Everybody stumbled upon Snack Pack, Map Pack, formally known as Google Local Pack while using Google search. Google Local Pack is that section of Google’ search results that show Google users the local businesses related to their queries. When Google launched Google Local Pack there were 7 businesses featured in the section but now the Google Local Pack features only 3 businesses.
Businesses that are optimized for Google Local Pack search have more chances to be featured in the top than the businesses’ websites that are not optimized. Being featured in the top-ranked businesses brings numerous advantages to a business so it is important for local startups to break into Google Local Pack and to use that as an advantage for their startup.
Why Is It Crucial To Break Into Google’s Local Pack?
As a startup, you want to come up in as many local searches as possible and the best way to do this is to appear in the Local Pack since more than 90% of the times the search results do not change the businesses featured there.
Being featured on Google Local Pack will bring numerous benefits to your startup since most people do a quick search on their mobile phones and they only look at results on the first page of Google to find what they are looking for and Google wants to make sure that it only recommends local business so there is a huge chance startups will be featured in the Local Pack more often than the big chains.
Being featured in the Local Pack means traffic to your website but also new customers in store if you have a physical store.
How Can Your Business Rank For Google The Local Pack?
There are numerous factors Google’s algorithm take into account when displaying the Local Pack from a specific location. The algorithm is complicated, of course, but there are three things you can do to increase your chances of being featured in the Local Pack.
Website SEO
The first thing you have to do in order to break into Google’s Local Pack is to work on your website’s SEO strategy. If you don’t know anything about SEO, make sure you hire a good expert that can create and implement a good SEO strategy.
Business Information
Google wants to provide the best experience and information to users so the Local Pack will always feature businesses that can provide a solution or useful information to a query. To do this, Google takes into consideration some key factors like category, proximity, and keywords. Google finds these key factors in the Google My Business listings so if you do not have a complete profile there, make sure you set up one as soon as possible.
Online Reviews
Last but by no means least, Google looks at a business’ online reviews. This is a crucial part of the Local Pack algorithm so the more reviews the better but quantity is not the only thing that will get you featured in the Local Pack, review diversity and velocity are also very important. Reviews are great for Google’s algorithm but not only for that. Reviews influence the decision-making process of potential customers so if you have good reviews, you can notice the positive influence they make for our startup.