Updated 28th October 2026. First published in 2020.
When I first wrote this article, local businesses were still getting used to Google showing three companies on its map results instead of seven. The 3-pack is still there and still decides who gets the call. What has changed is everything around it. Buyers now check reviews more closely than ever, and many ask ChatGPT or Google's AI Mode for a business recommendation before they start searching.
BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US consumers found that 97% read reviews for local businesses, and 45% now use AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. This guide explains how the 3-pack works now, how to get into it and how to make sure AI tools recommend you too.
What is the Google local SEO 3 pack?
What has changed?
How does it impact your local business?
6 ways on how to adjust your local SEO strategy
What is the Google local SEO 3 pack?
The local 3-pack is the block of three businesses, shown with a map, that Google displays when a search has local intent. Search for "emergency plumber near me" or "dentist in Austin", and you'll see it near the top of the page, often above the normal organic results.
Each listing shows the business name, star rating, number of reviews, opening hours and buttons to call, get directions or visit the website. A link underneath opens the full list in Google Maps. Sponsored listings can also appear at the top, so the three organic spots are even more valuable.
For a local business, those three spots matter more than almost anything else in search. On a phone, the 3-pack can fill most of the screen, and people who search with local intent usually want to act quickly.
Why the Google the 3-pack matters more now
The 3-pack is hard to win, and AI search is harder still. SOCi's 2026 Local Visibility Index tracked more than 350,000 locations across 2,751 multi-location brands. It found the average location appears in Google's local 3-pack 35.9% of the time, while ChatGPT recommends just 1.2% of locations and Gemini 11%.
Local businesses are far harder to find in AI search
How often the average business location appears in Google's local 3-pack, or is recommended by AI tools
Source: SOCi 2026 Local Visibility Index, 350,000+ locations across 2,751 multi-location brands.
Gemini relies on Google Maps data, so a strong Google Business Profile helps there directly. ChatGPT now runs its own search index and draws on reviews, directories and websites across the web.
A business that ranks well on Google and stays consistent everywhere else has the best chance of appearing in both.
How Google decides who appears
Google says it ranks local results on three things, relevance, distance and prominence. It's also clear that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."
| Factor | What Google looks at | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well your profile and website match the search | Choose a specific primary category, list every service and match them on your website |
| Distance | How far you are from the searcher, or from the place named in the search | Verify your real address or service area, and build a page for each area you serve |
| Prominence | How well known you are, from reviews and links to mentions across the web | Earn reviews every month, reply to them and win local links and press coverage |
Distance is the one you can't change, which is why two people searching from different streets can see different businesses. Relevance and prominence are where your effort pays off. Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey of local SEO specialists found that review signals and behavioural signals have grown in importance, while links and citations count for slightly less than before. That matches what I see with our clients. A complete, active profile with a steady stream of good reviews does more than any other single change.
How to get into the local 3-pack
1. Complete your Google Business Profile, then keep it active
Your Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is where Google takes almost everything it shows in the 3-pack. Claim and verify it, then fill in every field.
Primary category. Pick the most specific one that fits, such as "Italian restaurant" instead of "Restaurant". Add secondary categories for other services you genuinely offer.
Services and description. List each service and describe what you do in plain language, using the words your customers search for.
Name, address and phone. Use your real business name, with no added keywords, and keep your address and phone number identical on your website and every directory.
Hours. Keep opening hours accurate, including holiday hours. Google shows whether you're open now, and a customer who calls when you said you'd be open won't call twice.
Photos and updates. Add real photos of your premises, team and work, and post updates regularly so your profile stays active.
Adding keywords to your business name might lift you for a while. It also breaks Google's guidelines, and competitors can report it, which can get your profile suspended.
2. Earn reviews every month, not in one burst
Reviews affect where you rank and whether people choose you once they see you. BrightLocal found that 74% of consumers look for reviews written in the last three months, and 68% will only use a business rated four stars or higher. A burst of reviews followed by a long silence looks stale. A steady flow keeps your rating fresh.
Make asking for a review part of how you finish every job. We add a link to our Google reviews at the end of our emails. Our ecommerce clients send automatic Trustpilot invitations after each order, which can also count towards their Google store rating. For B2B services, we ask happy clients to review us on Clutch, which buyers check before they shortlist an agency.
Reply to every review, good or bad, and write each reply yourself. BrightLocal found that 89% of consumers expect businesses to respond, and 50% are put off by generic replies.
Stay within the rules. Google's policy bans offering payment, discounts or free goods in exchange for any review, and bans selectively asking only happy customers. In the USA, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews has been in force since October 2024. It bans fake reviews, incentives tied to positive reviews and threats used to remove negative ones, with civil penalties for each violation.
| Fine to do | Not allowed | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking | Ask every customer, with a review link in emails, receipts or invoices | Ask only the customers you know are happy |
| Rewards | Thank customers for their feedback | Offer discounts, gifts or payment for a review |
| Content | Ask customers to describe their experience honestly | Script reviews or tell customers which keywords to use |
| Staff | Ask staff to share your review link with customers | Review the business yourself, or ask staff, friends or family to |
| Negative reviews | Reply calmly and fix the problem | Threaten reviewers or pay them to remove a review |
3. Build local pages that match your profile
Google checks your website to confirm what your profile says. Link your profile to the page that best matches your main service and location, and make sure that page includes the city or area in the title tag, H1 and content. Add your name, address and phone number, an embedded Google map and LocalBusiness schema, along with the on-page basics every webpage needs.
If you serve several towns, create a page for each one with genuinely local content, such as the jobs you've done there, local prices or area-specific advice. Near-identical pages with only the city name swapped are thin content and won't help, which is a common way to earn a Google penalty.
4. Be specific about what you do
The more specific the search, the fewer businesses compete for it. A general builder competes with every builder in town. A specialist in kitchen extensions competes with a handful. Make your specialism clear in your primary category, services, website and the way you ask for reviews, so customers mention the work you did in their own words.
5. Get listed and mentioned beyond Google
Prominence comes from across the web. Win links and mentions from local sources, such as your chamber of commerce, local news sites, sponsorships, community events and industry associations. Keep your details consistent on the directories that matter in the USA, including Yelp, Apple Business Connect and Bing Places.
Apple Maps deserves more attention than most businesses give it. BrightLocal found that 27% of consumers used Apple Maps to read local reviews in 2026, up from 14%, while Google's share fell from 83% to 71%. People now check several places before they choose, and AI tools do the same.
How to appear in AI search for local businesses
BrightLocal found that 31% of US consumers used ChatGPT and 23% used Google's AI Mode for business recommendations in the past year. I've seen local businesses recommended in both, and the ones that appear are almost always the ones that already do well on Google.
I see AI search as 95% solid SEO and 5% new nuances, and that holds for local search too. AI tools look for the same signals Google does. They want a complete profile, plenty of recent reviews, consistent details across the web and a website that clearly says what you do and where. The nuance is that they also summarise what reviewers say about you, so the detail in your reviews matters as much as the star rating. The same principles build your brand visibility in AI tools beyond local search.
How to track your local rankings
Local rankings change from street to street, so a single rank check tells you little. Use a geo-grid tool, which checks your position from points across your area and shows where you're strong and where you disappear.
Google Business Profile's own performance report shows calls, direction requests and website clicks, which matter more than rankings. Add UTM tags to your profile's website link so that visits show up separately in Google Analytics 4, and track how often AI tools mention you with AI citation tracking. Treat sudden drops in daily rank checks with care, since poisoned SERPs can report losses that never happened.
Our local SEO services cover all of this for US businesses, from your profile and reviews to local pages and AI search. We combine it with SEO, content writing, PPC, social media and web design, so your local pages, ads and profile all point in the same direction.
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It usually takes from a few weeks to several months. Fixing a neglected profile, such as choosing the right primary category, completing your services and correcting your hours, can show results within weeks, because Google reads those changes quickly. Competitive searches take longer, because prominence builds slowly. You need months of steady reviews and local links to overtake businesses that have been collecting them for years.
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Yes. Plumbers, cleaners and other businesses that visit customers can set up a service-area profile and hide their address. Google still uses the address you verified to judge distance, so you'll rank most easily close to your real base. You can't use a virtual office or a mailbox address to appear somewhere you don't operate, as Google removes profiles that do.
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Not directly. Google's local ranking relies mainly on reviews on your Google Business Profile. Reviews elsewhere still help in three ways. They build the prominence Google measures across the web and they're what AI tools read when they summarise your reputation. Buyers check them too. Only 71% of consumers now use Google to read local reviews, so being well reviewed on several platforms matters. For ecommerce, Trustpilot reviews can also count towards your Google store rating.
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Not in the organic results. Google says there's no way to pay for a better local ranking, so your place in the three organic spots has to be earned. You can pay for visibility around them, however. Local Services Ads and Google Ads with location assets can appear above or within local results, which helps while your organic rankings build. Our PPC team often runs both side by side.
