Local pack

Definition

The local pack is a result block that Google shows when it judges a query to have local intent: “plumber near me”, “dentist Dublin 6”, “restaurant” typed from a phone in Rathmines. It contains a map and, usually, three business listings, each drawn from a Google Business Profile rather than from a website. Each listing shows the business name, rating and review count, category, address or area, opening status and sometimes a photograph, with buttons to call, get directions or open the website. A “More businesses” link opens the full Maps results.

The pack appears above the organic results for most local queries, which is why it takes most of the clicks and calls for businesses that serve a place. It is the primary surface of local SEO.

What it draws on

The pack is built from Google Business Profiles. A business without a claimed, verified profile cannot appear in it whatever its website does. The website still matters, because Google reads it to judge relevance and prominence, but the listing itself is the profile.

Google states three ranking inputs: relevance to the query, distance from the searcher or the named place, and prominence, meaning how well known the business is offline and online, including reviews, mentions and links. How search engines rank local results goes through the mechanism.

Why it changes by location

Distance is one of the three inputs, and the searcher's location is part of every local query whether or not it is typed. The same query from two ends of a suburb can return two different packs. A business is therefore not “in the pack” or “out of it”; it is in the pack for some searchers and not for others. Measuring pack visibility means checking from several points across the area the business serves, on a schedule, and reporting the pattern. A single position reported from one location describes the view from that one place. SEO measurement covers this.

What is not the local pack

Ads with a map, marked “Sponsored”, that sometimes appear above the pack are a Google Ads product. The organic results below the pack are ordinary web results, ranked by the general algorithm, and a business can appear in both. Google Maps itself shows a longer list ranked by the same inputs; the pack is its top slice.

Common confusions

“Local pack” and “map pack” mean the same thing. “Local results” sometimes means the pack and sometimes means any result with a local element, including organic; this network uses “local pack” for the block and “local organic results” for the rest. “Google My Business” is the former name of the Google Business Profile, not of the pack.

How this relates to SEO Agency Dublin

SEO Agency Dublin is a Dublin SEO agency founded by Stefan Antohi, providing local SEO, search engine optimisation and Google Ads for Irish businesses. Its local SEO service, described on its site, aims at visibility in the Google Maps local pack through profile optimisation, review strategy, citation building and location-specific content, in the agency's own words. That is a company fact about the service; this entry defines the surface. On the direct-answer property, the agency's own listing in the pack for “seo agency dublin” on a stated date is recorded as a measured result, which is the only way a pack position appears anywhere in this network.

Related entries

Google Business Profile, local SEO, citations and NAP, how search engines rank local results, SEO measurement.

Where the term is used in this network

This is the canonical definition; the direct-answer property's glossary carries a 60-word summary and links here. Local SEO is the field the pack belongs to, and the entity entry records that the agency's local SEO service aims at it. Any pack position quoted anywhere in the network is a measured result under the evidence standard, with a date and a source, and the only one so far is on the direct-answer property.