What the map pack is
Search for your work and Google shows a map with three businesses on it above the list of websites. That's the map pack.
Each business in it is a Google Business Profile listing, with its name, its rating, its review count and a button to call. The three change from town to town, because Google weighs how far each business is from the person searching.
What Google says it looks at
Google says local results are based mainly on three things. Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far the business is from the person searching, and if they don't share where they are, Google uses what it knows about their location. Prominence is how well known the business is.
For prominence, Google names how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. It says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up. And it says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
How to get in the map pack
Claim your Business Profile and verify it. Google says verifying tells it you're allowed to speak for the business. Then fill in everything it asks for: the kind of business you are, your hours, your phone number and your website. Use the same business name and phone number your website shows.
If customers don't come to you, take your address off the listing and add the towns you work in as service areas. Google allows up to 20, and says the whole area shouldn't reach past about 2 hours of driving from where you're based.
Ask every finished job for a review, with a link straight to your listing, and answer the reviews you get. Google says replying shows customers you value what they said. Never pay for reviews: Google's rules say paid reviews aren't allowed and get taken down.
The page on your website
Your listing has a button to your website. Say you do garage floors out of Hudson. Someone in Woodbury, 13 miles west on I-94, searches for garage floor coating, taps your listing and then your website. A page on your site about garage floor coating in Woodbury answers the question they have: do you work here?
The same page is how your website gets into the list under the map. Google says it shows the results it believes are most relevant to what was typed, and a page about that job in that town is the one that matches. The map and the list are separate, and you want to be in both.
Sources
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google Business Profile Help
- Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses Business Profile Help
- Prohibited and restricted content Google Maps content policy
- In-depth guide to how Google Search works Google Search Central