Google's Snack Pack Packs a Punch for Local Businesses

If your company’s services or goods are offered to local or regional customers only, you need to learn more about Google’s snack pack. The “snack pack,” “map pack,” or “local 3-pack” is a section of results at the top of some search engine results pages (SERPs). This section is usually accompanied by a map with locations pinned on it with businesses that most closely match the searcher’s intent.

This section packs a mighty punch when it comes to getting local business. Most customers will click on this snack pack when searching for a local product or service, such as a restaurant, hair salon, boutique, or drug store. The convenience of the built-in map helps customers to find the exact service or products they are looking for as well as the business’ location.

The snack pack makes life easier for consumers because Google takes nearly all the work out of finding a business—there are even pictures to help users make a decision. You definitely want your business to appear in this pack at the top of the results page. You will bring in more customers and your business will thrive.

So how do you get your business to rank in the 3-pack?

Ranking Locally in Google’s Snack Pack

To increase your chances of getting into the snack pack on a regular basis, there are some things you can do. Here’s some information on how to get into the Google 3 pack.

Claim and Maintain Your Google Business Profile (GBP) Account

One vital step you need to take is to claim your business listing on Google. You need to also make sure that you complete the listing as fully as possible and keep it updated. Updating your listing is important because it won’t help to show up in the 3-pack if your address or phone number is wrong.

Get Google Reviews

Google and other search engines prize customer experience and satisfaction, and positive Google reviews help them determine a site’s effectiveness. If Google thinks that people are loving your business, they will give you a boost and put you in the snack pack more often. To make it easier to obtain those coveted reviews, you can put shortcut links on your website, in emails, or on social media. Make sure you put in the work to obtain reviews—it will be worth it.

Paid Search Ads Could Help

Participating in Google’s ad platform, Google Ads, may not directly affect rankings in the map pack, but advertising through Google could still help you rank in the long run. That’s because positive rankings could improve due to increased traffic to your website thanks to Google paid advertising efforts.

Make Sure Your Website Is Secure

Google elevates websites that are secure, so make sure you have a website with https in the domain name.

Know Which Keywords You Want to Target

Businesses don’t want to target all searches, only the ones that are relevant to their business. For instance, if someone performs a search for a hair salon and you run a seafood restaurant, you probably don’t want to target that person’s keywords. You want to target keywords that help seafood lovers find your restaurant. For example, you could target keywords like:

• Seafood restaurant
• Kansas City
• Fish and chips
• Salmon platter
• Oyster lovers
• Restaurants serving clam chowder

Or target phrases like:

• Where can I get lobster in Kansas City?
• Where is a seafood restaurant near me?
• I want an oyster bar.

Targeting the right keywords could help rank you in the right 3-pack.

Frequent Content Updates

You also want to update your content regularly because this keeps your content fresh, accurate, and relevant. Don’t make the mistake of adding useless content, though. Make sure all content added is purposeful, unique, and constructive.

Improve Your Website’s SEO

Another way to get into Google’s map pack is to have great site metrics overall. Good page speed, traffic, backlinks, and other SEO factors play a role in Google’s decision to rank your site in the pack. Having maps and directions on your website could also help your site to rank locally.

List Your Business in Local Directories

Finally, listing your business in local online directories could help significantly when it comes to local rankings. Make sure you are in Yelp, Apple Maps, Foursquare, HomeAdvisor, FindLaw Yellowbook, Bing Places, and other relevant business listings in addition to listing in Google Business Profile. Getting your business to rank in the map pack is extremely important and well worth the effort. Most search engine users will click in the map pack to find local businesses, so you want to be there to be found. If you aren’t sure you can handle this process on your own, SEO experts can help get your business to rank locally.