Google’s 3-pack is a vital part of your local SEO strategy. It allows you to show up as one of the first three listings that show up when someone searches for something in your industry. For many businesses, this listing can be the difference between being able to compete or not – but it doesn’t have to be hard! In this guide, I am going to walk through exactly what it takes and how you can rank #1 on Google’s 3-pack so that your business shows up above those competitors who are currently ranking.

What Are The Benefits of Ranking on Google’s 3-Pack?

There are many benefits to ranking on Google’s local SEO pack, but the most significant is that you can be found by more customers. You want your business to show up whenever someone searches for something in your industry – even if they aren’t thinking about hiring you for a service or purchasing a product from you right now.

Don’t think of it as just being able to generate more sales. Think of it as a way to build brand awareness while also generating sales. The benefits of ranking on Google’s 3-pack are as follows:

1. Build brand awareness. Even if prospective customers aren’t ready to make a purchase, oftentimes they will do research months before making a purchase. That research takes place on Google – so the more often you show up on top, the more likely they are to remember you as the most credible resource in your industry.
2. Increase Traffic. This one is obvious – The higher you rank on Google’s 3-pack, the more eyes you will have on your business. The more eyes you have on your business, the more traffic you will get to your website.
3. Boost Revenue. Assuming you have your ducks in a row, and your website is optimized for conversions, your revenue will naturally grow. You
4. Increase Conversion Rate. By having more eyes on your website, and by being viewed as credible, you will likely increase conversion rates from visitors to leads – which is huge! When lead conversions go up, so do sales

What Are Google’s Ranking Factors for the 3-pack?

Google’s algorithm takes into account many factors when deciding which local businesses to show in their local pack. Rankings are determined by a combination of quality and/or relevance metrics including:

– Relevance

– Proximity

– Prominence

The work that goes into improving your 3-pack ranking has everything to do with improving these three metrics.

Relevance

When you type a keyword or keyphrase into Google, the search engine’s job is to give you the most relevant answer to your search. So, if someone is searching for a plumber, Google will only show plumbers. It is important to complete your google my business profile so that Google can better understand your business, and show you as the relevant answer.

Proximity

Rankings are also determined by proximity or distance from the searcher’s location and the business address listed on Google My Business. If a location isn’t specified in the search query, Google will use what it knows about the searcher’s location to provide the best search results.

Prominence

This refers to how well a business is known. Naturally, large brands like Walmart will show up first because of their prominence online and offline.

When we talk about online prominence, this refers to information that Google has about a business across the web. This can include backlinks, articles, and directory listings – the more prominent you are across the web, the higher you will rank.

Online reviews also count towards improving your prominence. We are firm believers that every business should have a system in place to collect reviews. Here’s an article on how to collect google reviews on auto-pilot.

How to Rank on Google’s 3-pack

Now that we understand what Google looks at when determining which site to rank on the 3-pack we can dive into what it takes to rank. Local SEO is one of those things that takes an accumulation of marginal gains over a long period of time. You won’t always see results overnight – but you will see results if you implement the following.

Improve Your Company’s Relevance

1. Complete your Google My Business (GMB) profile with accurate information
2. Update your website with keywords that you want to rank for

Improve Your Company’s Prominence

1. Implement a backlinking strategy to improve your site’s domain authority
2. Collect and respond to google reviews
3. List your company in business directories like Yelp and the Yellow Pages – there are hundreds of these

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of benefits to ranking in the local pack. You can attract more foot traffic, increase your business’s conversion rate and improve your company’s ROI

If you would like us to implement your local SEO strategy – take a look at our SEO process, then schedule a call so that we can learn more about your business.