04/27/2022
📌 Here are some FACTS: The Map Pack (or Local Pack) features three Google Business Profiles, deemed most worthy of this top billing, along with their star rating, customer reviews, and business details.
A recent study by SEMrush of the Local Pack for 5,624 businesses found the average star rating to be 4.1 and, more importantly, the business in the number one position on average had more positive reviews than those in positions 2 and 3.
In other words, more positive reviews received on a consistent basis will have a positive effect on a business’s ability to rank, be seen, and gain targeted local traffic.
Going a step further, Whitespark’s 2021 report on local ranking factors, based on a survey of 42 SEO experts, breaks down the importance of review-specific characteristics to Map Pack ranking as follows:
1) High Star Ratings (i.e. 4-5).
2) Keywords in Google Reviews.
3) Quantity of Google Reviews.
Whitespark’s polled SEO experts also point out the importance of reviews to Google Business Profile conversions, which represent customers taking action (i.e. clicking, calling, etc.).
In this case, the following review characteristics were deemed to be most important with the top 2 being the overall top factors in GBP conversion:
1) High Star Ratings.
2) Positive Sentiment in Review Text.
3) Quantity of Google Reviews.
4) Recency of Reviews.
5) Presence of Owner Responses to Reviews.
6) Quantity of Positive Review Attributes.
