Local Pack vs Organic Results: What's the Difference?

The local pack (also called the map pack or 3-pack) is the block of results shown near the top of a search, displaying a map alongside three business listings with contact details, hours, and star ratings - triggered specifically by searches with local intent.

Organic results are the standard list of ranked web pages shown below the local pack, evaluated through traditional SEO signals rather than the local-specific ones the pack relies on.

The two run on different, only partially overlapping ranking factors. The local pack leans heavily on Google Business Profile signals - the business category selected, review volume and rating, and proximity to the searcher - which means a business can rank strongly in the pack even with a fairly ordinary website, as long as its Business Profile is well optimized and actively managed. Organic results lean on the more familiar SEO toolkit instead: on-page content quality, backlinks, and overall domain authority, with physical location playing no role at all outside genuinely local search terms. Because local results reportedly capture a substantial share of clicks on their own, appearing in both the local pack and the organic results for the same search meaningfully increases the odds of getting a click at all - and since the work behind each tends to reinforce the other even though the ranking signals aren't identical, most local SEO strategies pursue both rather than picking one.