The Google Local 3 Pack
When it comes to SEO and search results, studies have shown that more users a click on the Google Local Pack rather than the websites themselves.
Key Takeaways:
The Google Local 3 Pack is where more customers can be found for your business through a Google search.
When compiling the Local 3 Pack for a user, Google uses three factors for its results: proximity, relevance, and authority.
What is the Google Local three pack?
It's something many business owners and even a lot of marketers don't know about, but they deal with it all the time.
When a user searches for your industry or niche (like “Electrician”), they will possibly see ads at the top of Google, and then they will see a map. Below that map is going to be what is called: the Google Local 3 Pack.
If you can rank in this listing when people search for your type of business, then this is where the money comes in! A Local 3 Pack will show 97% of the time when someone is looking for something around where they live (or nearest them).
How do I get found on the Google Local 3 Pack?
Each one of those three listings are actually a condensed version of a Google My Business listing. So, the first step is to register your business for Google My Business (officially known as Business Profile), at google.com/business.
According to Google, there are three factors the Google algorithm considers when compiling the Local 3 Pack search result for a user: proximity, relevance, and authority.
Proximity
This is going to be determined by how close the person is to the business. If you don't have a lot of competition, you could still be on the other side of town and pop up on the Local 3 Pack.
However, you could be in a competitive space like coffee and may not appear in the Local 3 Pack, even if your coffee shop was across the street from the user. This usually happens in a downtown type area because similar businesses in close proximity to each other. It all depends on competition and how crowded it is in that given area.
Relevance
Google is creating this invisible profile of your business online. You can't see it but it’s there. Google’s algorithm is trying to associate words to your business. So that is why it's important to do keyword research to figure out what words people are searching for online with regards to your niche or industry. You will want to use those same words on your Business Profile because Google is trying to figure out who you are and what you do.
Authority or Prominence
This third factor is just how credible you are online. This could be determined by how many years you've been in business, how many reviews you have, or how many times people are clicking on your listing.
This is where optimizing your Business Profile is vital. By optimizing your Business Profile with the proper keywords, it will help your business rank higher in the Google Local 3 Pack.
Other things you need to know about the Google My Business listing…
Most of the time the Google Local 3 Pack is placed above the websites in search results. Studies have shown that more users are clicking in the Local 3 Pack than most websites.
Google is starting to roll out what they call “snippets,” which is little pieces of information about your business, such as: reviews, posts, and displaying it in the Google Local three pack.
For example, if a user did a very specific search for “blonde highlights” and “hair salon” and someone left a review about how great your blonde highlights were, Google might pull out that little snippet of information and display it in the local three pack.
When it comes to reviews, understand that there is not much you can do except provide great service or products to the customer from the start. You are not able to modify, alter, or delete reviews. However, you can dispute a review, but most of the time you will find that you’re dealing with a Google chat bot and it will usually side with the customer. From my experience, disputing or deleting a review is a lengthy and frustrating process. Google gets more information about your business through reviews and shows it to potential customers.