What is the Google Snack Pack?

The Google Snack Pack is the map and three businesses Google shows above the normal results for local searches, like "plumber near me" or "electrician Southport". It's also called the local pack, the Google local pack, the local 3-pack or the map pack. Getting into it is one of the main goals of local SEO, because it's the first thing many customers see and tap.

What the Snack Pack shows

For each of the three businesses, the local snack pack usually shows:

• the business name, rating and number of reviews;
• the business category, like "Plumber" or "Electrician";
• the suburb or address, and whether it's open now;
• buttons to call, get directions or visit the website.

There's a map above or beside the three listings, and a link to see more places in Google Maps. Sometimes one of the spots is an ad, marked "Sponsored".

Why it's called the Snack Pack

Google used to show seven local businesses (the "7-pack"). In August 2015 it cut this to three, a smaller "snack" of results that works better on phones. The name stuck.

Snack Pack, local pack, Google Maps: what's the difference?

• Google Snack Pack / local pack: the box of three businesses inside the normal Google results.
• Local finder: the longer list you see when you click "More places".
• Google Maps: Google's map app, where many customers find and call local trades and firms. It uses the same business information.

They all come from your Google Business Profile: a business's free listing on Google Search and Google Maps, with hours, reviews and photos. So the same work helps in all three.

How does Google decide the Snack Pack ranking?

Google says local results are based mainly on three things (Google's own guide):

1. Relevance: how well your business matches what the person searched for.
2. Distance: how far your business is from the person searching, or from the place they named.
3. Prominence: how well known your business is. Reviews (how many and how good), links and mentions across the web, and your position in the normal results all play a part.

Google Maps ranking works the same way. You can't change distance, so snack pack SEO is about relevance and prominence.

How to rank higher on Google Maps and in the Snack Pack: 8 steps

1. Complete your Google Business Profile. Choose the most accurate main category and the right extra categories, list every service, set your hours and add real photos of your work, vans and team.
2. Use your real business name. Don't add keywords or suburbs to your name. It's against Google's guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
3. Set your service area properly. Most tradies are a service-area business: a business that travels to customers, like most tradies, and shows an area instead of an address. Show the suburbs you serve and hide your home address.
4. Get genuine reviews. Customer reviews on Google and other sites, which help both rankings and trust. Ask happy customers the day the job is done, with a direct link. Never buy reviews or write your own.
5. Keep your details the same everywhere. Citations are listings of a business's name, address and phone on other websites, which must match everywhere.
6. Build a strong website. Clear pages for each service and each area you serve, each written for that place. A page per suburb that's just a copy with the name swapped doesn't help.
7. Earn local links and mentions. Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, which Google treats as votes of trust: associations, suppliers, sponsorships and local news.
8. Track calls and enquiries, not just rankings, so you know what the Snack Pack actually brings in.

What we usually find on new clients' profiles

When we first look at a tradie's Google Business Profile and website, the same things come up: the wrong main category, services missing, no service area set, old photos, and a website with suburb pages copied from a template, the old suburb still in the page title and text. Fixing those is usually the fastest win.

What doesn't help

• Stuffing keywords into your business name.
• Fake or paid reviews.
• Fake addresses or virtual offices for areas you don't really work from.
• Posting updates to your profile just to rank. Posts can help customers, but in our experience they don't move rankings.

How long does it take to get into the Snack Pack?

It depends on how close you are to the searchers, how competitive your trade is and where you start. Fixing an incomplete profile can help within weeks. In busy areas and industries it usually takes months of steady work.

Does the Snack Pack matter for AI search?

Yes. Google's AI Overviews, the AI-written answers Google now shows above, or instead of, the normal results, and tools like ChatGPT draw on business profiles, reviews and listings to recommend local businesses. Google and AI tools trust a business more when its name, address and details match everywhere. More: AI search visibility.