We have all watched as the 7 pack in Google maps became a 3 pack! Sometimes we call it the snack pack but it means that only three companies appear on the first page of Google in the maps section. Going from a 7 pack to a 3 pack was a pretty big blow to most companies that were in the 4th -7th positions. Yesterday Google announced at SMX that the 3 pack would now contain an ad spot and instead of 3 map positions we will only have 2 possible positions to rank in Google Maps. One of the three positions will now feature an add that you can purchase like an adwords campaign. That could get expensive if you are paying for each keyword for only one map position.
Google Maps are becoming much smaller and one day we may not have the 2 positions in the maps at all. For now agencies must be on their game to get their clients into the 2 pack in Google maps and don’t forget we always have organic listings. If you are only relying on a Google maps listing to generate website traffic you need to start working on organic rankings. It is possible to rank in organic rankings and take over more than one position in the top ten.
We don’t just rank your website!
Here is what was posted yesterday by Joy Hawkins about the Google Maps 3 pack becoming a 2 pack:
