In one sentence: The local pack is the block of nearby business listings, shown next to a map, that a search engine puts on the results page when a search looks like the person wants a business close by.
Search for a trade, a restaurant, or a shop and the results page usually arrives in two parts. One part is a map with a short list of businesses attached to it. The other is the ordinary list of website links. The map block is the local pack, and plenty of people call it the map pack instead.
The entries in that block are not your web pages. They are business listings: the name, the category, the hours, the phone number, the star rating and reviews, and a button for directions. Someone can call you or start driving without ever opening your website. Your site still matters, because it is a good part of how an engine works out what your business is and whether it belongs on the list, but the thing being ranked inside that block is the listing.
The block does not turn up for every search. It appears when the wording, or the place the search is coming from, suggests the person wants somebody nearby rather than an article. "How does a heat pump work" reads like a question. "Heat pump repair" reads like a person standing in a cold house, and that is when the map shows up.
For a local service business the map block usually sits high on the page, and it answers the two things a person in a hurry wants to know, who is close and are they any good, before anyone scrolls into the website links. Which businesses appear there comes down to how near the searcher is, how well the listing matches what was asked, and how much the rest of the web has to say about the company. The full explanation, and what to do about each of those three, is in our guide to the Google Map Pack.
Guide: the Google Map Pack · Proximity ranking factor · Google Business Profile · Star rating · Service area business · All glossary terms · Plain-English answers · AI search optimization services
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