What is the Google map pack and how do you rank in it?
The three local results above the organic listings, and the signals that decide them.
The map pack is the block of three business listings with a map that appears above the organic results for local searches, and Google ranks it on relevance, distance, and prominence. Those three are named directly on Google's local ranking help page.
The three signals
- Relevance. How well your Business Profile matches what someone searched. Driven mostly by your primary category, your services, and the content on your site. Google's advice here is to keep the profile complete so it can understand your business.
- Distance. How far you are from the searcher. You cannot influence it. It is why your map pack position is different from a customer's phone two towns over.
- Prominence. How well known the business is. Google names links pointing to your business and review volume and ratings as contributors, and states that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.
Google also states plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone guaranteeing a map pack position is either guessing or lying.
Map pack, local finder, and Maps
Clicking past the three results opens the local finder, a longer list from the same index. Google Maps itself draws on the same data. In practice you are optimizing one thing, not three, which is why chasing Maps rankings separately from map pack rankings is wasted effort.
What this means for your reporting
Because distance is a live input, there is no single map pack rank. Your position changes block by block. A report showing you at position two means position two from wherever that tool checked. Serious local reporting samples a grid of points across your service area, and even then it is a proxy. The numbers that matter are calls, direction requests, and booked work.
Related: How do you rank for near me searches?, Optimizing your profile, Local Search Ads vs PPC, Tracking local SEO.