What is the Google Snack Pack?
The google snack pack appears at the top of a google search that has local intent and includes a small number of local business listings.
A local intent search is one that is centered around location. Such as:
- plumber near me
- restaurants in paddington
- electrician St Kilda
- accountant near long beach
The current version of the snack pack only shows 3 results on desktop and mobile.
For local businesses this is the most valuable realestate on the internet and getting into the snack pack (and being removed from the snack pack) can have a major influence on how much business you receive from online.
If you are a local business your goal is to be listed here for your local keywords.
The Google Snack Pack is also referred to as the Google Local Pack, Google 3 Pack or the Local 3 Pack and is shown below.
A Google Snack Pack entry tends to include:
- Business Name
- The rating and number of reviews on Google My Business
- The street address
- An indication of cost
- The main business type of the business
- Whether the business is currently open or closed and when it will open
- A photo thumbnail
- A short description or list of amenities
The information shown on your local pack entry is taken from your full Google My Business profile. So, if you are not listed on Google My Business you need to be listed to appear on the snack pack results..
How to get into the Google Snack Pack
First off, your business must be listed on Google My Business. If you are not, get listed on Google My Business straight away.
If your business is not currently in the snack pack for keywords that are important to your business then one of your most effective strategies to increase business online is to optimize your business so you appear as high as possible in the snack pack.
To increase your ranking in Google Maps so that you appear in the top 3 you should focus on the following:
- Create high quality and consistent citations on services with high authority for your business.
- Get a reasonable number of good but natural online reviews on your Google Business Profile listing and across the internet.
- Generate high quality backlinks to your website.
- Optimise your Google My Business listing to ensure it is complete and correct with good content like photos and posts.
How to check your position in the Google Snack Pack
Before checking how your business appears in the Google Snack Pack you should determine the local search keywords that are important to your business. These are the keywords your potential customers would use to find a business like yours online.
Now go to google in your browser and enter each of the keywords you identified.
If your business is not in the top 3 results click on the More Places link and look through the results until you find your business.
If your business is just outside the top 3 you have a real opportunity to get more business online by improving your online presence and getting into the top 3 so that you appear in the snack pack.
myPresences will automatically add search terms for your most important keywords when you add your business and continuously monitor your rankings.
Local Search Ads
If you want to get featured at the top of the Google Snack Pack quickly you can pay for ads using Google Local Ads.
Ads will appear at the top of the snack pack and will be marked as an ad.
Follow these instructions to setup google local ads.
History of the Google Snack Pack
The Google Snack Pack was originally called the Local Pack and was released in 2008 with 10 results. This was reduced to 7 results in 2009.
Due to the move to mobile first results on Google 3 entries was the optimal amount of results and in 2015 google started to show 3 results on desktop and mobile and this is when the name “Snack Pack” became prominent.
