Local Pack

The Local Pack is the box at the top of a Google search results page that shows three businesses with a map, star ratings, hours, and a directions button. It appears whenever Google decides a query has local intent, like "ramen in chicago" or "coffee shop near me".

Above the regular blue-link results, the Local Pack captures the majority of clicks for any local query. Studies consistently show that the top three map results pull more traffic than positions 1-10 of the organic results combined for local intent searches.

Google chooses which three businesses to show using the same ranking signals as Google Maps — proximity to the searcher, relevance to the query, and overall prominence. The pack is dynamic: a customer one block away sees a different three than a customer ten blocks away.

Getting into the pack is essentially the entire goal of local SEO for restaurants. Everything else — citations, reviews, photos, posts — feeds the signals that decide who appears in those three slots.

For a single-location restaurant, ranking in the Local Pack for your category and neighborhood (e.g. 'thai food brooklyn') is worth more than every other marketing channel combined. It is free, the searcher has high intent, and the click typically goes to directions or a phone call — not a window-shopper.