What decides which businesses appear in the map pack?
Three things, and Google names them itself: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is whether your profile and website match what was typed. Distance is how far you are from the searcher, or from the place they named. Prominence is how well known the business looks, which Google reads from reviews, mentions on other websites, links and the strength of the website behind the profile.
You control the first fully, the third mostly, and the second hardly at all, which is why the work goes where it can make a difference.
Does my address decide where I show up?
Largely, yes. A business at Pellon shows most readily for searches made in and around Pellon, and a Brighouse firm will struggle to appear in the map pack for a search made in Todmorden however good its profile is. Tradespeople who work from home can hide the address and set a service area, and the profile still shows, but Google still centres it on the town the business is registered in.
The practical answer is to own your own patch first. A Halifax business that appears every time somebody within a few miles searches has a bigger and more reliable source of work than one chasing the whole valley.
What should be on the Google Business Profile?
The right primary category, before anything else, because Google leans on it more than on any other field. Then every service you want to be found for listed as a service, a description written in plain English, opening hours that are true, and photographs of real jobs added regularly. Answer the questions in the Q&A yourself, post now and then, and make sure the phone number and address match the website to the letter.
Most profiles we open have the wrong category, half the services missing and photographs from the day it was set up. Fixing that alone moves some businesses into the pack.
Do reviews really move the map pack?
Yes, and so does replying to them. The number of reviews, how recent they are, the rating and the words customers use all feed prominence, and a review that mentions the job and the town does more than a bare five stars. Ask every happy customer, make it a one-tap link, and reply to each one, including the bad ones, because Google and the next customer both read the replies.
Twenty genuine reviews earned over a year beat two hundred bought in a week, and the bought ones tend to get the profile suspended anyway.
Does the website affect the map result?
It does, and the page the profile links to matters most. Google checks that the site backs up what the profile claims, so the linked page should name the services, the town and the areas covered, carry the same phone number and address, and load quickly on a phone. Mentions of the business on other sites, trade bodies, suppliers, local directories and the press, add to prominence too, provided the details match everywhere.
This is where the map pack and the ordinary rankings overlap. RB Electrical in Halifax has a page for every service it wants to be found for, which is the website half of the job done.
How long does it take to get into the map pack?
Profile fixes can show within a few weeks; earning the reviews and the mentions that hold a position takes months. A business with a sound website, a correct profile and a steady flow of reviews usually sees the map pack move before the organic rankings do, which is one reason we start there for trades and local services.
Nobody can promise you a place in the three, and if somebody does, ask them how. What can be promised is that every one of the things above gets done properly and measured.
