Map Pack

When someone searches plumber near me, dentist in Austin, or Italian restaurants, Google displays a prominent block at the top of the results. This block contains:

• A map header showing the geographic area
• Three business listings with name, rating, reviews count, address, and phone
• Action buttons to call, directions, or visit the website

This block is the Map Pack. It's called a pack because it bundles multiple business profiles together in a single SERP feature. It's called a map pack because the map is part of the design. The same feature is called the Local Pack in Google's own documentation and by many SEOs interchangeably.

These three terms mean the exact same thing:

• Map Pack — emphasizes the map component
• Local Pack — emphasizes that results are local/location-based
• Local 3-pack — emphasizes that exactly three businesses appear

Which term you use doesn't matter. The feature is identical. Map Pack is common in older SEO writing and marketing. Local Pack is the term you'll see in Google's official documentation and in current industry writing. Local 3-pack is less common but used to clarify that the format is always three, never more.

The Map Pack captures significant click volume on local searches. Businesses in the Map Pack get direct calls, direction clicks, and website traffic from a high-intent audience. Ranking in the top three organic results below the Map Pack generates less traffic than ranking in the Map Pack, which is why local SEO focuses heavily on Map Pack visibility. A single business can appear in a single search's Map Pack only if it matches the search's geographic intent and category intent well enough to rank in the top three for that location.