The map pack is the box of three businesses Google shows above the normal results when someone searches something local. "Plumber Richmond", "roof repairs near me", that sort of thing. Most people tap one of those three and never scroll. If you're fourth, you may as well be fortieth.
Google has said publicly it ranks the map pack on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. That sounds vague until you work out which one you can actually move.
Distance: you can't change it, so stop trying
Distance is how far your listed address is from wherever the searcher is standing. You can't fake it. People try, with fake addresses and virtual offices, and Google suspends them for it. I've seen a tradie lose a profile with 80 reviews on it over a mailbox address.
What you can do is set your service area properly. If you're a mobile business and you work out of home, hide your address and list the suburbs you actually service. Google then shows you across that area instead of pinning you to one street.
Relevance: tell Google exactly what you do
Relevance is how well your profile matches what was typed. This is the easiest win and almost nobody finishes it.
- Primary category. Pick the most specific one that fits. "Roofing contractor" beats "contractor". This is the single biggest relevance lever on the whole profile.
- Secondary categories. Add every one you genuinely do. Each one is another search you can appear for.
- Services. List them individually with a line of description each. Not "plumbing". Blocked drains, hot water replacement, burst pipes, gas fitting.
- Description. 750 characters. Say what you do and where, in the words customers use.
- Hours. Including public holidays. A profile marked closed when you're open loses the click outright.
Go and look at your profile right now. If the services list is empty, that's an afternoon of work that will do more than anything else on this page.
Prominence: reviews, and it's not close
Prominence is how well known Google thinks you are. Mentions of your business around the web, links to your site, and reviews. For a local business, reviews do most of the lifting.
Two things matter, and they're different. Count and rate. Count is how many you have. Rate is how fast they arrive. A business sitting on 200 reviews from three years ago looks less alive to Google than one adding four a month. Steady beats a big pile that stopped.
Reply to every one of them too. Google reads the replies, and so does the person deciding whether to call you. A profile where the owner answers reads completely differently to one where nobody's home.
The stuff that matters less than people think
- Google Posts. Nice, low impact on ranking. Do them if you've got the time, don't if you haven't.
- Photo count. Helps conversion a lot, helps ranking a little. Still worth doing because it decides who calls.
- Keyword stuffing your business name. "Dave's Plumbing Melbourne Blocked Drains 24/7" is against Google's rules and competitors can report it in two clicks.
- Citation blasts. Those services that list you on 300 directories. Mostly dead weight in 2026.
What I'd do first, in order
- Fix the primary category. Five minutes.
- Fill in every service with a description. One afternoon.
- Set the service area to the suburbs you actually cover.
- Start asking every finished job for a review, and keep doing it. Forever, not for a fortnight.
- Reply to every review, old ones included.
That's it. The first four are free and you can do them yourself. The fifth is the one nobody keeps up, which is why it's worth paying someone to run.
Rather not do this yourself? Our Google Business Profile management handles the profile, the posts and the reviews every week, for one monthly fee.