What is the Google 3 Pack?
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The Google 3-Pack, also known as the “local pack” or the “local SEO pack” is a listing of businesses Google displays at the top of local search results. Only three businesses are displayed, as opposed to the seven that once sat in those top spots. The results are displayed on a large map with the location marked in balloons. Along with the map, a snippet of information about the business is also displayed. This can include quick links to call a business, access to the website, and directions.
In addition, to contact information, Google also allows reviews and photographs within a listing. This allows visitors to see star ratings and photographs when they click on your business within the 3-Pack. Here, customers can add reviews, in addition to their own photographs. These can make a big difference to any business listing.
Why is it important that my business is in the 3Pack?
Much of what a business owner does, online or otherwise, is to try and increase exposure for their business. They want to make more customers aware of their presence so more customers will go to them instead of the competitor. This is exactly what the 3-Pack does in the online space. More customers are using Google over any other search engine (by a lot) and more customers are searching locally now more than ever. When they do perform a search to look for a business, service, or product, you want to make sure it’s your name they see first. While this sounds good in theory, there’s evidence to back it up, too. Studies have shown that the top three results in the 3-Pack have consistently higher click-through rates than any of the results below them. Most users click on the first results they find, particularly when those results are in a marked-off box indicating Google has categorized them as particularly relevant.
Is it free to get into the 3 Pack, or do Pack, or do I have to pay?
To get into the 3-Pack, you must have a Google Business Profile listing for your company. Google Business Profile is an online directory for businesses, a huge database containing the business names and information of those that have created a listing. This online directory is completely free and is one of many. However, only Google Business Profile will get you into the 3-Pack.
Many business owners are happy to just be in the 3-Pack and get more organic traffic. However, for those business owners that really want to ramp up their efforts, the 3-Pack also offers paid ads. These listings will sit at the top of the 3-Pack, above the other listings.
Are there any requirements for using Google Business Profile?
Google is all about relevancy, and that holds true for their online directory, Google Business Profile, too. Google wants to ensure they are offering users a good experience, so they try and return the most relevant and helpful results to them after a search is done. Due to this, Google allows just about any business to create a listing within Google Business Profile. It doesn’t matter if you have a physical storefront, or if you’re a consultant that spends much of the day on the road meeting with clients. However, there is one caveat. To create a listing, you must have some face-to-face interaction with your customers. Businesses that don’t do this, such as those that operate 100 percent online, are not eligible to create a Google My Business listing. This is largely due to the fact that the 3-Pack focuses on local businesses. When a business is not local but serves a huge area within the country, or international customers, and never sees those customers, they cannot use Google My Business or appear in the 3-Pack.
How can I get my business into the 3Pack?
The first thing to do when trying to get your business into the 3-Pack is to create a Google Business Profile listing. Google chooses what businesses to place in the 3-Pack by choosing listings out of this directory. Without a listing, you’ll never make it into those top spots. You can get started here: google.com/business.
How can I optimise a Google Business Profile Listing?
Once you’ve created your account and claimed your listing, you can then begin to optimise it. Optimizing your listing means that you’re tailoring it to Google’s preferences, so the search giant will recognize your company out of all the others and move it into the first three spots. There are several ways to optimize your listing but they all fall into three main categories: completeness and accuracy, employing SEO strategies, and placing a focus on reviews. The first step in optimizing is making sure your business listing is complete. Too many business owners skip over things like photos because they think they’re not necessary. They are. Anything that is asked for while filling out your listing is important; Google wouldn’t have put it there otherwise. Fill out as much information as you possibly can, including photos and hours of operation.
When filling out the information, make sure it is accurate. If holiday hours change or you’ve changed your logo, make sure your listing reflects this. Business owners need to continually check their listing even after it’s created to ensure it still accurately reflects the business.
Another thing to keep in mind when filling out the listing is that you should use SEO strategies. Remember it’s the Google 3-Pack and so it will follow the other algorithms of Google. Remember this when choosing keywords and linking to blog posts. It’s important and will have a great impact on where your business sits in the 3-Pack, or if it does at all.
Lastly, reviews in Google Business Profile listings are of huge importance. The listings with the most reviews generally get into the 3-Pack. That’s how vital they are to your listing. Get out there and start asking customers for reviews within a few days of buying your product or using your service.
Also, when people post reviews, be sure to respond to as many as possible. Either thank them for taking the time to say some kind words about your company, or apologise for a bad experience and ask how you can help. All of this will make your business shine in the eyes of Google and help you get into those three treasured spots.
Is it true that if you have bad bad reviews, being in the 3–Pack can hurt your business?
It’s true, having a bad review is frustrating and can send business owners into a panic. It can also stop them from doing something like trying to get into the 3-Pack. Bad reviews should never do this, though.
Google does consider the sentiment of a review when choosing which businesses will make it into the 3-Pack. However, one or two bad reviews aren’t going to be enough to leave you out of it. And they certainly aren’t enough to destroy your business.
Today, consumers have become extremely skeptical when browsing online. When they see a company that has all five-star ratings and glowing reviews, it often makes them think it’s too good to be true. They may even think the majority of reviews are fakes, so don’t feel as though you need to have perfect reviews all the time.
Also, remember that users can change or remove they’re reviews. If you take the time to address each one and ask how you can help correct the situation, they might change their review. They may even remove it entirely and replace it with an exceptional review. Don’t ever let a bad review or two keep you from trying to get into the 3-Pack, or do anything else in your business.
How does Google know it’s really my business when I antibusiness when I enter information?
Again, Google wants to deliver only helpful and relevant results to users. They can’t do that if their online directory is filled with illegitimate or fake businesses. Due to this, Google will verify your business after you’ve created a listing. They’ll do this by either sending a postcard, phoning, emailing, sending instant verification, or bulk verification.
If you choose to verify your business through a postcard, Google will send you one within five business days. While you wait for it, you shouldn’t change anything on your listing, as that could delay the process. The postcard will include instructions to verify the business. Not every business is eligible to verify by phone, but some are. With this option, Google will send you a text to allow you to verify your business. When email verification is chosen, Google will send an email to the address provided with steps on how to verify the business.
Some businesses are already verified through the Google Search Console. These businesses may be able to have instant verification and won’t need to take any steps at all. Other businesses that have ten or more locations can choose bulk verification, which allows all locations to be verified at the same time.
A former employee claimed my listing and now I don’t have access to it. What can I do?
Duties such as filling out an online listing are often tasks that business owners hand off to an employee or a consultant. There’s nothing wrong with doing so if you make sure that person provides you with all the information pertaining to your account.
Failing to do this is a simple oversight and a common mistake business owners make. An employee creates a listing, has all of the login information in a personal file, and when they leave the company, they take that information with them. Now you can’t continue to update your listing to get into the 3-Pack.
It’s a problem, but one that can be corrected.
Firstly, of course, try to contact the employee or consultant and simply ask for the information. If you can’t track them down or they no longer have it, you’ll have to go a bit further. Start by going to Google Business Profile and entering the name of your business. It will already be claimed, and Google will show you a screenshot of the email that was used to claim and verify the listing. In some cases, this triggers the memory of business owners, and they simply have to use a different email address to log in.
If you don’t recognize the email, or you know it was never yours, click on “Request Access.” This will open a form that you simply have to fill in and submit. Both you and the current claimer will get an email explaining the situation. At that point, the current claimer has one week to allow access.
If they approve, everything is fine and Google will send you an email with further instructions. If the request is denied, you will not be able to access that listing. You will have to create a new listing and try to change it as much as possible, such as including a new phone number. In cases of denial, the decision can be appealed. If the current claimer does not respond to the request at all within one week, Google will typically decide whether or not to grant you access.
Does the free website Google offers replace my website?
When users click on a listing in the Google 3-Pack, they generally want to be taken to that company’s website. While the 3-Pack changed this a little bit from what the 7-Pack once allowed, searchers can still do this. The website they’re taken to is still the website the business has had all along.
However, Google does provide an option for a free website within Google Business Profile. This is really only ideal for businesses that don’t already have a website. And even these owners should seriously consider getting one and making sure it is fully optimized with SEO best practices. The free website is very basic, has little opportunity for customization or optimization, and won’t get business owners the results they’re looking for.
What does my website have to do with the Google 3-Pack?
At first, a business owner might not make an immediate connection between their website and the Google 3-Pack at all, and that’s natural. After all, they’re two entirely different web spaces. However, a business’ website plays a huge role in a 3-Pack listing.
This is because after clicking on a company’s name in the 3-Pack, users will typically make their way over to that business’ website. Because of this, Google wants to make sure they’re only sending users to quality websites. Google can also see how users interact with your site, which will have a huge impact on whether or not you get into the 3-Pack.
This means all business owners should make sure they have their own website that includes great videos, articles, images, and information that potential customers want to know. Of course, as always with everything Google, make sure you are employing SEO tactics and strategies on every webpage to boost your ranking in the 3-Pack.
Is it okay not to include my address in the listing?
Google Business Profile listings are meant to give users the most relevant and helpful information possible. When a business does not include an address in its listing, Google considers this as going against the entire purpose of the listing. This is viewed negatively and as such, businesses without addresses will have a hard time getting into the 3-Pack.
Some businesses honestly don’t have a location. This is true for consultants, salespeople, and real estate agents. They may have a home office but most days, they’re on the road meeting with clients. They are a legitimate business, but in this case, don’t want to share the address of their private residence.
Leaving out an address in these cases is perfectly understandable. That doesn’t mean though, that it’s going to make it any easier to get into the 3-Pack. These business owners will simply need to make sure that their SEO tactics are on point, and that the rest of their listing, and their website, are outstanding.
What if my NAP isn’t consistent?
In the world of Google, consistency is key. This means that your NAP (name, address, phone number) must remain consistent throughout Google, on other websites, and wherever your name is mentioned online. When it’s not, Google starts to question the validity of the business. Are you still in business? Is your contact information accurate? Which listing is accurate for the company when there are several to choose from? When Google runs across information online that points to these questions, the search giant is not going to try and figure it out. It’s simply going to skip over that business, hurting all listings and all businesses that don’t have consistent information.
Many business owners don’t even consider the possibility of their NAP being inconsistent because why would it be? You are, after all, trying to give customers the correct information. This is likely true, but that doesn’t mean it always happens. Did you have a different phone number a couple of years ago? Did you use one phone number for promotion and another for your main office line? Have you moved in the past five years? All of these, and more, are ways that business owners inadvertently have inconsistent information online, and it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.
When the inconsistencies only involve one or two directories, it’s typically a very easy problem to correct. Simply log in and make sure all your NAPs match. However, when there are problems on several sites scattered all across the web, it may be best to leave it to an SEO or marketing expert.
What do online directories have to do with the 3 Pack?
Online directories impact your listing through more than just ensuring you have consistent NAPs across all sites. When a user performs a search for a business, service, or product, the businesses that offer those products are often displayed first under the 3-Pack. These listings include listings in the Yellow Pages, Yelp, and other notable directories.
This is why business owners want to make sure they’re in as many of these reputable directories as possible. Each listing in a directory separate from Google is usually ranked quite high, and that will ensure your business is also listed high in the search results.
In addition to this, Google takes citations into account when ranking businesses in the 3-Pack. Each time your business appears in a directory, it’s another citation and that helps your ranking in the 3-Pack.
Be careful though, when creating listings in directories. There are hundreds of them out there, and you only want the most reputable ones. Some of these include:
· Yelp
· YellowPages
· Bing Places for Business
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· Angie’s List
· TripAdvisor
Why is one of my business locations showing, but not the other?
When Google released its Possum algorithm update, it includes filters for locations and phone numbers. This means that businesses that have the same address or phone numbers will risk not being shown in the 3-Pack. Google will likely display one of them and determine which one based on which page has the best organic ranking in the search engine. This poses a problem for some business owners. They have different locations, but they share a phone number. Or, they’re a chiropractor that works in the same office building as many other chiropractors or doctors. Yet they can’t have their business displayed in the 3-Pack even though they’re a legitimate business.
The obvious choice is to get a new, separate phone number, or a new location. Sometimes this isn’t always feasible for business owners. When that is the case, they simply need to optimize location pages for their website and make sure it’s a completely different website than the other listing. For example, the chiropractor should make their own separate website and include that address in their listing rather than rely on the website for the entire building. In the case that you have two locations and only one is showing, you can create entirely different websites for each location, or create separate location landing pages for each store.
Do I need to make my local landing pages different from the main page?
Yes. If you’re going to create location landing pages on your website, you can’t just copy the material from one page and stick it onto another. Firstly, doing so won’t differentiate the page in the eyes of Google; the search engine won’t even know it’s a local landing page. Secondly, having duplicate material anywhere on your website, even when you originally created the material, is a big no-no in the eyes of Google. Your website will be penalized for it, and you’ll be even further from getting into the 3-Pack.
To optimize location landing pages, you can:
· Use local images
· Use local marketing copy, such as inserting the name of your city or region into the text
· Use geo-identification indicators
· Have a unique schema
Include as much hyperlocal content as you can (for example, pictures of a home show you were at in a specific city you service)
How many location landing pages should I have on my website?
Sometimes businesses may only have one or two service areas. For example, they have a store in one town and a second in another and that’s it. These cases are easy because the owner simply needs to create two different location pages – one for each town the company services.
Other businesses, though, have a huge service area. Contractors particularly fall into this category. They may spend a lot of time in one city, but also often travel to surrounding cities to perform work. Do they need a location page for every single city? What if they service ten cities or more?
Here the business owner needs to use a bit of judgment. What makes sense for the business? Do they spend time equally in all different cities, or do they focus on one or two? There is no maximum or minimum amount of location pages a business owner should have on their website. Just determine which locations mainly pertain to your business, and then create a location page for each one.
How can I delete several fake reviews on one of my business listings? This does not actually refer to listings that were purchased, although those can certainly be considered fake, too. But it does refer to fake reviews that have been left by disgruntled employees, or by customers that simply wanted something the business didn’t offer and so they post unnecessarily mean or malicious reviews onto the business’ listing. So, what can be done when that happens?
Unfortunately, there’s often no immediate answer. Most directories make it impossible for the business owner to remove reviews that are posted, as they want to give future and potential customers the chance to get an honest and accurate understanding of the business and what people think of them. But that doesn’t mean the business owner’s hands are fully tied either.
In this situation, the directory will have to be contacted and made aware of the situation. They will work with the business owner to verify the fact that the review is in fact, fake, and after that verification has taken place, they will work to remove the fake reviews.
Can I use stock art images in my listing?
In addition to liking things consistently, Google also really likes things that are authentic and unique. Due to this, the search engine will place more preference on listings that have authentic images, such as a picture of the storefront or the business’ logo, rather than stock art images. In addition, users really like to see pictures you’ve personally taken rather than something they could have looked up on their own. When those users see a custom image, they’re more likely to click on through to the website.
Having multiple authentic pictures can also help your listing. Google considers behaviours such as long clicks, or a lot of time spent looking through photos, and also ranks these listings higher than others.
Do random people really have the authority to change my listing in Google My Business?
Yes, and this can greatly hurt your business. It’s not just reviews and photos users can add. They can also change things like the business’ location, and you as the rightful owner may not ever even be notified. It seems unfair, but Google believes this helps make the listing more useful to other users.
There’s unfortunately, not a lot of business owners can do except regularly check their listing and make sure it is accurate. This is why it’s vital that all business owners don’t just create a listing to get into the 3-Pack, but continue to monitor it as well. Otherwise, you might never make it in.
Is Google Business Profile a social network?
In July 2017, Google made one more change to Google My Business (Now Google Business Profile) and that was to allow business owners to include posts in their listing. Due to the terminology, many business owners now assume that GBP is a social network where you “post” things you want your followers to know. This isn’t accurate, though. GBP is an online directory, not a social network. However, you should take advantage of the Posts option. It’s still a great way to get the word out to customers about a sale, promotion, or event, and can keep customers informed – which keeps customers happy. Think of posts as the best thing about a social network that GBP, the online directory, has adopted.
Is there any value to being in the top 20 results?
When the Google 3-Pack displays the information of the top three businesses, and a user clicks on one of those businesses, they’re not taken directly to the company’s website as they once were. Instead, now they are taken to another listing of businesses, 20 to be exact. At the top of this listing is the business the user clicked on. All other 19 businesses are listed underneath it.
This is a bit of a double-edged sword for business owners. It’s good news if you haven’t made it into the 3-Pack, because you still have a chance. However, you may have also done all that work to get into the 3-Pack just to give 19 other business owners the same opportunity.
So, is there value to being listed in those top 20 results?
Of course! Any time your competitors are listed, your business should be somewhere in the same list, even if it’s a few spots down. You still want to strive to get into the 3-Pack, as this is best. But if you can’t get into there, settling for the top 20 is a nearly comparable solution.
Are there paid ads in the 3 Pack?
Most people have gotten accustomed to the way Google displays search results. Paid ad listings are first, then the 3-Pack, then organic search results. However, paid ad listings and the 3-Pack do intersect each other. Google allows business owners to advertise in the 3-Pack through Google Ads. These results appear at the top of the 3-Pack and have a small “Ad” icon on them.
To be clear, creating an ads campaign through Google Ads is not enough. You must get into the 3-Pack and then create your ad. From there, Google will determine which business ads are most relevant to a user’s query. Even if you’ve created an ad, if Google doesn’t think it’s helpful or answers the user’s question, they may display it somewhere else in the search results, but not in the 3-Pack. Google will take into consideration the context of the query, the searcher’s location, time of day, and where the searcher has browsed in the past.
What are the biggest mistakes people make when creating a Google Business Profile?
Like anything else you do in online marketing, there are some common mistakes made with Google My Business listings. If you fall into the same trap of making those mistakes, your listing will suffer and you won’t make it into the 3-Pack. So, what are those mistakes?
· Not having a listing at all
· Having duplicate listings
· Missing relevant categories
· Missing contact information on your website or in your listing
· Inconsistent NAP information online
· Missing citations
· Missing customer reviews
· Low-quality website content
· Lack of high-quality, relevant links
· Not having a mobile-friendly website
The good news is that all of these mistakes are fairly easy to correct. You just have to know what to look for, and then get into your GBP listing to correct any mistakes you find.
How can I delete a listing?
How can I delete a listing?
Maybe you’ve accidentally created a listing for your business twice in GBP. Maybe you came across a duplicate listing and want to get rid of it. Or maybe, you’ve gone out of business and want to start fresh before embarking on your next endeavor. Whatever the reason, sometimes you need to delete a listing from GBP rather than create one. When that’s the case, this is what you can do:
Getting listed, and staying listed, within the 3-Pack mostly depends on your Google Business Profile listing. As a directory, Google Business Profile focuses on two things: local results, and mobility. As such, it makes sense that Google Business Profile would have an app that allows you to make changes to your account and keep it updated while on the go. And they do!
You can download Google My Business for iOS here:
You can download Google My Business for Android here:
Of course, you want to know how the app functions and what you’re getting into when you download it. It’s important to know that the Google My Business app will allow you to: