots across your area every week, shows your Google Maps position at each one, and gives you a short list of jobs, starting with the one most likely to move you. You can start a 14-day free trial and see your first map once the first reading is done.

Common questions