I got a panicked call from a bakery owner last Tuesday. She’d been Googling “bakery near me” for twenty minutes, scrolling through result after result. Her shop never showed up. Not on page one. Not on page two. Nowhere.
“But I’ve been here for eight years,” she said. “I make everything from scratch. My croissants sell out every morning.”
Well, guess what? Google doesn’t care about your croissants.
I know that sounds harsh. But until you understand how local pack ranking works, you’re basically running a business with the lights off. That map with three businesses at the top of Google? If you’re not there, you might as well not exist. Nearly half of all Google searches are local searches. People ready to buy, looking for someone exactly like you. And they’re finding your competitors instead.
The Local Pack
Google shows a map with three local businesses before anything else when someone searches for services near them. Three businesses. Not ten. Not five. Three.
Those lucky knuckleheads in the local pack get 44% of all clicks. They get the phone calls. They get the foot traffic. They get the “Get Directions” button that brings customers straight to their door.
Everyone else gets table scraps.
I’ve watched businesses lose 30% of their revenue because they dropped out of the local pack. Nothing changed about their service. Their customers still loved them. But new customers stopped finding them. Because when someone searches “dentist near me” or “plumber downtown,” they pick from what Google shows them first.
The local pack takes up almost half your phone screen. By the time someone scrolls past it, past the ads, past the “People also ask” boxes… they’re already calling one of those three businesses.
Your Competitors Know Something You Don’t
A dental practice I worked with came to me after watching their new patient appointments crater. Six months earlier, they were booked solid. Now they had openings all week.
What changed? Three newer practices opened nearby and immediately claimed the local pack spots. Not because they were better dentists. Not because they had fancier offices. Because they understood how local pack ranking works.
While my client was posting on Facebook and updating their website, these new practices were:
- Collecting reviews like their business depended on it
- Making sure their address appeared identically on every website
- Creating pages targeting “dentist + neighborhood name” searches
- Getting mentioned in local news and community sites
Being invisible in the local pack means:
- New customers never know you exist
- Your phone stops ringing with new business
- People assume your competitors are better (they’re not, they’re just more visible)
- You’re bleeding money to businesses that might not even be as good as you
How Google Decides Who Gets Those Three Spots
Google uses completely different rules for local pack ranking than regular search results. Forget what you know about SEO. Local ranking comes down to three things:
Relevance: Google Needs to Know Exactly What You Do
This sounds simple, but businesses mess it up constantly. I see plumbers listing themselves as “contractors.” Coffee shops calling themselves “restaurants.” Specialty services using generic categories.
Google’s not psychic. If you’re a drain cleaning specialist but you’re listed as “home services,” you’re invisible when someone’s toilet is overflowing at 2 AM.
I just fixed this for a specialty coffee roaster. They were categorized as “food manufacturers” because that’s technically correct. Changed it to “coffee shop” with “coffee roaster” as secondary. Local pack appearances jumped 400% in two weeks.
Your Google Business Profile categories matter more than almost anything else. Pick the most specific one possible. Then add every relevant secondary category. Don’t get cute. Don’t get creative. Be exactly what people search for.
Distance: Geography You Can’t Fake But Can Optimize
When someone searches “pizza near me,” Google knows exactly where they’re standing. The pizza joint two blocks away has an advantage over the one across town. No way around that.
But here’s what most people miss: Google gets confused about where you are if your address isn’t consistent everywhere. “123 Main St” on your website but “123 Main Street Suite 4” on Yelp? Google thinks those might be different businesses.
I had a client with three versions of their address floating around online. Google couldn’t figure out where they really were, so it showed them for searches 10 miles away but not for people standing across the street. Fixed the inconsistencies. Rankings improved overnight.
Your address needs to be letter-for-letter identical everywhere:
- Your website
- Social media profiles
- Online directories
- Review sites
- Industry listings
- Anywhere else you’re mentioned
One character difference can tank your visibility.
Prominence: The Popularity Contest That Pays
Google wants to show businesses people trust. It figures this out by looking at signals from everywhere, not just your website.
Reviews are oxygen for local pack ranking. Not just having them. Having fresh ones. A business with 50 reviews from three years ago loses to one with 30 reviews, including 5 from last week. Google sees recent reviews as proof you’re still in business and still good at it.
But reviews are just the start. Google also looks at:
- How many other websites mention your business
- Whether local news sites have covered you
- If other local businesses link to you
- How often people click on your listing
- Whether people call you from Google
A landscaper I know went from invisible to dominating the local pack by doing one thing: getting every single customer to leave a review. Not hoping. Not asking nicely. Making it part of their process. Six months later, 150 reviews. Now they own every “landscaping near me” search in their city.
7-Step Plan to Local Pack Domination
Step 1: Fix Your Google Business Profile Right Now
Half the businesses I check have incomplete Google Business Profiles. It’s like having a store with no sign.
Log in today and fill out everything:
- Every category that applies
- All your services
- Your actual hours (including holidays)
- Photos of everything (add new ones weekly)
- Your service areas
- Attributes (wheelchair accessible, free wifi, whatever applies)
If you haven’t claimed your profile yet, stop reading this and do it now. Seriously. The rest doesn’t matter if you skip this.
Step 2: Make Your NAP Consistent Everywhere
NAP means Name, Address, Phone. Boring but crucial.
Search for your business name plus your city. Click every result. Check if your business info is exactly the same on each site. It won’t be. It never is.
“Ave” vs “Avenue” matters. “Suite 200” vs “#200” matters. “(555) 123-4567” vs “555-123-4567” matters. Google’s computers are stupid. They need everything to match perfectly.
Fix the big sites first: your website, Google, Facebook, Yelp, Apple Maps. Then work through the rest. Yes, it’s tedious. Yes, it matters more than that blog post you were going to write.
Step 3: Turn Reviews Into a System
Hoping for reviews is like hoping for rain in the desert. Create a process that works:
- Finish the job/sale
- Wait 3 days (not longer, people forget)
- Send a text with a direct link to leave a Google review
- Follow up once if they don’t respond
- Respond to every review you get
Make it easy. Don’t make them search for you on Google. Don’t send them to a page with 10 different review site options. One link. Google reviews. That’s it.
Train your team to mention reviews. Put a sign by your register. Add a review link to receipts. Whatever it takes to make asking for reviews as normal as saying goodbye.
Step 4: Create Local Landing Pages
“Plumber in Chicago” is impossible to rank for. “Emergency plumber in Lincoln Park” is totally doable.
Build pages for:
- Your main service + neighborhood names
- Emergency services + your city
- Specific problems you solve + location
- Commercial vs residential + area
These aren’t just SEO pages. They’re answering what people actually search for at 11 PM when their basement is flooding.
Step 5: Get Real Local Links
Sponsor something. Join the Chamber. Get quoted in the local paper. Every mention from a local website is a vote that you’re a real business that matters in your community.
The best link I ever got a client? A feature in their neighborhood newsletter about why manhole covers in that area always clog. Boring? Sure. But it drove calls for months and boosted their local rankings permanently.
Step 6: Post Fresh Content Weekly
Google rewards active businesses. Add photos of your work. Post updates about seasonal services. Share customer success stories. Behind-the-scenes content. Anything that shows you’re alive and working.
That bakery I mentioned? Started posting daily photos of what came out of the oven that morning. Customers began checking Google for what was fresh. Local pack appearance in less than a month.
Step 7: Track Everything That Matters
You can’t fix what you don’t measure. Every week, check:
- Where you rank for “[your service] near me”
- How many calls came from Google
- How many people requested directions
- Which searches are showing your business
Most businesses set up their Google profile and forget it exists. The ones dominating the local pack check theirs like they check their bank account.
Expensive Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Rankings
Stuffing keywords in your business name. “Mike’s Plumbing Best Plumber Chicago 24/7 Emergency” will get you suspended. Use your actual business name. Google’s not stupid.
Using fake addresses. Virtual offices, PO boxes, or your cousin’s apartment. Google will catch you and ban you. Only use addresses where customers can actually visit you.
Buying fake reviews. I’ve seen businesses lose everything trying to save a few hundred bucks on fake reviews. Google’s AI can spot patterns. Your nephew’s 10 fake accounts aren’t as clever as you think.
Hiding from bad reviews. A thoughtful response to a negative review builds more trust than five positive reviews. Show you care. Show you fix problems.
Thinking this is a one-time thing. Your competitors are working on their local rankings right now. While you’re reading this. Local SEO is like going to the gym. Stop doing it, and you’ll lose everything you gained.
Time to Stop Being Invisible
Search for your main service plus “near me” right now. Are you in the local pack? If not, you’re losing money every single day.
Check your Google Business Profile. Is it 100% complete? When was your last review? How many photos have you added this month?
Count how many directories have your wrong address. Count how many reviews your local pack competitors have. Count how many days you’re going to wait before fixing this.
The businesses crushing it in local search aren’t always the best at what they do. They’re just the best at making sure customers can find them. While you’re perfecting your service, they’re taking your customers.
Every Google search is a customer looking for help. Right now, Google’s sending them to someone else. Tomorrow, it could be sending them to you. But only if you stop treating local pack ranking like it’s optional.
Need help claiming your spot in the Local Pack? LocalSEO specializes in putting local businesses where customers can actually find them. Reach out for a free consultation, and let’s get your phone ringing again.