What is Local Pack Rank?

When you search for global and non-localized results, you only see so-called organic results, but when we search for local results, Google shows you a specific region with a map and top 3 results (called Local Pack Rank), and the rest is organic.

On this page:

Create and Configure Google Places
Tracking Maps Rankings
- With "Google" selected as the search engine - Local Pack Rank - top 3 rankings
- With "Google Places" selected as the search engine (beyond top 3 rankings)
Using the Exact Location setting
Local rankings on reports and graphs

Create and Configure Google Places

Before we get into Local Pack Rank tracking, it's best to set up your Google Place profile via Google My Business and configure Nightwatch to track it for best performance:

1. Create a Google Places profile
If you don’t have a Google Places for your business yet, you can register here.

2. Configure Nightwatch to track your Google Places profile
You will need to configure the name of your Google Place profile in Nightwatch under the website settings. Here's how to do it:

Open the appropriate website and click Settings,
Enter your place name in the Google Place field - make sure you enter the exact place name,
Click Save.

If you have multiple Google Places, here's how you can work through it:

If the names of both your businesses in Google Places are the same and their addresses are different, you can add the name in the Google Places field without entering the addresses. For example, if both these Google Places are An Example Business, California and An Example Business, New York, - you can insert An Example Business in the field, and it will track both locations for you.
If both the Google Places names are similar but not the same, you can use a wild card. For example, in An Example Business 1 and An Example Business 2, you can insert An Example Business to track them both.

Tracking Maps Rankings

There are two ways to track your rankings in Maps:

With "Google" as the search engine - Local Pack Rank - top 3 rankings
With Google Places selected as the search engine (beyond top 3 rankings)

1. With Google as the search engine - Local Pack Rank - top 3 rankings

This method will display the top 3 of map rankings, as shown on the first page of your Google search, called Local Pack Rank

Here are the steps to do it:

When you add a keyword, you will need to include the specific location when adding it, if you don't have location added in the keyword itself:

Once you've added a keyword with the specific location selected, you can then track the Local Pack Rank by selecting it at a column of your keywords list:

If you don't select Local pack rank as mentioned above, Nightwatch displays these data under the "Rank" column, where it'll only display the highest rank out of the different ranks (Organic, Local Pack, Image Carousel, Featured Snippet, Knowledge Panel). Read more about it here.

With this method, you can swap between checking other ranks of the very same keyword such as Organic, Featured Snippets, Image Carousel, Knowledge Panel ranks.

To match your Local Pack Rankings correctly, you need to add your exact Google Business Name in the settings of the URL:

2. With "Google Places" as the search engine - beyond the top 3 rankings

This method will enable you to track beyond the top 3 of map rankings of Google Maps that are displayed on the front page of your Google search.

Here's how to do it:

You will need to add Google Places as the search engine when adding your keywords (instead of Google in method 1 above)

You can add them in a batch, by selecting the keywords on the list, and clicking on Actions button.
Your Google Maps ranks will show up under the Organic Rank column on your keywords list:

Using the Exact Location setting

With each of the methods above, you need to set the exact local location by which your keywords should be tracked.

You can set up the exact location by enabling the Track location by city, region, or zip code option when adding the keywords to Nightwatch:

💡 Note: We recommend you always configure the exact location when tracking a keyword locally. If you don't do that, Google will determine the location by itself, which may not be the same as the area you want to track. Therefore the results won't be accurate.

We support all available locations (on all levels by cities, regions, and zip codes) that affect Google results.

Local rankings on reports and graphs

You can also use those columns to customize the reports and include organic or local rankings accordingly.

Or visualize them on a graph:

To learn more, read our articles on:
The Ultimate Guide to Tracking Local Rankings
Google Maps Marketing Guide for Ranking in Local Search
Local SEO Checklist: 20 Steps to Get More Customers

Check out our tutorial on Youtube