The Google Map Pack is the boxed set of local business listings, shown with a map, that Google places above the organic results for a search with local intent. Google's own help page says local results are "mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity," and the box has traditionally shown three businesses.
What decides who appears in the pack
Relevance, distance and prominence are the three factors Google names for local results. Prominence, in Google's words, "means how well-known a business is," fed partly by how many websites link to the business and how many reviews it has. Complete, accurate profile information is what Google says makes the match.
Practitioners score the same ground more finely. The 47 local search experts Whitespark surveyed for its 2026 report, published November 2025, rated 187 factors, and the edition's headline change was review and behavioural signals gaining weight.
When the Map Pack matters, and what is changing
The Map Pack matters most when a searcher is ready to call, and its shape is moving. Sterling Sky's rank tracking, published June 2026, found AI-powered local packs on about 7% of the keywords it tracks - US mobile only - showing one or two businesses instead of three, and carrying no call buttons.
Paid units are taking the rest. Across 2025, local pack ads went from 1% of the mobile reports Sterling Sky ran to nearly 22%. As of June 2026 that is one agency's keyword set, not an industry census, but the free slots are getting fewer.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google" - Google's own statement of the local ranking factors - relevance, distance and popularity/prominence - and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
- Whitespark, "Local Search Ranking Factors 2026" - Published November 6, 2025. An expert survey, not a measurement of Google: 47 local search experts scoring 187 factors, with review and behavioural signals gaining weight for 2026.
- Sterling Sky, "The State of Local SEO in 2026" - June 2026. Sterling Sky's own rank-tracking reports: AI local packs on about 7% of tracked keywords showing 1-2 businesses with no call buttons; local pack ads 1% to nearly 22% of mobile reports across 2025.