🤓 The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors are here!! Check out the report!
🤓 The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors are here!! Check out the report!
Searchers can now interact with the map featured in the local pack. The map now displays zoom in and out buttons, as well as a button that opens the local finder for additional results. What’s most interesting is the freedom to interact with the map. By hovering over a business’s pin on the map, the searcher will see the business name, rating and review count – and not just for the three top ranking businesses featured in the local pack. 
Manipulation of the map does not change the three businesses listed in the local pack.
The local pack traditionally features the top 3 local results and a Google Map of the local area. This new option to interact with the map in the local pack follows the December 2021 redesign of the Local Pack.
There are now buttons on the map to zoom in and out of the map. The searcher can also drag to navigate around the map and to other localities.
In the top right corner of the map is a button that opens the local finder.
The new functionality of the desktop local pack leans closer toward the current mobile and app experiences.
Your best chance of turning the searcher using this feature into a customer is still to increase your local pack/finder ranking and optimize your Google Business Profile. But this update does once again shine a light on the importance of Google reviews. Businesses that aren’t ranking in the top 3 positions may still have a pin on the map, and now a searcher can hover over that pin and see the business’s review stats at a glance.
Whitespark provides powerful software and expert services to help businesses and agencies drive more leads through local search.
Founded in 2005 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, we initially offered web design and SEO services to local businesses. While we still work closely with many clients locally, we have successfully grown over the past 20 years to support over 100,000 enterprises, agencies, and small businesses globally with our cutting-edge software and services.