What the Map Pack Is and Why It Matters
When someone searches Google for a local service, "electrician near me" or "roofer in Colwyn Bay", the top of the results page shows a map with three business listings underneath it. That is the map pack, sometimes called the local pack or the three-pack. It is the most valuable piece of real estate in local search.
Businesses that appear in the map pack receive a disproportionate share of clicks and calls. Research consistently shows that the map pack captures somewhere between 30 and 50 per cent of all clicks on a local search results page. If you are not in those three positions, you are sharing the leftovers with every other business on the page.
For a plumber, electrician, or builder in North Wales, getting into the map pack can mean the difference between a phone that rings constantly and one that stays quiet. This guide lays out exactly how to get there, month by month, with no shortcuts and no guesswork.
Only 3 businesses appear in the local map pack
Map pack results receive 44% of all clicks on the first page
Month One: Build the Foundation
Everything starts with your Google Business Profile. If you do not have one, create one at business.google.com. If you already have one, this month is about making sure every detail is correct and complete.
Choose your primary category carefully. Your primary GBP category is the single most important ranking factor within Google Business Profile. If you are a plumber, your primary category should be "Plumber." Not "Plumbing service," not "Emergency plumber". just "Plumber." Google matches searches to categories, and choosing the wrong primary category is the most common reason tradespeople fail to appear for obvious searches.
Complete every field. Business name (must match your real trading name exactly), address or service area, phone number, website, opening hours, business description, service list. Leave nothing blank. Google rewards completeness because a complete profile gives it confidence that the business is real and active.
Set your service areas properly. If you serve Rhyl, Prestatyn, and Flintshire, set those as your service areas. Do not add areas you do not genuinely serve because Google will eventually figure that out and it will hurt your credibility.
NAP consistency. Make sure your business name, address, and phone number on your Google Business Profile match exactly what appears on your website and every directory listing. Read our full guide on NAP consistency if you have not already.
Upload at least ten photos. Real photos of your work, your team, your van, your tools. Not stock images. Google values authentic visual content and so do potential customers. Businesses with photos receive significantly more clicks than those without.
This is not glamorous work. It is foundation work. Skip it and nothing that follows will have full effect.
Month Two: Start the Review Engine
Reviews are one of the three most powerful ranking signals for the map pack. You need them, you need them to be genuine, and you need them to keep coming consistently.
Set up a system. After every completed job, send the customer a direct link to your Google review page. You can generate this link from your Google Business Profile dashboard. The easier you make it for customers, the more reviews you will get.
Our guide on getting more reviews covers the practical tactics in detail. text message templates, QR codes on invoices, email follow-ups. The key is consistency. One review per week is a realistic target for most active tradespeople.
Do not buy reviews. Do not swap reviews with other businesses. Do not ask friends and family who have never used your services to leave reviews. Google is increasingly sophisticated at detecting fake reviews, and the penalties are severe. removal of reviews, profile suspension, or permanent removal from the map pack.
While you are building reviews, respond to every single one. Thank people for positive reviews. Address negative reviews professionally and constructively. Review responses show Google that the profile is actively managed, and they show potential customers that you care about your reputation.
Getting into the map pack isn't about gaming the system. it's about being the most relevant, trustworthy and active business in your area for your category.
Month Three: Content and Signals
By now your profile should be complete and reviews should be trickling in. Month three is about strengthening the signals that tell Google you are active, relevant, and authoritative.
Start posting on Google Business Profile. Google Posts are short updates that appear on your profile. Share photos of completed work, announce seasonal offers, write short tips relevant to your trade. Post at least once a week. Each post signals to Google that your business is active and engaged.
Build citations. Citations are mentions of your business on other websites. directories, industry associations, local business listings. Submit your business to the major UK directories: Yell, Thomson Local, FreeIndex, Yelp, Bark. For trade-specific directories, add yourself to Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder, or whichever ones are relevant to your trade.
Optimise your website. Your website has a direct impact on your Google Business Profile ranking. Make sure your homepage clearly states what you do and where you do it. Have a dedicated page for each core service. Include your NAP in the footer. Add schema markup if you can. The website does not need to be fancy but it needs to be relevant and clear.
Month Four: Expand and Refine
You should be starting to see some movement by now. Maybe you are appearing in the map pack for some searches but not others. Maybe you are fourth or fifth. close but not quite in the three-pack.
Add secondary categories. If you are an electrician who also does security system installation, add that as a secondary category. Secondary categories help you appear for a wider range of searches without diluting your primary focus.
Analyse what is working. Check which search terms are driving impressions and clicks to your profile. Google Business Profile Insights shows you this data. Double down on the searches where you are close to the top and look for patterns in the ones where you are not appearing.
Get more specific with content. If you serve multiple areas, create location-specific content on your website. A page about "Plumbing Services in Wrexham" and another about "Plumbing Services in Bangor" send strong geo-relevance signals that help Google connect your business to searches in those specific areas.
Run a free audit to get a professional assessment of where you stand and what the most impactful next steps are.
(1) Perfect your GBP profile. every field complete. (2) Build consistent reviews. (3) Post weekly. (4) Ensure NAP consistency. (5) Have a website with local content. (6) Get local backlinks.
Months Five and Six: Consistency and Patience
The biggest mistake tradespeople make at this stage is giving up because they expected instant results. Local SEO is not instant. It is cumulative.
Keep collecting reviews. Keep posting. Keep your profile information current. Keep building citations on quality directories. Every week that you maintain this consistency, you build a slightly stronger signal than the week before.
By month five or six, most tradespeople who follow this process consistently will be appearing in the map pack for at least some of their target search terms. The ones who keep going beyond six months are the ones who dominate their local market.
What Accelerates Progress
Certain things can speed up your entry into the map pack.
A surge of genuine reviews. If you complete a large project, say a housing development or a series of rental property refurbishments, and get reviews from multiple clients in a short period, that sends a strong signal.
Clearing up a major NAP inconsistency problem. If your details have been wrong on twenty directories for three years and you fix all of them at once, the improvement can be dramatic once the changes propagate.
Website improvements. Migrating from a slow, poorly structured website to a fast, well-optimised one can produce noticeable gains within weeks.
Being the only business doing this work. In many areas of North Wales, the competition for map pack positions is surprisingly low. Many tradespeople have incomplete profiles and no posting activity. Simply doing the basics well can be enough to outperform them.
What Stalls Progress
Inconsistency. Starting strong then stopping. Google notices when a profile goes quiet.
Fake or incentivised reviews. Getting caught leads to review removal and ranking penalties.
Category confusion. Choosing the wrong primary category or changing it frequently.
Address problems. Using a virtual office, a PO box, or an address you do not actually operate from. Google verifies addresses and any mismatch creates problems.
Ignoring negative reviews. Unanswered negative reviews hurt both your ranking and your conversion rate.
The Bottom Line
Getting into the map pack is not about tricks or hacks. It is about doing the fundamental work properly and doing it for long enough that Google has no reason to show anyone else above you.
Visit how it works to understand the full picture of local visibility for tradespeople, and start the process with a free audit to see exactly where you stand today.