Google’s 3-Pack ranking is essential for local businesses.
People turn to Google for everything these days. It’s been the number one search engine since at least 2004, which is impressive considering its inception was only a few years before in 1998. Today, over 20 years later, it remains the top place people go when they’re looking for a product, service, company, or just general information.
Marketers and business owners know this. It’s why they make sure their websites are optimised according to Google’s algorithms. Not Yahoo’s, not Bing’s, but Google’s. They optimise their website by using search engine optimisation, making sure their website is mobile-friendly and secure, and using both external and internal links to other web pages.
And it’s why so many have already caught onto the importance of Google’s 3-Pack Ranking. The Google 3-Pack is at its most basic, a top listing of places Google recommends. This recommendation is gold for business owners. They know that when a customer/client sees them in this little blocked-off space reserved just for them, they’re going to get way more calls than the business that’s sitting in the number eight spot.
Sounds good, right? So, how do you get your business into one of those top three spots? How do you take your business from the front page to the top three spots on that front page?
Table of Contents
How To Rank Your Website In Google’s 3-Pack
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What is Google’s 3-Pack Ranking?
Google 3-Pack Ranking is all about giving people relevant search results that answer their queries. It’s the only way to keep people coming back to use their search engine, and this focus on relevance is why Google has been the number one search engine for so long. Google’s 3 Pack Ranking is one way they do this and it’s specifically tailored to users that have local intent.
Local intent means that the user is looking for something local. Google is international, and there’s a lot of information on it. Without the 3-Pack, it would be difficult for customers to find something in the neighbourhood they’re currently in. So, Google has encouraged business owners and marketers to go local in everything they do, and one of the main focuses is on the 3-Pack.
How does Google do this? By recognising local terms. Clearly, beginning with a street name or the name of a city is a good place to start. Users looking for somewhere to eat lunch, for example, may enter a query of, “Birmingham Italian restaurants.” They would get a listing of search results only for Italian restaurants in Coventry The most optimised for Google would appear in the 3-Pack.
Google also considers terms like “find” or “near me” to express local intent. Lastly, any business category or term normally associated with small businesses is also considered local intent. These are terms such as “plumber, estate agent, or dentist.”
Google’s 3-Pack Ranking is designed for these local users, and for these local businesses.
Once Google understands that a user has local intent, they place a group of businesses into the 3-Pack. Google’s 3-Pack Ranking is displayed at the very top of the first page of Google’s search result pages. The only results above the 3-Pack are paid advertisements. Below the 3-Pack sit all the results that ranked organically, that is through optimisation alone and not paid ads.
In addition to listing the name of the business and the street, it’s on, the 3-Pack also displays business reviews, images, business hours, and if a business is currently opened or closed.
Since Google dropped the number of listings in this pack from seven to three, many business owners and marketers thought it was a change that would only make life more difficult for local business owners. That’s not necessarily true, though.
It’s important to remember that those top three spots are in rotation based on the user’s physical location. When two users are even just a few miles away from each other, those results will change depending on the location of the user. That means that the 3-Pack could potentially allow even more businesses to enjoy increased exposure.
How Google’s 3-Pack Ranking Can Impact Your Business?
So, now you know that getting your business listed in Google’s 3-Pack ranking will give your business more exposure. Often in marketing, it’s hard to quantify just how much exposure your business will get. That’s not the case with the 3-Pack, though. The top three businesses in the Google 3-Pack ranking receive 44% of the total clicks after a user searches for a company. That beats paid clicks, other local result clicks, and organic clicks.
See how beneficial the Google 3-Pack ranking is for your business? With so many customers out right now in your community searching for your business, the best way to help them find it is by ranking Google’s 3-Pack. This will increase foot traffic, something all local businesses rely on, bring in new customers, and boost your bottom line.
So, now that you understand the benefits Google’s 3-Pack Ranking has to offer business owners, how do you get your business into it?
Using Google Business Profile for Google’s 3-Pack Ranking
Getting in the Google 3-Pack Ranking all starts with a Google Business Profile listing. If you don’t yet have one, now is the time to get started creating one. Getting listed on Google Business Profile is free and, unlike what many business owners think, it does not replace having your own website. In fact, not having a website could greatly hurt your chances of ranking in the 3-Pack.
Google Business Profile (GBP) complements your business’ website by providing basic information to users through BBP, the largest online local directory. The information contained within a GBP listing is then shown in Google Search, namely the 3-Pack, and on Google Maps, which is displayed along with the listing.
If you’ve already used Google to promote your business, either through Google Place for Business or Google+ Pages Dashboard, your business is likely already on GBP. When Google did away with these services, they automatically converted businesses over. Still, the information displayed is likely pretty bare if you haven’t created and optimised your own GBP listing.
To start creating your own listing, or see if your business already appears in GBP, you can visit https://www.google.com/intl/en_ca/business/. Once you have a basic GBP listing, you can then begin to optimise it. Google chooses the best three businesses to display in the 3-Pack based largely on these listings. Business owners that have ensured their listing is optimised are more likely to rank in the 3-Pack.
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